WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Senior George Davis turned it on in the third set at the top spot and in the process lifted William & Mary to its first win of season over reigning MEAC Champion South Carolina State, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center.
 
With the match even at three, Davis trailed 4-1 to the Bulldogs' Aissa Benchakroun, who had a career-high ITF junior combined ranking of 139 in the world and recorded ATP points during his junior career. The Tribe senior ripped off three-straight games to pull even at four and then won the final three to knock off the 6-8 Moroccan and lift W&M (1-1) to victory.
 
How It Happened
- Freshman Alexander Karman and graduate student Daniel Pellerito gave the Tribe the early lead in doubles with a 6-4 win over Mikalai Bankou and Ivan Pauluychenko on line three. The Tribe tandem evened its record at 2-2.
- South Carolina State (2-2) rallied with a pair of tiebreaker wins at the top two doubles positions to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
- Pellerito made it a personal perfect day and evened the match overall with a straight-set win at No. 5. He topped Pauluychenko, 6-3, 6-2, for his eighth win of the season.
- Sophomore Sean Joseph put the Tribe on top, 2-1, with a win at No. 4. He notched his second win of the season and first of the dual-match campaign over Rostislav Haflinger, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
- After the Bulldogs briefly pulled even at two, graduate student Joseph Brailovsky put the home team back in front with a win on line two. He rallied from an early first-set deficit to down Benjamin Niv, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Brailovsky improved his team-leading singles record to 11-6 on the year.
- The match came down to a pair of three-set matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. South Carolina State picked up the win at No. 3 to tie the match at three.
- Davis came to the rescue with a win the win at No. 1. It was his third victory of the season as he evened his dual-match mark at 1-1.
 
Up Next
The Tribe continues its four-match, season-opening homestand when it welcomes in-state foe Liberty to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m.