DANBURY, Conn. – Miguel Almirall Perez earned the Spartans' lone win of the afternoon as the Castleton men's tennis team kicked off conference play with a matchup against Western Connecticut State Saturday afternoon.
 
WestConn (1-5, 1-0 LEC) swept the afternoon's doubles matches, claiming 8-2 victories on second and third doubles before Phil Kluge and Dante Buttino battled in an 8-4 loss to give Western Connecticut the early 3-0 lead.
 
Castleton (1-4, 0-1 LEC) trailed 5-0 after Connor Davis and Kluge fell on first and second singles, eventually falling behind 8-0 before Almirall Perez prevented the sweep with a win on fifth singles.
 
Taking on WestConn's Nicholas Peschier, the freshman dropped the first set 6-2 before coming back to win set two 7-6. In the decisive third set, Almirall Perez earned a 7-4 victory to salvage a point for the team on the evening.
 
The Spartans are back on the court Sunday, April 3 to take on Norwich University. The matches will take place at Vermont Sport & Fitness with opening serve set for 2 p.m.