The Hillsdale College men's tennis team battled but came up short against a tough regional foe in a road contest in Grand Rapids against Grand Valley State on Saturday.
The Chargers pushed the Lakers, annually one of the better squads in the region, in several flights, but GVSU came away with a 5-2 victory in the end to snap a three-match Hillsdale winning streak and drop the Chargers to 6-2 overall.
Starting the match with doubles play, Hillsdale got a solid performance from the No. 3 pairing of Tyler Conrad and Aidan Pack, who battled their GVSU opponents closely in a 7-5 defeat, but the Lakers ultimately took all three flights and the doubles point.
The Chargers got two wins in singles, as junior Brennan Cimpeanu rolled past GVSU's Unai Gonzalez 6-2, 6-1 at No.1 singles in an impressive victory, and fellow junior Sean Barstow also pulled off a solid 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Lakers' Patricio Sepulveda at No. 5 singles as well.
Both Pack, a freshman, and junior Daniel Gilbert played strong matches for the Chargers at No. 2 and No. 6 singles respectively, pushing their opponents to third set tiebreaks, but in the end couldn't pull off a victory in two narrow defeats.
Hillsdale has another tough weekend of regional competiton ahead, as the Chargers head west next Saturday and Sunday to take on Illinois-Springfield and Missouri-St. Louis in important contests as Hillsdale looks to continue to build its regional resume heading into G-MAC play in the next couple of weeks.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan