GORHAM, Maine – Castleton held a three-point lead early on in the contest, but Southern Maine stormed back to hand the away side a heartbreaking, 5-4 defeat this afternoon in non-conference action. 

The Spartans led 2-1 after doubles play and captured the first two singles matches to extend their advantage to three. However, the Huskies wont the final four singles matches, including the third-flight match in three sets, to claim the win. Castleton drops to 6-2 (1-1 NAC) on the season with the defeat, while USM maintains its perfect start to the year and improves to 5-0 overall.

In doubles play, the tandem of Soren Pelz-Walsh and Quentin Barthe claimed the second-flight match, 8-5, followed by an 8-4 victory in the third-flight contest from Ryan Mulder and Trevor Hanna. Southern Maine took the top-flight match by a score of 8-2 to make it 2-1 in favor of Castleton.

The Spartans carried that momentum early on in singles play, as Andrew Overton and and Mulder picked up a pair of straight-sets victories. Overton notched his team-leading seventh win of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the No. 5 slot, while Mulder improved to 5-1 with a 6-0, 6-0 win in the sixth-flight. The Huskies fought back with victories in the No. 1-3 games to tie the contest at four before Samuel Holland took down Barthe in the third-flight match – 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 – to secure the 5-4, Huskies victory.

Castleton returns to action on Wednesday at 4 pm when the squad hosts the Green Mountain College Eagles in conference play at the Castleton Tennis Courts.