NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University tennis team picked up its first victory of the 2019 season with a 6-3 win over Castleton University on Wednesday afternoon at Shapiro Field House.

Sophomore Noah Stillman (Danbury, Conn.) and freshman Timothy Santy (San Antonio, Texas) each went 2-0 on the day to help lead Norwich to the victory over its intrastate rival.

Stillman won No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-3 and also teamed with Dylan Ackerman (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) to take No. 2 doubles 8-2. Santy picked up his first two collegiate victories, taking No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-0 and he teamed with sophomore Abbie Barker (Warren, Vt.) to win No. 3 doubles 8-1. 

Norwich led 2-1 after doubles as the No. 1 doubles pair of Sam Beiter (Youngstown, N.Y) and Alexi Gilmore (Haverhill, Mass.) battled hard again only to fall 8-6 for the second straight match at the top duo spot to Castleton's Igor Almeida and Jared Wheeler. 

Gilmore responded at No. 2 singles with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory over Wheeler. Junior Timothy Birnbaum (Mahwah, N.J) closed out the Norwich winners on the day at No. 6 singles with a 6-0, 6-3 victory. 

Wednesday's win was the first victory for new head coach Matt Roche at Norwich. The Cadets improved to 1-2, while Castleton dropped to 0-2.

Norwich will continue its season on Saturday when it begins its six matches in six days spring break trip as it heads to Bennington, Vt. to take on MCLA at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.