Senior Brian Hackman winds up to serve. Courtesy | James Gensterblum
The Hillsdale men’s tennis team won both of its weekend games at home against Cedarville University and Ashland University, defeating both teams 7-0.
It was a weekend of milestones for senior Brian Hackman, who reached 100 collegiate wins as a Charger. Head coach Keith Turner reached 200 wins as a coach.
“It’s something I’m proud of,” Turner said. “I definitely have a lot more gray hair than when I started. Hopefully that number will at least be 204 by the end of the season. That means we’ll be in the NCAA tournament.”
In the Friday match against Cedarville, the Chargers claimed victory in doubles matches. No. 1 junior Sean Barstow and senior Tyler Conrad won 6-3, No. 2 Hackman and freshman Nik Wastcoat won 6-1, and No. 3 freshman Aidan Pack and junior Daniel Gilbert won 6-2.
“We needed to get those wins,” Conrad said. “It was very nice to win 7-0, pretty decisive in both and to show the conference ‘Hey, we had a tough start, but we’re still contenders for the title.’”
The Chargers also took every singles point, only losing one set. The lineup was changed a bit, with No. 1 singles played by Conrad instead of junior Brennan Cimpenau. Conrad won with a tie break, scoring 6-2, 3-6, 10-5.
“I moved up to No. 5 against Ashland just trying out some new stuff, and then Tyler moved up to No. 1 against Cedarville because Brennan was injured,” Gilbert said. “Just shifting some stuff around, trying some new things out, before conference so we can set our lineup then.”
No. 2 Pack won 6-1, 6-0, No. 3 Hackman won 6-4, 6-2, No. 4 Barstow won 6-0, 6-0, No. 5 Gilbert won 6-0, 6-1, and No. 6 Wastcoat won 6-0, 6-2.
“My plan, especially for singles is just put as many balls into the court as I can, because typically, when you’re playing players that are a little weaker than you, they’re a lot more inconsistent, and if you’re impatient, they might be able to make it a little closer than you’d like,” Gilbert said.
In the Saturday game versus Ashland, Cimpeanu was back in the competition, where he and Hackman won No. 1 doubles 6-1. No. 2 Barstow and Conrad won 6-2, and No. 3 Pack and Gilbert won 6-0.
“We won every double spot, which was good,” Gilbert said. “The lower down you got in the lineup, the easier it’s going to be. I think just another good weekend of doubles experience will get us ready for conference.”
Hillsdale took every set in singles. No. 1 Cimpeanu won 6-1, 7-5, No. 2 Conrad won 6-1, 7-5, No. 3 Hackman won 6-2, 6-3, No. 4 Pack won 6-1, 6-2, No. 5 Gilbert won 6-1, 6-0, No. 6 Barstow won 6-0, 6-0.
“We hadn’t really played outside at all, and we played both of those matches outdoors, and it was relatively windy,” Conrad said. “Luckily, those other teams weren’t really used to it either, and especially Ashland had just come from playing Northwood indoors, so we definitely had the advantage on Saturday.”
Hillsdale’s record is now 12-6 overall and 4-1 in G-MAC play. These wins have brought the Chargers close to the third seed in the upcoming tournament. The team will know its final seeding after its game against Northwood University on Saturday.
“Northwood is a must-win match — they have a good program. We’re slightly favored, but they’re a team that can beat us on some days,” Gilbert said. “Conference is like our Super Bowl, so it’s gonna be high pressure, high intensity. We just got to bring it all at practice in these next two weeks, lay it all on the line, and then we should be okay.”
