In a match it absolutely had to have, the veterans of the Hillsdale College men's tennis team came through when it counted in a 5-2 victory over Ashland to open G-MAC play on Saturday.
The Chargers were pushed to the absolute brink by the Eagles in both singles and doubles, but came out on top in a high-stakes, hard-fought match.
Hillsdale first won a very critical doubles point, thanks to a 6-4 win by sophomore Sean Barstow and junior Tyler Conrad at No. 1 singles, and a strong performance by sophomores Brennan Cimpeanu and Daniel Gilbert at No. 2 singles, holding on for a 7-6 (1) tiebreak victory to take the doubles point.
That meant the Chargers had an early 1-0 edge, and Hillsdale built off that start with a dominant win at No. 3 singles by Barstow (6-0, 6-1 over Ashland's Jordan Phelps) and a straight-sets win by Gilbert over Tche Kun Teng of Ashland at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 7-5 to move one point away from clinching the match.
But where that point would come from was in doubt, as both No. 1 singles player Cimpeanu and No. 2 singles player Conrad dropped the first set of their matches. With favorable matchups at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, that left the door open for Ashland to steal the match if they could hold on at both positions.
Needing one of its two top players to pull through, ultimately, the Chargers got comebacks from both. Cimpeanu bounced back to take set two 6-2 and set three 6-4 to give Hillsdale the clinching point and the victory at No. 1 singles. And, while it didn't matter to the overall outcome in the end, Conrad also had an impressive comeback at No. 2 singles, winning a second-set tiebreak 7-6 (4) and the third set 7-5 to win as well.
Although it's just the first conference match of the season, the victory is a critical one for Hillsdale (5-7, 1-0 G-MAC). The Chargers, along with Walsh, Findlay and Tiffin have been the four qualifying teams to the G-MAC Tournament every year since Tiffin joined the conference in 2018-19, and the Cavaliers, Oilers and Dragons are all off to impressive starts.
With newcomer Ashland now in the mix for one of the four spots, the Chargers couldn't afford to slip up with matches still to come against the three other title contenders down the road. The victory now puts the Chargers in good position to reach the G-MAC Tournament for a fourth-straight year, as long as Hillsdale stays focused and takes care of business in its next two matches, starting with a home contest against Kentucky Wesleyan next Saturday.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop