The Hillsdale College men's tennis team got a taste of head-to-head competition with two G-MAC foes over the weekend, as the Chargers competed for the final time in the fall at the G-MAC Invite hosted by Northwood.
The host Timberwolves, a newcomer to the G-MAC this year, and perennial title contender Walsh gave Hillsdale tough competition and close, tight matches were common throughout the competition.
Leading the way for the Chargers was another excellent performance from junior Brennan Cimpeanu, Hillsdale's top singles player. Cimpeanu cruised to straight-sets victories over both Northwood No. 1 singles player Leon Grundstrom (6-3, 6-4) and Walsh No. 1 singles player Philip Peter Carstensen (7-6 (5), 6-2) on Friday, then completed the sweep on Saturday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Walsh's Luis Hernandez Ceballos as well.
The pair of Cimpeanu and junior Sean Barstow also rolled through the doubles competition, beating both Northwood's top team of Grundstrom and Max Wild 8-6, as well as Walsh's best team of Carstensen and Ethan Milgan 8-2.
Barstow also had a solid weekend in singles for the Chargers, beating both Walsh's Lukas Kohler 6-1, 6-2 and Northwood's Mathis Violet 6-3, 6-1 on Friday and finishing 2-1 overall.
Five other Chargers won one singles match for Hillsdale. Junior Daniel Gilbert picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Northwood's David Sedlar at No. 5 singles, and freshman Nick Wastcoat won 6-0, 6-3 over Northwood's Kuzma Zubrii at No. 6 singles as well.
Freshman Lennart Kober picked up a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Northwood's Alex Lowell for the Charger player's first collegiate victory, and senior Bogdan Jancijevic also beat Lowell 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 as well for a Charger victory.
In doubles, each of Hillsdale's other three teams split the weekend, going 1-1.
The Chargers' team of senior Tyler Conrad and Pack beat Walsh's Alex Medina Puigmarti and Kohler 8-3 at No. 2 doubles, Hillsdale's team of senior Brian Hackman and Wastcoat beat Northwood's Tony Henrio and Lowell 9-8 in a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles, and the team of Gilbert and Kober picked up an 8-6 victory for Hillsdale over Violet and Northwood's Leyton Billups at No. 4 doubles.
Hillsdale now heads into winter training, looking to build towards the spring season and a run at a G-MAC title and NCAA DII tournament berth. Hillsdale will be back on the court for official matches on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, taking on NAIA foe Cornerstone.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan