Spiders Drop Midweek Matchup at William & Mary, 5-2

Thursday, February 1

Williamsburg, VA

5:30PM

University of Richmond

William & Mary

02/01/2018 | Men's Tennis

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The University of Richmond men's tennis team continues to battle tough opponents in 2018, and Thursday night was so exception.

The Spiders battled it out with William & Mary, but couldn't overcome strong singles play by the Tribe, falling 5-2 in Williamsburg.

"The final score was 5-2, but the match could have gone either way," head coach Houston Barrick said. "We lost two really close three-set matches that I felt like we had chances to win. I'm disappointed in the result, but that's tennis. Sometimes it doesn't fall your way."

Richmond started strong, taking the doubles point and a 1-0 lead with wins on courts 1 and 3. Caleb Troy and James Aronson teamed up at No. 1, defeating the Tribe's Michael Chen and Alec Miller, 6-3, before Brice Polender and George Lovitt defeated Tristan Bautil and Sebastian Quiros on court 3 by the same score to clinch the point.

William & Mary bounced back in singles play with five straight wins to take the match, but Spider rookie Joe Nardini was able to pull off a 7-6, 7-6 win – the first singles win of his career – to make the final score 5-2 in favor of the hosts.

"I'm really proud of Joe," Barrick said. "He has been out of the line-up so far this year, and has been looking for his chance to play. He had a great week of practice and I felt like he deserved his chance, and he gave everything he had today for the Spiders."

The Spiders return to action this weekend when they travel to Navy. The squad will face Bryant on Saturday at 2 p.m., before facing the host Midshipmen on Sunday at 1 p.m.

William & Mary 5, Richmond 2
SINGLES
1. Christian Cargill (WM) def. Caleb Troy (UR) – 6-3, 7-5
2. Alec Miller (WM) def. Brice Polender (UR) – 6-2, 6-4
3. Louis Newman (WM) def. James Aronson (UR) – 6-0, 6-7, 7-5
4. Finbar Talcott (WM) def. Matt Fernandez (UR) – 6-3, 6-0
5. Sebastian Quiros (WM) def. Klein Evans (UR) – 3-6, 7-6, 6-2
6. Joe Nardini (UR) def. Michael Ruamthong (WM) – 7-6, 7-6
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1, 5, 3, 6

DOUBLES
1. James Aronson/Caleb Troy (UR) def. Michael Chen/Alec Miller (WM) – 6-3
2. Christian Cargill/Louis Newman (WM) def. Matt Fernandez/Klein Evans (UR) – 6-3
3. Brice Polender/George Lovitt (UR) def. Tristan Bautil/Sebastian Quiros (WM) – 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3