The Hillsdale College men's tennis team opened the season at home on Friday and Saturday in its annual Charger Invitational, performing well against tough competition that included national DII runner-up Wayne State and defending G-MAC champion Tiffin, among others.
Three flights of singles and two flights of doubles were contested at the Mary J. Delp Tennis Courts over the weekend. Per agreement among the six attending coaches, flight finals were not played out so as to prevent players from appearing in excessive matches ahead of the extremely important ITA Midwest Regional next weekend.
Two standouts brought home co-championships in singles to lead the way for Hillsdale. Junior Brennan Cimpeanu, a 2021 ITA All-American, picked up right where he left off last season in the A Singles flight, winning three straight matches to reach the finals and share the title in the top single bracket.
Cimpeanu opened the day by defeating Findlay's Wilfredo Lara 6-3, 6-2, then knocked off Tiffin's Maxime Navrotchi 6-1, 1-6, 10-6 in a hard fought match in the quarterfinal and Wayne State's Daniel Grey 4-6, 7-6 (7), 10-6 in the semifinal to finish off an undefeated run.
Meanwhile, in the C Singles Bracket, freshman Nik Wastcoat had a promising debut for the Chargers, pulling off three straight victories of his own to share the title in his flight as well. Wastcoat took down Findlay's Brayden Doherty 6-2, 6-1 in the the opening round, won a tight 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 match against Purdue Northwest's Luis Alvear in the quarterfinal, and rolled past Ethan Shoesmith of Findlay 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinal to finish off an unbeaten run.
Several other Chargers had decent results in singles play on the day. Senior Tyler Conrad made the A bracket quarterfinal, beating Tiffin's No. 3 Matthew Telford 3-6, 7-6 (5), 10-5 in the round of 16.
In the B draw, junior Daniel Gilbert went 2-1, beating Octavio Carrasco of Findlay 5-7, 6-1, 10-3 and Joe Kelt of Wayne State 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semifinals, while junior Sean Barstow defeated Paul Hawes of Purdue Northwest 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals as well.
In consolation bracket action in the B draw, freshman Aidan Pack bounced back from a hard-fought opening round loss to reach the consolation finals for the Chargers, taking down Pedro Garcia-Orellana of Lawrence Tech 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 in a tight, highly competitive match and advancing by default in the semifinals.
In the C singles consolation bracket, senior Bogdan Janicijevic and freshman Lennart Kober each advanced to the final after picking up a victory -- Janicijevic over Doherty of Findlay, 6-4, 6-1 and Kober of Aidan Beilke of Purdue Northwest 6-0, 6-3.
Hillsdale also had several teams compete in doubles play over the weekend. The Chargers' team of Wastcoat and senior Brian Hackman was the lone Hillsdale pairing to pick up a main draw win, beating Diego Colombo and Juan Escriba Pastor of Lawrence Tech 8-3 to reach the B draw quarterfinal. Hillsdale's A team of Cimpeanu and Barstow also picked up a win in the consolation bracket, beating Ruben Fonga and Matthew Weaver of Tiffin 9-7 to reach the consolation semifinals.
With valuable experience from this weekend under their belts, the Chargers now turn their focus to the ITA Midwest Regional, hosted by the University of Indianapolis next weekend. The three-day tournament brings together all the best players in the Midwest Region at the NCAA DII level and is considered one of the biggest events of the season for all involved. Hillsdale will be looking to repeat its stunning success from last season, when Cimpeanu became the first player in Charger history to win the singles event, and Cimpeanu and Barstow became the first Chargers to reach the regional final match in doubles as well.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan