Men’s and women’s tennis seniors pose after their final home matches as Charger athletes. Courtesy | David Beach

Securing their sixth consecutive win this season, the Hillsdale women’s tennis team competed against Northwood University at home April 15 and walked away with a 5-2 victory.

Senior Canela Luna said certain uncontrollable factors made the match challenging for the Chargers.

“This Northwood match was very intense,” Luna said. “It was a very hot day, which made it very difficult and two of the Northwood girls ended up withdrawing from heat exhaustion. I myself also struggled with the heat. The Northwood team was very loud, rude, and downright unclassy, but Hillsdale overcame all of this, and we responded in a classy, but competitive, way.”
In honor of their last home match, the Chargers celebrated seniors Sarah Hackman, Luna, Ellie Chawner, and Tatum Matthews at the senior day ceremony.

“The senior day ceremony was super nice and it was cool that we got to do it together with the guys team,” Zampardo said. “We are very sad to be losing four incredible seniors, but we are excited to play in the conference tournament this upcoming weekend as the third seed.”
After losing the first two doubles matches, freshman Megan Hackman and Luna emerged victorious at the No. 3 spot with a final score of 6-2 against the Timberwolves.

In the first singles match, Sarah was leading 6-0, 0-0 before Rafaela Platsiota of Northwood retired. Similarly, in the second singles match, junior Melanie Zampardo was leading 6-3, 1-0 before her opponent retired mid-match.

At the No. 3 spot, Luna secured a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Northwood. Meanwhile, sophomore Libby McGivern took a decisive 6-3, 6-4 win over Savannah Matuszewski of Northwood in the fourth singles match.

While the Timberwolves managed to pick up a 6-2, 6-2 victory at the No. 5 spot, Chawner fought back for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win at No. 6 singles.

“Northwood was a great win for us,” Zampardo said. “We were able to focus and pull out the wins that really mattered. Even after losing the doubles point we were able to step up in singles and it really felt like we all wanted to win.”
The Chargers qualified for the G-MAC Tournament Quarterfinal in Owensboro, Kentucky, and secured the third seed after winning against the Timberwolves.

The Chargers’ overall record is 9-7, with a 6-2 record in G-MAC play. Their next match will be against Ashland April 20 in the G-MAC Quarterfinal round. The winner of the match will play Findlay in the semifinal match April 21 to determine which team advances to the G-MAC Championship match Saturday.