The Hillsdale College men's tennis team won its second-straight G-MAC match to open the conference portion of the season, downing visiting Kentucky Wesleyan 4-0 without dropping a set in any match.
In doubles, senior Matt Granzotto made his season debut with the Chargers, teaming with Bogdan Janiciejevic to win a 6-4 match at No. 3 doubles. The Chargers also got a 6-1 victory from its No. 1 doubles team of Sean Barstow and Brennan Cimpeanu, who are ranked ninth in the country at the NCAA Division II level by the ITA playing together and were appearing in their first match as a team since Feb. 6. Hillsdale's No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Conrad and Daniel Gilbert also pulled out a 6-0 victory for the Chargers.
With the doubles point secured, Hillsdale needed just three singles victories to clinch the match, and got all three quickly to bring the action to a close early. Gilbert rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 4 singles over KWC's Evan Morton, Conrad secured a 6-1, 6-0 victory over the Panthers' Lucas Holder at No. 2 singles, and Barstow earned a 6-1, 6-0 victory over KWC's Dylan McDuffie at No. 3 singles as well.
With the victory clinched, Cimpeanu was unable to finish off his match at No. 1 singles against KWC's John Thomas Hayden, but the 14th-ranked singles player in NCAA Division II was well on his way to his 15th singles win of the season, leading 6-0, 5-0 when the match was called.
The Chargers are now 6-7 overall and 2-0 in G-MAC play. Hillsdale hosts its final home match of the season on April 2 against Cedarville, and it's a critical one for the Chargers, who can all but lock up a spot in the G-MAC Tournament with a victory over the Yellow Jackets and ahead of a difficult three match stretch against league powers Findlay, Tiffin and Walsh all on the road to end the season.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop