GORHAM, Me. – The Castleton men's tennis team took on Southern Maine in a battle for the final seed in the LEC playoffs Saturday morning but came up just short, suffering a narrow 5-4 loss to the Huskies on the road.
 
Southern Maine (2-8, 1-5 LEC) earned the first point of the afternoon with a win on first doubles before Connor Davis and Jason Lipscomb snuck away with a crucial 9-8 victory at second doubles to level the team scores at one a piece.
 
Miguel Almirall Perez and Jawhara Rennalls would fall 8-4 at third doubles to give the Huskies back the lead, extending it to a 4-1 advantage with wins on first and second singles before the Spartans (3-9, 0-6 LEC) began their comeback.
 
Dante Buttino got things started with a convincing 6-2, 7-5 win on third singles — his fourth of the year — before a three-set victory by Lipscomb at fourth singles and 6-4, 7-6 win for Almirall-Perez at fifth singles tied the score at four, meaning the match would be decided at sixth singles.
 
Coming off consecutive wins against UMass Boston and NVU-Johnson, Rennalls fought hard against Southern Maine's Antoine Gignac, but ultimately fell 6-1, 6-2, ending Castleton's season in heartbreaking fashion.