NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's tennis team won four of six singles matches, including No. 5 and No. 6 singles to rally past in-state rival Castleton University on Wednesday night in a tightly-contested marathon four-hour match. 

Sophomore Timothy Birnbaum (Mahwah, N.J.) clinched the victory at No. 6 singles by downing Riley Laughlin 7-5 and 6-1. Birnbaum rallied from a 5-4 deficit to defeat Laughlin in the first set before dominating the second set 6-1. 

Freshman Noah Stillman (Danbury, Conn.) also won at No. 5 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Darwin Norris to tie the match up at 4-4 and set up sixth singles as the deciding match. 

Junior Sam Beiter (Youngstown, N.Y.) and freshman Alexi Gilmore (Haverhill, Mass.) each remained perfect in singles action in 2018. Beiter took No. 3 singles 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to win a pivotal match. Gilmore won No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-3. 

The No. 3 doubles team of Stillman and Maddy Muthukumaraswany (Montreal, Quebec) were the only pairs team to pick up a victory as they downed Laughlin and Norris 8-2. 

Norwich (3-1, 0-0 GNAC North) handed Castleton (3-1) its first loss of the season with the victory after the Spartans had won their first three matches by a combined score of 27-0. 

The most exciting match in doubles came down to the No. 2 spot with Trevor Hanna and Brody Wagner earning a 9-8 (10-7 tiebreak) thriller win over the Cadets' duo of Hadley Ellis (Jamestown, Ky.) and Beiter. 

Norwich continues its five-match home stand when it hosts Lyndon State on Thursday, April 5 vs. Lyndon State.