The Hillsdale College men's tennis team suffered its first conference loss of the season on the road on Saturday, falling 4-1 to a tough Tiffin team.
Hillsdale, ranked 72nd in NCAA DII in the most recent ITA Poll, battled closely with the Dragons, who were ranked 50th in the poll, at several spots but came up short in the final tally.
The Chargers' lone point came at No. 1 singles from sophomore Brennan Cimpeanu, who showed why he continues to be ranked 14th in the nation among NCAA DII singles players with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over a tough Tiffin player, Michael Gurtner, to improve to 16-4 on the year.
While that was the Chargers' only victory, several other matches were competitive. All three doubles points were close, with Hillsdale's No. 2 doubles team of Cimpeanu and sophomore Daniel Gilbert falling in a 7-5 decision to Tiffin's No. 2 squad in the tightest match.
In singles play, sophomore Sean Barstow battled for the Chargers against Tiffin's Matthew Weaver at the No. 3 spot, falling in a close and hard-fought three-set match, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6. Gilbert also was in a fight at No. 4 singles, dropping the first set to the Dragons' Matthew Telford in a 7-6 tiebreak, and looking like he was on the verge of tying things up with a 4-2 lead in the second set before Tiffin clinched and brought Gilbert's match to an early end.
The Chargers are now 7-8 overall and 3-1 in G-MAC play. Hillsdale has another big match tomorrow at Findlay beginning at 5 p.m., as a victory for the Chargers would keep Hillsdale in play for a share of the G-MAC regular season title.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop