The Hillsdale College men's tennis team pulled off one of the most important victories of the 2022-23 season on Sunday, and snapped a three-match losing streak in the process.
The Chargers defeated a G-MAC rival and fellow perennial title contender, Walsh, 6-1 in a home match to improve to 1-1 in conference play.
Hillsdale won five of the six singles matches to put away the Cavaliers, taking all five victories in straight sets. No. 1 singles player Brennan Cimpeanu continued a strong recent run with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Walsh's Philip Peter Carstensen, and Tyler Conrad won an equally dominant match at No. 3 singles, with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over the Cavaliers' Lukas Kohler.
At No. 4 singles, Brian Hackman beat Walsh's Blas Ruiz 6-1, 6-3, Sean Barstow took a 6-3, 6-1 win over Dawson Drummond of Walsh at No. 5 singles for the Chargers, and Daniel Gilbert won a 6-2, 6-4 match over Alex Medina Puigmarti of Walsh at No. 6 singles as well for Hillsdale.
The Chargers got the match off to a strong start by capturing the doubles point. Cimpeanu and Hackman teamed up for a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles to get the Chargers on the board, while Gilber and freshman Aidan Pack rolled to a 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles to secure the point.
The win puts Hillsdale in a solid position as it looks to secure a top four seed in the season-ending G-MAC Tournament. The Chargers now have a leg up on the Cavaliers, themselves a regular G-MAC Tournament qualifier, and keeps them even with Ashland and Cedarville in the standings with matches against those two teams in the coming weeks. Hillsdale next travels to Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday, April 1 for a conference match.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan