Stowe, VT - Last season Northern Vermont University-Lyndon captured the North Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Championship with a 5-4 victory over Thomas College in the championship match. The two teams have been tabbed as co-favorites to for this season's title and met for the first time at the Topnotch Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.  This time it was Thomas that emerged victorious, coming away with a 6-3 victory over the Hornets in the conference opener for both teams.  Thomas evens their record at 1-1 on the season, while Lyndon drops to 1-2.

Thomas got off to a fast start by sweeping three doubles matches.  The Terriers' Jose Afonso and Gabe McPhail blanked Lyndon's Patrick Wickstrom (Lafayette, LA) and Jeffrey Blais (Newport, VT), 8-0, in first doubles and Caleb Daigneault and Kegan Rodrigue held off Bobby Saba (Mansfield, MA) and Garrick Webster (Terryville, CT, 8-3, in third doubles.  The second doubles match was the tightest of the three doubles flights.  The Thomas duo of Liam Gould and Rajhan Munnings rallied from a 5-0 deficit to hand Lyndon's Quinlan Peer (Saranac Lake, NY) and Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY) their first conference loss in two seasons, 9-8 (7-4).

Thomas clinched the match with wins in first and third singles.  Alfonso cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win in the first flight, while McPhail downed Blais, 6-3, 6-3, in the third flight.  Falkenburg got Lyndon on the board with a hard fought 6-3, 7-5 win over Gould in second singles, then Saba earned his first career singles win with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Daigneault.  With the match decided, the two teams spilt a pair of pro set matches in fourth and fifth singles.  Munnings was an 8-5 winner over Peer in the fourth flight, while Webster defeated Rodrigue, 8-3, in the fifth flight.

The Hornets return to Topnotch for a non-conference rematch with in-state rival Castleton University on Tuesday.  The match is scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm.