2023 G-MAC Women's Tennis All-Conference Awards
For the second straight season, Hillsdale College's Sarah Hackman is bringing home the highest season honor a women's tennis player can receive from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Hackman repeated as G-MAC Player of the Year after first receiving the honor in 2022 as the G-MAC announced its end of season awards and All-Conference teams on Thursday morning.
A five-year player and mainstay of Hillsdale's lineup throughout her career, Hackman also was named to the All-G-MAC first team, her third time receiving a first-team award and her fourth All-G-MAC honor overall. The only season of her career where Hackman did not receive All-G-MAC recognition was in 2020, when Covid-19 cut the season short and no awards were handed out.
In 2022-23, Hackman matched her conference record from 2021-22, going 6-1 against G-MAC opponents while helping the Chargers to a third-place finish in the G-MAC. The senior also is 11-7 overall in ITA official matches, all at No. 1 singles, while teaming with doubles partner Melanie Zampardo to put up a 9-7 overall mark all at No. 1 doubles. Hackman and Zampardo are currently the 34th-ranked doubles pairing in all of NCAA Division II according to the ITA.
Hackman also was named G-MAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week two times in 2022-23, for a total of nine weekly conference recognitions in her career with the Chargers.
Whatever happens in the G-MAC Tournament being played this weekend, Hackman will go down as one of the best women's tennis players in Hillsdale College history. The senior has won 95 total matches in her career and joins Becky Wolf in 1994 and 1995 as the only Charger women's tennis player to win multiple conference player of the year awards. She's also been a part of two G-MAC Championships and two NCAA DII Tournament appearances during her career.
Along with Hackman's repeat player of the year honor, junior Melanie Zampardo also repeated as an All-G-MAC honoree for the Chargers, earning second-team All-Conference honors for the second straight season. A key piece for the Chargers at No. 1 doubles as part of a nationally-ranked team with Sarah Hackman, Zampardo also went 4-3 in G-MAC play and 10-9 overall at No. 2 singles for Hillsdale, representing an important part of the lineup for a Chargers team that rallied to take the third seed in the G-MAC tournament this weekend.
Hillsdale is currently playing Ashland in the G-MAC Quarterfinal round to advance to a semifinal match on Friday against second-seeded Findlay. That match is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. in Owensboro, Kentucky.