BEVERLY, Mass. — Despite an early clinch for Salem State, the Vermont State University Castleton men's tennis team battled back by scoring the final three points in a 5-4 loss Saturday.

The Vikings (3-5, 1-2 LEC) earned their first tally in No. 1 doubles action, but VTSU Castleton (4-3, 0-3 LEC) retaliated with an 8-0 third tandem win from Stanley Andersen/Christian Giannone. Khiem Nguyen and Jason Lipscomb clawed to a 7-7 set at the second flight but dropped the tiebreaker, 7-1, to SSU's Quentin Wilkins and Kevin Merino-Rivas.

Viking victories at the top three spots clinched the match for the hosts. However, the Spartans continued to fight as the fourth, fifth, and sixth flights went to three sets. After dropping his initial set, Andersen came back with 6-2 and 6-1 wins to nab a No. 5 triumph. Giannone took his first set against Merino-Rivas, fell in the second, then rallied to snare the third stanza, 6-3. Ben Chilkott similarly went win-loss, then prevailed in a 10-6 super-tiebreaker to finalize the match at a tight 5-4.

The Spartans gear up for back-to-back home duals next week, beginning with Little East Conference foe UMass Boston on Tuesday, April 16 at 3 p.m.

RESULTS
Doubles
1. Cherico/Wood (SSU) def. Davis/Chilkott (VTSU), 8-1
2. Wilkins/Merino-Rivas (SSU) def. Nguyen/Lipscomb (VTSU), 8-7 (7-1)
3. Andersen/Giannone (VTSU) def. Gruber/Muttiah (SSU), 8-0

Singles
1. Quentin Wilkins (SSU) def. Khiem Nguyen (VTSU), 6-1, 6-4
2. Cory Cherico (SSU) def. Connor Davis (VTSU), 6-1, 6-2
3. Mark Wood (SSU) def. Jason Lipscomb (VTSU), 6-2, 7-5
4. Christian Giannone (VTSU) def. Kevin Merino-Rivas (SSU), 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
5. Stanley Andersen (VTSU) def. Josh Gruber (SSU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
6. Ben Chilkott (VTSU) def. Michael Muttiah (SSU), 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)