The Hillsdale College women's tennis team split matches over the final weekend of the regular season, and locked up a berth in the G-MAC tournament in the process.
The Chargers opened the weekend on Friday at Ursuline, rolling over the Arrows 7-0 without dropping a set in any match to clinch their spot in the G-MAC Tourney.
Then, on Saturday, Hillsdale closed out the regular season with a tough 4-1 loss to host Walsh. Although the Chargers only won one match, Hillsdale nearly pulled off the victory in a tough fight that was closer than the score indicated.
The battle started in doubles, where Hillsdale's team of Sarah Hackman and Melanie Zampardo rolled to a 6-3 victory over Walsh at No. 1 doubles, while Walsh's team took No. 3 doubles. In the end, the doubles point came down to No. 2 doubles, which went to Walsh by the slimmest of margins in a 7-5 tiebreak after both teams split the set 6-6.
In singles play, Hackman continued her excellent weekend with a hard-fought 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Risako Umekuni of Walsh at No. 1 singles, for Hillsdale's lone point of the match. The Chargers came close at No. 2 singles, where Libby McGivern lost in a tough three-set match, 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, to Shantala Uzcategui of Walsh, and at No. 3 singles, where Zampardo dropped a 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 match that was similarly tight.
Potentially all Hillsdale needed was one more point to swing their way, as senior Sophia Spinazze had a narrow 4-3 lead in the first set at No. 5 singles, and Ellie Chawner was rolling 6-2, 1-0 at No. 6 singles when the match was clinched. If the Chargers had pulled out the doubles point or any of the other three singles matches, those points could have been enough to swing the match their way.
The Chargers finish the regular season 8-9 overall, and 4-3 in G-MAC play, and will be the No. 4 seed entering the G-MAC Tournament next week in Owensboro, Kentucky, with a match against the top-seed in the semifinals on Friday, April 22. While the Chargers are the lowest seed, close matches with the other three qualifiers, Tiffin, Findlay and Walsh, give Hillsdale hope they can beat all three with slightly better play. It's also a similar position to the one the Chargers were in last year, where they entered as the No. 4 seed and pulled two upsets to win the G-MAC crown.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan