Mission accomplished!
The Charger men's tennis team, undefeated through the regular season, fulfilled its destiny by winning the 2018 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament championship Saturday afternoon in Owensboro, Kentucky.
It is the first conference tournament championship in program history, in just the third year of the current team's existence.
Hillsdale (14-6 overall) defeated Walsh University 5-1 in the tournament title match, ending its season in the best way possible. The match ended after six individual matches because the Chargers had mathematically clinched the victory over the Cavaliers.
The Chargers got off to a 2-1 lead in the match after doubles play thanks to a pair of dominating wins by the top two doubles teams. Justin Hyman and Charlie Adams polished off an 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles. Dugan Delp and John Ciraci also cruised to an 8-2 victory, giving Hillsdale an early advantage.
Entering singles play, Hillsdale needed just three wins, and it got them in short order. Adams was the first to win, with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph at No. 2 singles. Milan Mirkovic, the G-MAC Player of the Year, showed why he won the award with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles.
The championship was clinched – appropriately enough – by Delp, the team's lone senior, with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles.
This represents the first G-MAC tournament championship won by a Hillsdale men's program, and the sixth won by a Charger team during the 2017-18 school year. Despite the tournament title, the Chargers do not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, because the G-MAC falls under the association's minimum membership requirements in a sport to have an automatic qualifier. Hillsdale has been regionally ranked through the season, and has a chance to qualify as an at-large team.