RUTLAND, Vt. – The Lyndon State College men's tennis team opened up the 2017 season with an 8-1 nonconference loss to Castleton University Saturday afternoon at the Grand Slam Tennis Center.

The Spartans opened the day with a doubles sweep, before taking five of the six singles matches to improve to 2-0 on the season. Lyndon sits at 0-1 after the loss.

Castleton's Seth Marcil and Quentin Barthe teamed up to defeat Lyndon's Michael Sigsbury and Tyler Hall, 8-1.  Ryan Mulder and Trevor Hanna picked up an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles over Jake LaCerda and Dylan Cherko, while Jared Wheeler and Tyler Wilcox completed the sweep of doubles play with an 8-1 win over Neal Mulligan and Savannah Jackson in the No. 3 position.

Marcil then opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sigsbury in top-flight action, while Barthe rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over LaCerda in the No. 2 spot.  Mulder won his No. 4 singles set by a mark of 6-0, 6-2 over Cherko, and Hanna was victorious in the fifth flight, 6-1, 6-0 over Mulligan.  Ethan Cameron-Vaupel rounded out the day with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Jackson in the No. 6 singles position.

Lyndon's lone match win on the day came at the No. 3 singles position, as Hall defeated Wheeler, 6-4, 6-4.

The Hornets travel to Norwich Thursday for a 3:30 p.m. match.