Courtesy | Brennan Cimpeanu
After already making history, the Hillsdale College men’s tennis team continued to make more by winning two matches in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup in Rome, Georgia.
Sophomores Brennan Cimpeanu and Sean Barstow became the first Chargers, and first G-MAC players, ever to play in the ITA Cup. Cimpeanu won the Midwest Regional, and the doubles team of Cimpeanu and Barstow won an at-large bid to participate.
“The ITA Cup was a great experience for us,” Head Coach Keith Turner said. “Brennan and Sean showed that they belong alongside the top players in the country.”
Cimpeanu upset the No. 3 seed Marko Nikoliuk of Southern Arkansas University 7-6(6), 6-3 in his first match. Nikoliuk finished 6th overall in the 2019 ITA Cup.
“Right away I recognized that he was a mirror reflection of my own game,” Cimpeanu said. “We both had one obviously stronger shot and one weaker one. We both stayed back and focused on our ground strokes.”
Cimpeanu said he won the match by asking how he would beat himself.
“One thing I believe is a strength to my game is my ability to change my style and adapt slightly to my opponent’s weaknesses,” Cimpeanu said. “Since I would prefer to have shorter points, I decided to stay in the rally as long as possible against him and keep the ball to his weaker side.”
After beating Nikoliuk, Cimpeanu advanced to the quarterfinals to face Alex Martinez Roca of Midwestern State University. Cimpeanu lost 6-1, 6-3 and then lost to Francisco Oliviera from Ouachita Baptist University 7-6(8), 6-3. Cimpeanu finished tied for 7th place in the ITA singles standings.
“I really enjoyed the intense atmosphere at the ITA Cup,” Cimpeanu said. “You were competing with the best players in Division 2 tennis so expectations had to go up. I knew that if I wanted to do well, I had to be on top of my game.”
In doubles, Barstow and Cimpeanu played three matches. Their first match was against 4th-seeded Luca Mack and Rodrigo Carvalho from Valdosta State University. Barstow and Cimpeanu lost 7-5, 6-4, and Mack and Carvalho went on to be the runners-up for the doubles title.
“One thing that I noticed that Brennan and I need to improve on is being more aggressive, especially at the net,” Barstow said. “The teams that beat us were more active and aggressive at the net and that gave them a huge advantage.”
Cimpeanu and Barstow then faced off against a familiar opponent from the Midwest Regional, Davenport University. The Davenport duo of Jonathan Bulmer and Juan-Louis van Antwerpen had defeated Cimpeanu and Barstow in straight sets in the Midwest Regional. The Charger duo answered a 6-3 first set loss with a 7-6(5) victory in the second, but lost the final set 10-8.
“Going into the match we knew that we could beat them but they just played a little better than us when it counted the most,” Barstow said. “I’m looking forward to hopefully playing them again in the spring and having another great match.”
Cimpeanu and Barstow played one last match in Georgia, against Mercyhurst University’s David Akinpetide and Milan Jankovic. The Charger team won 6-3, 6-3 to finish the ITA Cup tied for 13th place.
“I think that this tournament will give me more confidence going into the spring season,” Barstow said. “Seeing the competition there made me realize that Brennan and I can compete with any doubles team in the nation.”
The Chargers have now concluded their fall season, and play their first match of the spring season in February.
Turner said the success of the fall season is good for the energy, but the team needs to put together good practices for the next five weeks.
“Unfortunately injuries have been a major problem that will probably continue through next semester, this has changed our outlook for the spring,” Turner said. “Our goal now is to win the GMAC.”