WILMINGTON, N.C. — Things looked bleak for No. 71-ranked William & Mary on Saturday afternoon. Reigning Mountain West regular-season champion New Mexico won the doubles point and took the opening set at all six singles position.
The Tribe (9-6) did not waver in the moment instead answering the call behind three-set wins at the top four singles positions to pick up its fourth-straight victory. Freshman Oliver Hague put the finishing touches on the comeback with a triumph at No. 4 to set off a Green and Gold celebration.
Along with Hague’s heroics, graduate students Alexandre Leblanc (No. 1), Satchel Benn (No. 2), and Konstantinos Raptis (No. 3) came up with big three-set wins in the Tribe triumph.
How It Happened
- New Mexico (9-6), which was coming off a 4-2 win over reigning CAA Champion UNCW on Friday, took the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions.
- The Lobos increased the lead to 2-0 with a straight-sets win at No. 6 singles.
- After dropping the first set at the other five positions, W&M pushed those spots to three sets with wins in the second set of all five.
- Leblanc and Benn each won their third-straight singles match at the top two posts. Leblanc responded from dropping the opening set to Arthur Bellegy, 6-3, by dropping just six more games in 6-2, 6-4 victories in the final two sets. He moved to 15-7 overall and 7-5 at No. 1.
- After dropping the opening set to Aram Noroozian, 6-2, Benn battled his way to a tiebreaker victory in the second, 7-6 (5). The Tribe graduate student carried the momentum forward, rolling in the decisive third, 6-1, to improve to 15-9 overall and 7-3 on line two.
- Raptis dropped a close first set to Georgio Samaha, 7-5, at No. 3. He bounced back with a dominant 6-1 win in the second, before outlasting his Lobo counterpart, 6-4, in the final set. Raptis won his 13th match of the year and ran his mark to 7-2 at No. 3.
- Tied at three, the match came down to an all-English battle between Hague and New Mexico senior Alex Maggs. The Lobo player took a narrow tiebreaker win in the opening set, before the Tribe rookie pulled even with a 6-4 victory in the second. Hague ignited the Tribe celebration by winning the final set, 6-2, for his fifth-straight triumph to clinch the team victory. He leads W&M with 19 singles wins overall, including a 10-3 mark at No. 4.
Up Next
The Tribe wraps up its three-match road trip to Wilmington, N.C. when it takes on CAA foe UNCW on Sunday at noon.
#71 William & Mary 4, New Mexico 3
Singles
No. 1 – Alexandre Leblanc (W&M) def. Arthur Bellegy (New Mexico) – 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 – Satchel Benn (W&M) def. Aram Noroozian (New Mexico) – 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1
No. 3 – Konstantinos Raptis (W&M) def. Georgio Samaha (New Mexico) – 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 – Oliver Hague (W&M) def. Alex Maggs (New Mexico) – 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 – Nicolas Recoura (New Mexico) def. Albert Hansen (W&M) – 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
No. 6 – Avery Tallakson (New Mexico) def. Bill Duo (W&M) – 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 – Azkara/Maggs (New Mexico) def. Duo/Raptis (W&M) – 6-2
No. 2 – Benn/Hague (W&M) vs. Samaha/Recoura (New Mexico) – DNF
No. 3 – Matsushita/Tallakson (New Mexico) def. Leblanc/Karman (W&M) – 6-3
