The Hillsdale College men’s tennis team won its sixth straight match on Sunday against Davis & Elkins 9-0 University in the Biermann Athletic Center. The Chargers moved to 10-6 on the season and 6-0 in the G-MAC.
Sophomores Milan Mirkovic and Charlie Adams won No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-2 and No. 2 singles 6-0, 6-0. Junior Justin Hyman took No. 3 singles 7-5, 6-1. Senior captain Dugan Delp was a No. 4 singles winner 6-1, 6-1. Freshman Gabe Katz shut out Cody Turner at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-0.
Adams and Hyman won No. 1 doubles 8-5. Delp teamed up with Junior John Ciraci to take No. 2 doubles 8-3. Mirkovic and Sophomore Julien Clouette won No. 3 doubles.
Head tennis coach Keith Turner said Davis & Elkins put up a good fight against the G-MAC’s No. 1 ranked seed, but that the Chargers will face more rigorous competition next week.
“We’ve got a much tougher couple of weekends coming up with Walsh and Findlay this weekend and then the conference tournament next weekend,” Turner said.
Turner said the team is preparing for tough play by playing challenge matches against other teammates.
“We are going to play matches tomorrow against each other and that’s kind of what we’ve done last week,” Turner said. “We’ve had to up the actual amount of intersquad matches these last couple of weeks.”
Delp said the team spent their practices preparing physically and mentally.
“In order to stay in shape and to be used to the level of competition we’ve been talking about these [upcoming] matches for the past couple of weeks,” Delp said. “I think talking about it and preparing mentally has been a big part of our practice these last couple of weeks.”
Katz said the team is excited to approach the final two matches before the G-MAC tournament.
“We’re playing two good teams, but we feel pretty confident,” Katz said. “I think we’ve had some of our best practices of the year in the past couple of weeks.”
The Charge face Walsh and Findlay at at home on April 14 and 15.
Delp said the team was ready for its final matches before the G-MAC tournament.
“Honestly I think being back at home for our last couple of matches and senior day, I think we’re all really excited to finish the season on a high note and then to have some momentum going into the G-MAC tournament,” Delp said.