WATERVILLE, Maine – Castleton men's tennis suffered its first loss of the season with a 5-4 defeat this afternoon against the Thomas Terriers in North Atlantic Conference play at the Harold Alfond Athletic Center. 

The Spartans led 2-1 following the doubles games, but the Terriers fought back with four victories in singles play, including three in straight sets, to snap Castleton's six-game winning streak. The Spartans drop to 6-1 on the season and 1-1 in the conference, while Thomas captures its fourth straight win to improve to 4-7 (2-1 NAC) on the year.

Castleton got off to a strong start with two wins in doubles play. The tandem of Seth Marcil and Kevin Rosset took the top-flight contest 9-7, followed by an impressive 8-3 victory in the No. 2 spot by Soren Pelz-Walsh and Quentin Barthe. Thomas, however, claimed the third-flight contest, 8-5, to cut its deficit back to one at 2-1. 

The Terriers continued to fight back and tied the contest at 2-2 after Tyler Small took down Marcil in the top-flight singles match, 6-1, 6-1. Nathan Philbrook handed Thomas another straight sets victory in the fifth-flight contest before Zachary Disch defeated Rosset in the No. 2 singles match (6-2, 6-4) to hand the hosts a 4-2 lead.

In the sixth-flight match, Ryan Mulder took the first set 7-5, but Joseph Greco captured the following two sets 6-2 and 7-5 to secure the Terrier victory. Pelz-Walsh and Barthe closed out the match with victories in the No. 3 and 4 singles slots to bring the contest to its final score, 5-4. 

The Spartans close out their weekend roadtrip tomorrow at noon when they square off with the Southern Maine Huskies in non-conference play at the USM Field House in Gorham, Maine.