The Hillsdale College men’s tennis team finished the weekend undefeated, sweeping Purdue Northwest 7-0 on Saturday and Wayne State University 4-3 on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Chargers took all seven points, winning three doubles matches. Sophomore Tyler Conrad and freshman Sean Barstow won a close 7-6(4) match at No. 1 doubles, freshman Brennan Cimpeanu and senior Gabe Katz won 6-3, and junior Brian Hackman and freshman Daniel Gilbert won 6-4.
Hackman’s solid performance last weekend earned him his first G-MAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award.
In the singles matches, Hillsdale went to three sets in three of the six matches, with two decided by slim margins in the third set. In the end, all six Chargers won.
Conrad won at No. 1 singles 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 while Barstow and Hackman also went to three sets, winning 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, and 7-5, 3-6, 10-8, respectively.
“Tyler’s being put in a tough situation playing #1 as our top 5 are all fairly equal,” head coach Keith Turner said. “This is a good learning situation for him and it should make him even a better player going forward.”
Cimpeanu, Gilbert and Katz won in straight sets, with Cimpeanu winning 6-3, 6-3. Gilbert won 6-3, 6-1 and Katz ended the day by winning 6-4, 7-6(7).
The matches were much closer on Sunday. For the first time this season, the Chargers lost the doubles point, losing all three matches. Conrad and Barstow lost 6-4 in No. 1 doubles, Cimpeanu and Katz were blanked 6-0 in No. 2, and Hackman and Gilbert lost a close match 7-6(5). With the doubles point loss, the Chargers needed to win four of the 6 single matches.
“Their team completely out-energized us and was ready to dominate the net, which is something Gabe and I need to work on,” Cimpeanu said.
Cimpeanu and Katz bounced back from their doubles loss with Cimpeanu winning 7-5, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and Katz winning 7-6(6), 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
“Our loss on Sunday was definitely a humbling experience,” Cimpeanu said. “Being able to compete against such a powerful doubles team taught us how much work we need in our doubles and how to play in the future.”
Cimpeanu said he and Katz talked about their doubles loss and placed an emphasis on making sure they have enough energy for the future matches.
“It is definitely a fun and different experience playing with Katz,” Cimpeanu said. “Considering he is a senior, he has so much more experience than me in the college competitive environment.”
Turner said Cimpeanu and Katz have been solid at No. 2 doubles so far.
“Gabe is pretty quiet and stoic in nature so he leads more by example,” Turner said. “He’s playing with a partner who has the most extensive tournament experience of anyone on the team so Brennan is already a leader in his own right as a freshman.”
Cimpeanu said he was forced to adapt on Sunday due to his opponent Leon Kah’s strong start.
“Leon Kah had a strong serve and used that to get 5-2 on me the first set,” Cimpeanu said. “However, I realized that the balls were slowly losing their bounce and used that to my advantage in attacking his serves and his short balls.”
Turner also mentioned the need to adapt playing styles.
“It’s something that we still need to improve on,” Turner said. “Sometimes the guys need to get out of their comfort zone a bit and hit shots they aren’t used to hitting.”
Hackman and Gilbert ended up winning in three sets. Gilbert won with 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 at No. 5 singles, and Hackman came back from a 6-4 loss in the first set to win 6-3, 6-4 in the last two sets at No. 4 singles.
This weekend the Chargers travel to Grand Valley State on Saturday, Feb. 27 for a 1 p.m. showdown. After that, they host Ferris State University on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
“We’re in the middle of a stretch where we’re playing arguably the best teams we’ll play all year, we just need to continue to play with confidence,” Turner said. “Every year we continue to close the gap between us and these teams that are on paper supposed to be a little stronger than us. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything this weekend.”
