The Hillsdale College men's tennis team made a statement at this weekend's ITA Midwest Regional in Indianapolis, Indiana, with one of the best performances by the program top-to-bottom since it restarted in 2014.
All six singles players and four doubles teams entered by the Chargers in the six draws won at least one match in the three-day contest, a first for the program, and several Hillsdale players made deep runs in their respective brackets in the region's most prestigious individual event at the NCAA DII level.
Leading the way for Hillsdale with another strong performance was junior Brennan Cimpeanu. The 2021 ITA Midwest Regional singles champion, Cimpeanu made another spirited run to the quarterfinal round in 2022 as the sixth seed, dispatching Philip Carstensen of Walsh 6-2, 6-4, and Kevin Kovacs of Ferris State 6-0, 6-1 in quick victories in the first two rounds, then bested 16th-seeded Cedric Drenth of Wayne State in a hard-fought match in the round of 16, a 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 thriller.
It took a matchup with the top seed in the bracket, Dom Spicer, the No. 1 player on 2021 national runner-up Wayne State, in the quarterfinal for Cimpeanu's run to finally end, but his performance still proved he remains one of the top singles players in the Midwest region heading into the spring season.
The other Chargers player in the top singles bracket, senior Tyler Conrad, was ousted by Drenth in the opening round, but had a strong run in the consolation bracket, beating Wilfredo Lara of Findlay 6-4, 6-3 and Sebastian Jonsson of Illinois-Springfield 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 before falling to Ugnius Bickauskis of William Jewell in a quarterfinal matchup to go 2-2 on the weekend.
Hillsdale also had several players win multiple matches in the B singles bracket. Junior Daniel Gilbert pulled multiple thrilling upsets to reach the quarterfinals, beating 13th-seeded Alessandro Santangelo of Ferris State 3-6, 6-3, 10-2 in the opening round, knocking off Alfredo Berlanga of Findlay 6-7 (8), 6-1, 10-6 and taking down second-seeded Juan Felipe Castellanos of Rockhurst 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 before finally falling to 10th seeded Pedro Romano Franca in a tight quarterfinal match.
Also in the B draw, Chargers freshman Aidan Pack drew the 15th seed and lived up to the billing in his first ITAs, beating Octavio Carrasco of Findlay 1-6, 6-4, 10-5 and Jose Antonio Velasco of McKendree 6-2, 6-3 to reach the round of 16 before falling in a tight match to Walsh's Blas Ruiz. Junior Sean Barstow also pulled upsets to reach the round of 16, defeating Pablo Mateos Niella of Quincy 6-0, 6-3 and then upsetting ninth-seeded David Leon of McKendree in a 5-7, 6-1, 12-10 thriller to go 2-1 in singles play.
Last, but not least, freshman Nik Wastcoat put together a thrilling run of his own in the C Singles draw, beating Ethan Shoesmith of Findlay 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 and Jose Brenes Villareal of Davenport 7-5, 6-3 in the first two rounds before upsetting third-seeded Paul Hawes of Purdue Northwest 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the quarterfinals and fifth-seeded Fabian Bussard of Ashland 4-6, 6-4, 12-10 to reach the final.
Along with strong play in singles, the Chargers also recorded notable results in doubles action. In the top flight, Hillsdale's No. 1 team of Cimpeanu and Barstow took down teams from William Jewell 8-5 and Ferris State 8-6 before falling in the quarterfinals.
Two Hillsdale squads also played well in the B Doubles draw. The Chargers' team of Hackman and Wastcoat won two matches and upset the top-seeded team from Ferris State in a dominant 8-1 victory before falling in the quarterfinals, and Hillsdale's team of Conrad and Pack also picked up an 8-3 opening round win over Walsh.
The Chargers' final doubles team of Gilbert and Bogdan Janicijevic also didn't go home empty-handed in the C Doubles draw, stunning the third-ranked team from Davenport in a thrilling 9-8 (2) tiebreak victory to go 1-1 as well.
Having proven its depth, the Chargers continue the fall season next Sunday at 1 p.m. with a tough match against NAIA powerhouse Indiana Tech at home. Hillsdale hopes to continue to build off a solid start and head into the winter break with momentum.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan