The Hillsdale College men's tennis team put up a valiant fight to extend its season as the underdog against top-seeded Findlay in a G-MAC tournament semifinal match on Friday in Owensboro, Kentucky.
But in the end, the Chargers came up short by the slimmest of margins in a marathon 4-3 loss to a tough Oilers squad.
Hillsdale entered the singles portion already at a disadvantage after Findlay swept doubles matches to take the doubles point, but the Chargers fought back hard in singles play, quickly taking three matches to put themselves one win away from the upset.
Junior Tyler Conrad rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Findlay's Alfredo Berlanga to win at No. 2 singles for Hillsdale, and senior Matt Granzotto, a second-semester addition to the roster this season, pulled off the biggest match win of his career with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Oilers' Andrew Condita at No. 5 singles to give the Chargers two points.
Sophomore Brennan Cimpeanu then rallied from a 4-6 loss in the first set to beat Findlay's Luigi Bove 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles for Hillsdale and tie the match at 3-all.
But the final point that would have clinched the upset proved elusive for the Chargers. Sophomore Daniel Gilbert put on an impressive showing at No. 4 singles, taking the Oilers' Dallas Ramsay, who'd beaten him in straight sets just two weeks earlier, to a third set and forcing a third-set tiebreak for the match. Despite a spirited effort from the sophomore to get the Chargers over the top in the match, Ramsay ultimately prevailed by a razor-thin margin in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4) match that gave the Oilers the point they needed to clinch three hours and 41 minutes after the start.
Hillsdale finishes a roller-coaster season at 7-11 overall, and 3-3 in G-MAC play. The Chargers experienced the highest of highs in the fall of 2021, watching Cimpeanu make an unprecedented run to the ITA Midwest Regional title and a tie for seventh at the ITA Cup in singles, and spend most of the season ranked in the top 20 nationally. Sophomore Sean Barstow, too, partnered with Cimpeanu to take runner-up in the ITA Midwest Regional in doubles, a first for a team from Hillsdale, tie for 13th in the nation at the ITA Cup and spend the year ranked in the top 20 in the nation for doubles as well. Three first-team All-G-MAC honorees is a testament to the strength of the top of the Chargers' lineup this season.
As a team, however, injuries and other unforeseen setbacks kept the Chargers from reaching their full potential in the spring season. The silver lining, however, is that Hillsdale will be returning nearly every player of consequence next fall for the 2022-23 season -- among lineup regulars, only Granzotto is graduating -- and will be adding key reinforcements to the program.
That includes the return of senior Brian Hackman, a first-team All-G-MAC player in 2020-21 who was instrumental to the team's 2021 G-MAC title and who missed the entire spring of 2022 with an injury, as well as the addition of three talented freshmen to strengthen the lineup. That mix of experienced talent and fresh faces means the Chargers should be back in Owensboro again next season, and in a better position to contend for the conference crown and an NCAA Tournament berth if everyone continues to develop and stays healthy.
Photo Courtesy of Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics