Men’s and women’s tennis seniors pose after their final home matches as Charger athletes. Courtesy | David Beach
The Hillsdale men’s tennis team won 4-3 against Northwood University April 15, earning a two seed in the G-MAC tournament April 20-22.
It was a milestone win for junior Brennan Cimpeanu and senior Tyler Conrad, who both reached 100 wins in their college career.
“It’s the first time since 2019 anyone’s gotten that,” Conrad said. “It’s a good milestone.”
This was also a final home match for the seniors, Bogdan Janicijevii, Hackman, and Cimpeanu. Cimpeanu decided to graduate a year early to join a masters program at Michigan State University.
“I know for seniors, including myself, it was kind of an emotional day since it’s the last match we will be having basically in our entire career,” Cimpeanu said.
The Chargers clinched the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. No. 1 Cimpeanu and senior Brian Hackman won 6-3, and No. 2 Conrad and junior Sean Barstow won 7-5.
“It was definitely a closer match than we were hoping for — than we were expecting,” Conrad said. “We knew Northwood was a dangerous team coming in, so luckily we got the doubles point to start things off.”
No. 3 junior Daniel Gilbert and freshman Aidan Pack lost their match 2-7.
“Northwood is a good team, and they have a deep lineup,” Gilbert said. “They were good even at the lower spots which challenged us.”
The Chargers split their singles matches, winning No. 3, 4, and 6 singles. At No. 3 Conrad won 6-4, 6-4, No. 4 Pack won 6-2, 7-5, and No. 6 Barstow won 6-2, 6-2.
“I was happy with the way we all gave our full effort,” Gilbert said. “It’s the last regular season match of the year so we really brought it. We could have executed a bit better, but it’s still a positive going into the tournament.”
No. 1 Cimpeanu lost 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, No. 2 Hackman lost 2-6, 6-2, 1-6, and No. 5 Gilbert lost 5-7, 7-3, 8-10.
Cimpeneau said that it was nice to have others step up in their singles matches to help the team take the victory.
Rain caused the team to relocate to the Biermann Center courts mid match.
“We managed to win at six singles, and then at five singles it was just a very difficult match,” Conrad said. “It was difficult to adjust to the change in lighting and the change in the court speed.”
The Chargers completed the regular season with a 13-6 record, 5-2 in G-MAC play.
In the six team G-MAC tournament in Owensboro, Kentucky, April 20-22, the Chargers have a bye in the first round on Thursday. They will play Walsh and Ashland April 21.
“I feel like as a team, we always played better at conference,” Cimpeanu said. “I think the last two years that I’ve been part of the team we’ve really come to play at conference, whether it’s the energy or our skills have just somehow jumped up a few levels. We’ve always stepped up when we needed to at conference, and overall it’s just a fun experience. I think if the team continues that trend, we’ll be set for the weekend.”
