The Castleton State College women’s tennis team began its quest to become Vermont State Colleges champions on Sunday with a 9-0 win against Johnson State College. The Spartans aced the Badgers in VSC play by winning every match in both singles and doubles play, thus improving their season record to 3-0.

In singles play for the Spartans, both Brittni Racine and Morgan Reuter won all six games in each of their sets. In doubles play, Emily Bisson and Reuter did the same.

“We haven’t seen Lyndon State’s team yet, but we handled Johnson’s squad easily,” said head coach Paul Cohen.

Earlier in the week, the Spartans began their regular season with back-to- back wins against non-conference competitors the Sage Colleges and Becker College .

Against Sage, the Spartans used key individual performances to take the overall victory 6-3. The Spartans won five out of the six singles matches during the contest.

In doubles play, freshmen Michelle Podnecky and Kate Bucci worked well together right from the get go to secure an 8-0 win. Sage took the other two doubles matches.

“Michelle and I clicked right away, surprisingly,” said Bucci. “But it actually worked out well because we balance each other out. I think we’ll do really well together. Plus, we both don’t like losing, which makes us try harder.”

Michelle agreed.

“I think that we’re able to trust each other and calm the other one down when they need to be,” she said.

The Spartans rolled into their second match of the year, against Becker, with caution but confidence.

“The win against Sage was a big confidence booster, but you always have to be prepared to face tough competition,” said Bucci. “Although it was good to have a win under my belt, I still went out with the attitude that it could be anyone’s match.”

In the end, though, the Spartans dominated Becker, winning with an overall score of 8-1. They won all of the doubles matches and lost only one singles match when Charla Klaas left her match with an injury.

“We certainly didn’t need any motivation to play well against Becker, as they edged us out of the conference title last year,” said coach Cohen.

Because Bay Path College and Becker College recently dropped out of the North Atlantic Conference, the women’s tennis team will compete for the Vermont State Colleges championship this year, Cohen said.

“We hope to have a full NAC by next year,” he said.

The Spartans will next be in action on Sept. 11 at 4:00 p.m. , playing Mass.-Liberal Arts.