WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary gave a national top-25 opponent all it could handle on Sunday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Sophomores Finbar Talcott and Chen Ruo won in straight sets to increase the Tribe's lead to 3-1 over No. 23-ranked Penn. Unfortunately, the reigning ECAC Champion Quakers claimed the final three singles matches off the court, including two in three sets, to rally past the Green and Gold, 4-3.
 
How It Happened
- After Penn (10-2) won at the top doubles spot, senior Tristan Bautil and freshman Oren Vasser pulled W&M even with a 6-2 win over Edoardo Graziani and Kevin Zhu on line two. The Tribe duo broke in the fifth game and won the final five to claim the win as Vasser served an ace on the match's final point. The Tribe pair won for the second-straight day at No. 2.
- The initial point of the contest came down to a back-and-forth tilt at No. 3. The sophomore tandem of Sebastian Quiros and Talcott won four-straight games to take a 4-1, but Penn's Max Cancilla and Alex Huryn answered with four in a row of their own to take a 5-4 lead. The Tribe pair broke to pull even in the 10th game and then raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker. On match point, Talcott ripped a forehand winner down the line to give W&M a 7-6 (3) victory.
- Talcott carried that momentum over into singles action. He breezed to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Zhu at the No. 3 spot to increase the W&M lead to 2-0. It was Talcott's eighth singles win of the year.
- After a Penn win at the top spot, Ruo brought the Tribe to the brink of a team vicotry. He downed Max Cancilla, 6-4, 7-6, at the No. 6 post for his seventh win of the season. Last week, Cancilla clinched Penn's 4-3 ECAC Championship win over Harvard with a victory on line six.
- The Quakers pulled even with wins at No. 2 and No. 5 singles. Graziani outlasted Quiros in three sets at the second spot, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1, while Noah Makarome edged freshman Jack Kelly, 7-6, 6-4, on line five.
- The balance of the match came down to a three-setter at No. 4. Vasser jumped out to a set advantage by taking the first from Dmitry Shatalin in a tiebreaker, 7-6. The Penn senior rallied to clinch the match for the visitor, wining the final two sets, 6-1, 6-2.  
 
Up Next
- The Tribe opens the month of March with a three-match road. W&M heads to ACC foe Virginia Tech on Monday, March 4, at 2 p.m.
 
Penn 4, William & Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 – #54 Kyle Mautner (Penn) def. Brenden Volk (W&M) – 6-1, 7-5
No. 2 – Edoardo Graziani (Penn) def. Sebastian Quiros (W&M) – 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
No. 3 – Finbar Talcott (W&M) def. Kevin Zhu (Penn) – 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 – Dmitry Shatalin (Penn) def. Oren Vasser (W&M) – 6-7, 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 – Noah Makarome (Penn) def. Jack Kelly (W&M) – 7-6, 6-4
No. 6 – Chen Ruo (W&M) def. Max Cancilla (Penn) – 6-4, 7-6
Finishing Order: 3, 1, 6, 5, 2, 4*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Mautner/Shatalin (Penn) def. Volk/Ruo (W&M) – 6-1
No. 2 – Bautil/Vasser (W&M) def. Graziani/Zhu (Penn) – 6-2
No. 3 – Quiros/Talcott (W&M) def. Cancilla/Huryn (Penn) – 7-6 (3)
Finishing Order: 1, 2, 3*