The Hillsdale College men's tennis team closed the regular season with a tough loss at Walsh on Saturday, falling 4-0 to the host Cavaliers.
Although it's not reflected in the final score, the Chargers did put up a spirited fight to try and get a road victory. The doubles point was hotly contested, as Hillsdale's team of Brennan Cimpeanu and Daniel Gilbert rolled to a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles, but the Chargers couldn't get a victory at either the No. 1 or No. 3 spots to secure the point.
In singles play, Hillsdale's Tyler Conrad took Walsh's Luis Hernandez to a third set in a hard-fought 7-5, 5-7, 2-6 loss at No. 2 singles, and Gilbert pushed Walsh's Dawson Drummond to a third set in a 2-6, 6-4, 2-6 loss as well. Those two victories, however, combined with a win at No. 1 singles, were enough to give Walsh the match.
The Chargers finish the regular season at 7-10 overall, 3-3 in G-MAC play, and now turn their focus to the G-MAC Tournament next weekend in Owensboro, Kentucky. Hillsdale will be the No. 4 seed in the bracket and play the top seed in a semifinal match on Friday looking to fight their way to a spot in the final. Although fourth in the regular season, the Chargers are the defending champions, and they had relatively close matches against all three other qualifiers, Findlay, Tiffin and Walsh, in the last two weeks, giving Hillsdale hope it could still be a dark horse next weekend.
Photo by Anthony Lupi