The Hillsdale College men's tennis team continued a strong start to the season with a 7-0 victory over visiting Michigan Tech at home on Saturday.
The Chargers won all eight contested matches and dropped just one set on the day in a dominant performance. Hillsdale opened the contest by taking all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point, with the No. 1 doubles team of Tyler Conrad and Sean Barstow picking up a 6-2 victory, Brennan Cimpeanu and Gabe Katz winning 6-3 at No. 2 doubles, and the Chargers' No. 3 doubles team of Brian Hackman and Daniel Gilbert winning 6-2 as well.
In singles play, Conrad, a sophomore, topped Nikolai Gonzalez of Michigan Tech 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles for the Chargers, freshman Brennan Cimpeanu won a 6-1, 6-1 match over the Huskies' Ricardo Nunez at No. 2 singles, freshman Sean Barstow took a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Siddesh Mahadeshwar of Michigan Tech at No. 4 singles, and freshman Daniel Gilbert beat Ambarish Rao of Michigan Tech 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 singles.
At No. 3 singles, junior Brian Hackman got the toughest fight for the Chargers, having to rally from a narrow 7-6 (5) tiebreaker loss to Eli Pinnoo of Michigan Tech in the first set. But rally Hackman did, rolling to a 6-1 win in the second set and taking the third set tiebreak 10-6 to give the Chargers the sweep on the day.
At 7-1 overall, Hillsdale is in a strong position with G-MAC play fast approaching. The Chargers have two more tune-up matches -- at Northwood next Saturday, and at Indiana Tech on Friday, March 26, before opening conference play at Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday, March 27.
Photo by Summer Fields