Stowe, VT - The Lyndon State College men's tennis team lost a close 5-4 decision to Johnson State College on Wednesday afternoon.  The North Atlantic Conference matchup was played at the Topnotch Resort.  With the win Johnson improves to 2-6 on the season and 1-3 in NAC play.  The Hornets remain winless in four conference matches and nine matches overall.

Johnson started the match by taking two of three doubles matches.  The Lyndon duo of Jake LaCerda (Gray, ME) and Neal Mulligan (Marshfield, VT) captured the top flight with an 8-2 win over Johnson's top pair of Gerrit Lane (Moretown, VT) and Austin Walters (Grantham, NH).  The Badgers came away with wins in second and third doubles, however.  Joseph Holloway (London, England) and John Folsom (Califon, NJ) defeated Lyndon's Korey Steele (Jupiter, FL) and Gerald Fleming (Tampa, FL) at second, 8-1, and Ethan Hutchinson (Canterbury, NH) and Evan Daigneault (Newfane, VT) won a tight 8-6 decision over Mukhtar Abdullahi (Mogadishu, Somalia) and Jeremy Polonia (Lynn, MA) at third.

The Hornets and Badgers split six singles flights.  LaCerda picked up a 6-1, 6-3 win over Lane at first, Mulligan knocked off Walters 6-3, 6-0 at second, and Abdullahi picked up a 6-4, 6-0 win over Colin Compagna (Morrisville, VT) at sixth.  Holloway, Folsom, and Hutchinson picked up straight set wins for the Badgers at third, fourth, and fifth singles respectively.

The Hornets will play next on Saturday when they host SUNY Delhi in an 11:00 am match at the Dudley Bell Tennis Center.  Johnson hosts Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday.