Photo courtesy of Castleton Sports

Although the Castleton men’s tennis team didn’t claim an overall victory at the North Atlantic Conference East Division Tournament, they still came out with an impressive seasonal record to be proud of.

On Saturday, the team traveled to Colby-Sawyer College to compete as the No. 3 seed taking on No. 2 Thomas in the semifinal round. The team hoped to produce different results than their previous season, where they fell runners-up to Colby-Sawyer in the NAC East Championship.

After the end of doubles on Saturday, The Spartans trailed by just a point, thanks to the No. 2 team of Ryan Mulder and Trevor Hanna’s efforts to win one out of the three matches.

As singles action began, Castleton’s Quentin Barthe helped the Spartans pull even, defeating Ross Munn in straight sets (6-4, 6-0). Although Seth Marcil and Ryan Mulder both secured hopeful wins on their first sets for singles, they fell short for the next two sets, giving Thomas College the 4-2 advantage overall.

It came down to Thomas’s Jared Waterhouse edging out Castleton’s Jared Wheeler (6-4, 7-5) in the No. 4 singles spot to seal the Terriers place in the NAC East title match versus Colby-Sawyer. Trevor Hanna and Brody Wagner would respectively end up earning two more points for the Spartans in their following matches, resulting in a close 5-4 loss overall.

The Spartans finished with a 9-4 record for their 2017 regular season

Captain Seth Marcil earned First Team NAC East All-Conference recognition in singles, while earning Second Team for his doubles play with partner Quentin Barthe. He was also named to the NAC East Sportsmanship Team. Senior Barthe and junior Ryan Mulder were honored on the Second Team in singles.

Concluding the tournament, Barthe was also named to the East All-Tournament team after his successful singles victory for the day.

Many senior stars will be missed, but it’s certain that the remaining players will continue

to excel in their game and carry on the team’s success.
Senior captain Tyler Wilcox looks back on his tennis career it comes to a close.

“From just playing to be a three-sport athlete in seventh grade to playing twice for the NAC championship, it’s been a great ride. My teammates and coaches helped put me in the best spot to thrive and compete at the collegiate level. Something I never thought was possible,” Wilcox said.

It wasn’t the perfect ending they had wished for, but it was definitely a season to go down in the books for coach Bruce Moreton and the Castleton men’s tennis team.