Hillsdale finishes fall season with winning record

Home Charger Tennis Hillsdale finishes fall season with winning record
Hillsdale finishes fall season with winning record
The men’s tennis team poses with Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn after clinching the G-MAC regular season title. (Cleves Delp | Courtesy)

The Hillsdale Chargers closed out their fall season with a 16-11 singles and doubles record at the Racer Invitational last weekend in Lima, Ohio.

Head coach Keith Turner felt positive about the tournament, considering the tough competition the Chargers faced. Similarly, Turner felt the fall season helped the team improve and served as a gauge for the upcoming spring season.

“I could see the improvement overall with the team from when we started 6 weeks ago,” he said. “We need to continue to work hard on the practice court and in the weight room during the off season until our next match on Feb. 2. If we continue to improve we will have a chance as repeating as G-MAC champions.”

Sophomore Gabe Katz won the no. 5 singles flight, beating Northwestern Ohio and Wayne State in straight sets and then Northwestern Ohio again in a tiebreak 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.

Junior Charlie Adams won the No. 1 singles consolation bracket against Tiffin’s Nikita Parfenov and Northwood’s Kobus Sauerman with scores of 6-3, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-3.

Senior John Ciraci won no. 3 singles consolation, beating both Austin Mohamedali and Justin Kopronica of Tiffin 6-2, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-0.  

Freshman Brian Hackman won no. 4 singles consolation bracket, beating Tiffin’s Ryan Gase 6-1, 6-1 and then Northwestern Ohio’s Duarte Teixeira in a three-set 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 final.  

In no. 3 doubles, sophomores Gabe Katz and Nico de Enrique beat Kane and Szarek in finals with a victory of 8 – 0.

With the conclusion of the fall season, Katz, who achieved several victories this season, found the fall to be a time for critique in order to improve for the upcoming spring season.

“The fall season is mostly just a warmup for the spring season, and the tournaments we played this fall showed that I need to improve a lot by the time spring comes,”  Katz said. “I’m excited for the spring season, because we play a lot of very good teams, but we have a long way to go before then.”