Two of the best players in Hillsdale College men's tennis history will get another chance to compete on a national stage.
Charger juniors Sean Barstow and Brennan Cimpeanu found out on Wednesday afternoon that they have earned at-large qualifying berths to the 2022 ITA Cup, the de facto singles and doubles national championship at the NCAA Division II level, to be contested on Oct. 13-16 in Rome, Georgia.
This is the second-straight season both players will compete in the star-studded event, which invites the top 16 NCAA Division II singles players and top 16 doubles squads to compete for national titles over four days of action. Cimpeanu is the fourth seeded player in the singles draw, and also will compete with Barstow in doubles action in the event.
In 2021, Cimpeanu finished tied for seventh in the nation in singles play after reaching the quarterfinal round, thanks to a 7-6 (6), 6-3 upset of third-seeded Marko Nikoliuk of Southern Arkansas. Teaming with Barstow, the pair also tied for 13th in the nation in doubles, defeating Mercyhurst's David Akinpetide and Milan Jankovic in their final match of the event.
Those top finishes helped Cimpeanu become the first Hillsdale men's tennis player to earn NCAA Division II All-American honors from the ITA for the 2021-22 season, and also helped the pairing of Barstow and Cimpeanu remain nationally ranked in doubles throughout the 2021-22 campaign. Both players earned qualification to the 2021 ITA Cup thanks to historic runs at the 2021 ITA Midwest Regional, where Cimpeanu became the first Charger ever to win an ITA Regional singles title, and Barstow and Cimpeanu earned runner-up honors in doubles as well.
So far this fall, Cimpeanu and Barstow have remained elite to help secure the at-large bid. Cimpeanu is 10-1 in singles play, with his lone defeat coming to another ITA Cup qualifier, Wayne State's Dom Spicer, in the quarterfinals of the 2022 ITA Midwest Regional. As a doubles team, Barstow and Cimpeanu are 6-2 as well, with multiple notable victories.
Both players earning at-large bids to the ITA Cup is a testament to the the growing strength of men's tennis in the Midwest Region. In 2021, Cimpeanu, the ITA Midwest Regional champion, was the only player from the Midwest Region in the ITA Cup singles draw, and Barstow and Cimpeanu were one of just two doubles squads.
In 2022, Cimpeanu is one of four Midwest Region singles players to earn a bid, a quarter of the field, as he's joined by Spicer, 2022 ITA Midwest Regional champion Mario Aleksic of Maryville University and Ruben Fonga of Tiffin University. In doubles, there are three Midwest Region squads, as Barstow and Cimpeanu are joined by Cedric Drenth and Daniel Grey of Wayne State, the top seed in the field, as well as Edgar Destouet and Tom Zeuch of the University of Indianapolis.
Play begins on Oct. 13 in Rome, Georgia at the Rome Tennis Center, with select matches throughout the four-day competition being live-streamed at wearecollegetennis.com. Along with potential national titles, the singles and doubles champions also have the potential to be selected to represent their program at the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, California on Nov. 2-6, where they will be entered into a field of 32 of the top NCAA Division I singles players or doubles teams in the nation as a wild card.