The Hillsdale College men's tennis team took its first loss of the season on Sunday against a tough Lewis University squad on the road.
Lewis put the Chargers on the back foot early in the match by capturing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles. Hillsdale's No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Conrad and Jonathan Degtyaryov was ahead 5-4 in their flight, but the match at No. 2 doubles was suspended after the Flyers captured the other two flights and clinched the doubles point.
Needing four points in the singles portion of competition, the Chargers got halfway there with hard-fought wins at No. 3 and No. 6 singles. Conrad continued an undefeated start to the spring season with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles over Lewis' Pedja Trifunovic, and junior Bogdan Janiciejevic rallied from a first-set loss to defeat the Flyers' Andrej Zoranovic at No. 6 singles, 2-6, 6-3, 11-9, in a dramatic third set tiebreak.
But Hillsdale couldn't quite cash in victories in other close matches to complete the comeback. No. 1 singles player Brennan Cimpeanu fell in an extremely tight match with Lewis's Juan Ramirez Mejia, 5-7, 2-3, and Sean Barstow took a hard-fought defeat at No. 2 singles to Lewis' Oskar Lusti as well, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6. Degtyaryov also fell 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4 singles and Daniel Gilbert took a 6-2, 6-3 defeat at No. 5 singles for Hillsdale.
While Hillsdale (1-1) didn't pick up the victory, playing in close, hard-fought sets at every flight gives the Chargers valuable experience to build on as the season continues. More tough matches await the Chargers next weekend, as Hillsdale hosts Grand Valley St. on Saturday and Purdue Northwest on Sunday in Midwest regional competition.
Photo by Anthony Lupi