Rutland, VT - The Northern Vermont University-Lyndon men's tennis team swept three doubles matches and went on to defeat Castleton University, 6-3, at the Vermont Sport & Fitness Club on Saturday afternoon.  The win was Lyndon's third straight against their in-state rivals.  The Hornets even their record at 1-1 with the win, while Castleton remains winless in three matches on the season.

Lyndon got off to a strong start in doubles play.  The Hornet duo of Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY) and Quinlan Peer (Saranac Lake, NY) cruised to an 8-1 victory over Castleton's Connor Davis and Jason Lipscomb in second doubles to give Lyndon the first point of the day.  Bobby Saba (Mansfield, MA) and Garrick Webster (Terryville, CT) then closed out Miguel Almirall Perez and Ugo Roik, 8-4, in third doubles.  In first doubles, Patrick Wickstrom (Lafayette, LA) and Jeffrey Blais (Newport, VT) picked up a hard fought 8-6 victory over Castleton's Phil Kluge and Dante Buttino, completing the Hornet sweep of doubles.

Moving to singles play, Lipscomb was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Blais at third singles, giving Castleton their first win of the day.  Buttino then picked up a 6-2, 6-0 win over Peer in fourth singles, giving the Spartans further life.  However, Wickstrom came from behind for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Kluge in first singles, then Falkenburg clinched the match with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Davis in second singles.

With the match decided, the two teams split fifth and sixth singles.  Roik was a 6-4, 6-0 winner over Saba at sixth, then Webster took the final match of the day with a 7-5, 1-0(10-7) win at fifth singles.

The Hornets will open North Atlantic Conference play at Thomas College next Saturday at 12:00 noon.  Earlier this week, NAC coaches picked the Hornets and Terriers as co-favorites for the NAC title.