The Hillsdale College men's tennis team put forth a valiant effort but came up short in a tough road match against Findlay on Sunday.
The Chargers won three of six singles matches in the over four-hour contest but were unable to secure the doubles point or find the fourth victory in singles they needed to capture a road victory against a tough G-MAC foe.
Sophomore Brennan Cimpeanu, the 14th-ranked singles player at the NCAA DII level, led the way for the Chargers with a hard-fought three-set win over Luigi Bove of Findlay, 6-0, 0-6, 6-1, to improve to 16-4 on the season, and Hillsdale also got critical wins from junior Tyler Conrad, who picked up a 7-5, 6-1 win over Alfredo Berlanga of Findlay at No. 2 singles, and sophomore Sean Barstow, who won a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 thriller over Wilfredo Lara of Findlay at No. 3 singles.
But the Chargers couldn't find the fourth point they needed to clinch the match, despite tough battles in both singles and doubles. Senior Matt Granzotto came the closest to pulling off a singles win for Hillsdale, nearly pushing his match at No. 6 singles to a third set before falling 6-2, 7-5 in a hard-fought effort against Octavio Carrasco of Findlay.
Hillsdale also battled hard in doubles, with Cimpeanu and partner Daniel Gilbert narrowly falling at No. 2 doubles to Findlay in a 7-5 match. Ultimately, however, the Oilers took all three doubles matches to secure what ended up being the match-deciding point.
The Chargers are now 7-9 overall, and 3-2 in G-MAC play. Hillsdale will look to regroup heading into its final regular-season match with Walsh on Saturday, April 16. The Chargers have already locked up a spot in the G-MAC Tournament but can improve their seeding if they can upset the Cavaliers next Saturday.
Photo by Anthony Lupi