NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Castleton jumped out to a 3-0 lead early on and never looked back en route its first victory of the season with a 7-2 result over the Norwich Cadets this afternoon in non-conference action at the Shapiro Field House.

The Spartans turned in an impressive debut in their 2016 opener, sweeping the doubles games while also recording four victories in singles play, including one in straight-sets. With the victory, Castleton improves to 1-0 on the year, while the Cadets fall to 0-1 in the losing effort.

Castleton took control of the game early on with three straight victories to grab an early advantage. Kevin Rosset and Seth Marcil partnered together in the top-flight doubles match, taking down the combo of Ian Hyte and Jeff Purdy, 8-6. Newcomers Soren Pelz-Walsh and Quentin Barthe won their first Spartan match in the No. 2 doubles slot with a 9-7 result, while Tyler Wilcox and Ryan Mulder teamed up to take the third-flight match, 8-6.

In singles play, Marcil and Pelz-Walsh fell in the first and third-flight matches by respective scores of 4-6, 5-7 and 5-7, 5-7. Rosset fought back after dropping the first set in the No. 2 slot to pick up a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory, while Barthe claimed a straight sets win in the fourth-flight contest to secure Castleton's first win of the year.

Andrew Overton and Mulder closed out the match with 10-5 and 10-4 victories in the final two singles games of the day to bring the contest to its final score, 7-2. The Spartans return to action on Sunday, March 13 when they square off with the Green Mountain Eagles in Rutland, Vt. at 3 pm.