Tennis drops nail biter to Castleton 5-4 in NAC play

North Adams, MA- The visiting Castleton University Women's Tennis team grinded out a hard fought 5-4 win over MCLA this afternoon in NAC tennis action.  With the win, the Spartans improve to 5-3 and are 2-1 in the league while MCLA drops to 3-3 and is also 2-1 in the conference.

The match came down to the sixth singles slot for the decisive point.  With each team sitting with four points, Castleton's Emily Miller outlasted MCLA's Shelby Gauthier in three sets to earn the win.  Gauthier actually held a 5-2 advantage in the tiebreak, however Miller would collect the next five points and close out the match with a 7-5 tiebreak win.

Castleton entered singles play after taking two of the three doubles points.  Ciara Bannister and Megan Nadler took a point with an 8-5 win in the top doubles slot while Kirsten Kruk and Kayla Zsido outdueled Briana Higgins and Sarah Hachadourian for the second point.

MCLA would get on the board when Anna Despart and Sam Gawron cruised to an 8-2 victory in the third doubles match.

Bannister would collect a win over Mariza Sfakianaki in the top singles slot while Kruk would earn a straight set win for the Spartans giving them four points in the match.  MCLA would battle back however as Emily Deaso took a point in the second singles match, while Gawron earned her second point of the match in decisive fashion.

When Higgins nipped Monika Plante in the fifth singles match, the score was tied at 4-4 with just the sixth match still competing.

Battling darkness, Miller would close the match when Gauthier's return came up short giving the Spartans a hard fought win over the Trailblazers.

MCLA is back in action on Thursday when they travel to Sage.