Perhaps the most exciting thing about the 2020-21 season for the Hillsdale College men's tennis team is that it might be just the beginning of a special run.
Even with all the accolades the Chargers earned last year, including the G-MAC title and the team's first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament berth, there's reason to believe that the best is yet to come.
The Chargers return their top five singles players from a 15-3 team that went undefeated in the G-MAC last season, including three first-team All-G-MAC players.
Hillsdale has a formidable one-two punch at the top of the lineup in junior Tyler Conrad and sophomore Brennan Cimpeanu. Conrad was the breakout player of last year for the Chargers, taking a big step up in competition after playing mostly at No. 5 singles for Hillsdale as a freshman and finishing the season with a winning record against the best players the Midwest Region had to offer.
Cimpeanu, meanwhile, dominated all challengers at No. 2 singles for Hillsdale, finishing with a 15-0 record in completed matches on his way to becoming the first Charger men's tennis player to earn G-MAC Freshman of the Year honors.
Behind those two stalwarts, Hillsdale has a formidable lineup. Brian Hackman, the Chargers' lone senior, posted a 9-4 record at No. 3 and 4 singles and also earned first-team All-G-MAC honors. Sophomores Sean Barstow and Daniel Gilbert also excelled in their first seasons in 2020-21, posting a combined record of 22-9 in singles, and should continue to improve and grow as they gain more experience.
To that core, the Chargers add junior Bogdan Janiciejevic, who was unavailable for most of 2020-21 with an injury but could play a bigger role this year, as well as two promising freshmen – Jonathan Degtyaryov, from Campbell, California, and Noah Fasczewski, from Clarkston, Michigan.
Both Degtyaryov and Fasczewski have strong backgrounds in high school and USTA tennis and should compete for spot in the lineup while also bolstering the team's doubles pairings for the upcoming season.
Hillsdale opens the season with its annual home invite this Saturday and Sunday, September 11th and 12th, hosting three schools: conference rivals Findlay and Tiffin, as well as GLIAC foe Wayne State.
The Chargers also will travel to the ITA Midwest Regional during the fall season, competing in singles and doubles action against players from all the top teams in the region at the Division II level. That event is scheduled for Sept. 24-26 in Allendale.
Hillsdale will be challenged on its path to a repeat G-MAC title. While G-MAC Tournament opponents Tiffin and Findlay suffered more extensive graduation losses than the Chargers, both teams return key players and have reloaded quickly over the years. Regular season G-MAC runner-up Walsh also is slated to return five of its top six singles players and could be the Chargers' biggest obstacle to repeating.
The addition of Ashland to the G-MAC this season complicates the title race further. The Eagles weren't a powerhouse in men's tennis in the GLIAC, finishing 5-8 overall and 2-5 in the conference last season.
But Ashland returns five of its top six singles players as well, and is looking to quickly reload with a four-player freshman class this season. The Eagles will be a factor and could shake up a conference tournament field that's included Hillsdale, Walsh, Findlay and Tiffin in every single year those teams have been G-MAC members.
You can find the full schedule for the Charger men's tennis team here.