HOUSTON, Texas – The No. 74 William & Mary men's tennis team pulled off its best national-ranked win since 2008, upsetting No. 44 Drake, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. Sophomore Christian Cargill rallied from a third-set deficit to clinch the Tribe (12-5) victory with a triumph at the top singles position. The Green and Gold downed a Bulldog (13-9) team that entered the Rice Invitational coming off a 4-3 win over No. 26 Oregon on March 22, its fifth top-40 win of the season. It marked the highest-ranked opponent that W&M defeated since winning at No. 34 Notre Dame on April 6, 2008.
 
The Tribe led 3-2 after the teams traded singles wins and the balance of the match came down to three-setters at No. 1 and No. 4. After dropping the opening set to Ben Lott, 7-5, at No. 1, Cargill rallied to take the second set, 6-2. Lott, who was ranked as high as No. 40 nationally this season, jumped out to a 4-1 advantage in the third set. The Bulldog senior could not hold off the charging Tribe sophomore as Cargill won six of the final seven games, including each of the last four, to claim the win. His forehand winner on deuce in the 12th game cemented W&M's upset victory. Cargill moved to 9-6 at No. 1 with his 12th win of the year.
 
The Green and Gold opened the contest by claiming the doubles point for the second time in three matches at the Rice Invite. Cargill and senior Scott Huang continued their strong play at the No. 2 spot, downing Ben Wood and Ben Stride, 6-2. The Green and Gold pairing improved to 8-2 on the year and 3-0 at the Invite. The Tribe duo of junior Damon Niquet and sophomore Lars de Boer clinched the initial point of the match with a 7-5 victory over Bayo Phillips and Calum MacGeoch at No. 3. They improved to 4-2 at the No. 3 spot this season.
 
Junior Addison Appleby pushed the W&M advantage to 2-0 with a convincing triumph at No. 2. He rolled to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Drake's Vinny Gillespie, who entered the match at 16-7 overall and 3-1 at No. 2, including the clinching win over No. 26 Oregon. Appleby recorded his ninth win overall, seventh in dual-match play and third at the second spot.
 
Niquet answered a Drake win at No. 5 with his 12th-straight win of the dual-match season at the sixth spot. The Tribe junior upended Stride, 6-3, 6-4, to run his overall record to 15-8 and increase the W&M lead to 3-1.

As Cargill was clinching the W&M victory, de Boer was locked in a battle with Phillips at No. 4. The Tribe sophomore took the opening set in a tiebrekaer, 7-6 (4), before his Bulldog counterpart answered with a 6-4 win the second. de Boer fell into a 3-1 hole in the third set, but rallied to even things at three. The match was abandoned with the team resulted decided following Cargill's clinching victory. 

The Tribe continues its six-match road swing, traveling to Elon for its first CAA match of the season on Sunday, April 3. The match carries a 1 p.m. start time at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, which will host the CAA Championship, April 22-24.
 
#74 William & Mary 4, #44 Drake 2
Singles
No. 1 – Christian Cargill (W&M) def. Ben Lott (Drake) – 5-7, 6-2, 7-5  
No. 2 – Addison Appleby (W&M) def. Vinny Gillespie (Drake) – 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Calum MacGeoch (Drake) def. Alec Miller (W&M) – 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
No. 4 – Lars de Boer (W&M) vs. Bayo Phillips (Drake) – DNF, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 3-3
No. 5 – Tom Hands (Drake) def. Aidan Talcott (W&M) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 – Damon Niquet (W&M) def. Ben Stride (Drake) – 6-3, 6-4
Finishing Order: 2, 5, 6, 3, 1*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Lott/Gillespie (Drake) def. Appleby/Newman (W&M) – 6-2
No. 2 – Cargill/Huang (W&M) def. Wood/Stride (Drake) – 6-2
No. 3 – de Boer/Niquet (W&M) def. Phillips/MacGeoch (Drake) – 7-5
Finishing Order: 1, 2, 3*