It wasn't easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.
The Hillsdale College men's tennis team was pushed hard by the University of Findlay, but emerged with a 9-0 victory Sunday at the Margot V. Biermann Center.
The win makes the Chargers 12-6 overall and 8-0 at the completion of Great Midwest Athletic Conference competition. Hillsdale is the 2018 conference regular season champions, and will enter next week's conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
This is the first conference regular season championship in school history for the sport of men's tennis.
Hillsdale earned quick wins at No. 1 and 2 doubles, with Charlie Adams and Justin Hyman winning 8-1 in the first flight. Dugan Delp and John Ciraci earned an 8-0 win at No. 2 doubles, but things got much closer from there.
Julien Clouette and Milan Mirkovic had to battle to win 8-7 at No. 3 doubles, giving Hillsdale the 3-0 lead entering singles play.
Three of the six singles matches needed a third set, but in each case, Hillsdale's player stepped up at crunch time to deliver victories.
Michael Szabo won his match at No. 6 singles 6-1, 5-7, 10-4. Hyman played two dead-even sets, winning 7-6 and losing 6-7 before rallying for a 10-5 win in the third set of his No. 3 singles matchup.
Adams was also tested, winning 6-3, 6-7, 10-5 at No. 2 singles.
Mirkovic won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, while Delp - honored before the match on Senior Day - was a 6-4, 6-1 winner at No. 4 singles.