The Hillsdale men’s tennis team secured a victory of 7-0 over Kentucky Wesleyan College April 1, but lost to Wayne State University 0-7 on April 4.
According to junior Brennan Cimpeanu, the Chargers are a more skilled team than Kentucky Wesleyan.
“It’s the weakest team in the conference, so we kind of expected to just roll over them,” Cimpeanu said.
Seniors Brian Hackman and Tyler Conrad were out with injuries, changing the Saturday lineup.
“Tyler and Brian didn’t travel because they’re dealing with some injury stuff,” junior Daniel Gilbert said. “They didn’t feel like it was worth going down there to play a little bit injured and possibly make it worse.”
The doubles point was taken with three match wins. No. 1 junior Sean Barstow and Cimpeanu won 6-0, No. 2 Gilbert and freshman Aidan Pack won 6-0, and No. 3 freshmen Lennart Kober and freshman Nik Wastcoat won 6-3.
“Even though we knew we’re gonna win, it’s a tough match to play because we don’t prepare for teams like that, or really know how to play against them,” Gilbert said. “We just had to go out there and put the ball in the court as many times as possible, and we knew we were gonna win pretty easily.”
No. 1 singles Cimpeanu won 6-0, 6-0, No. 2 Pack won 6-2, 6-0, No. 3 Barstow won 6-2, 6-0, No. 4 Gilbert won 6-0, 6-0, and No. 5 Wastcoat won 6-1, 6-2.
“They’re usually not too strong a team, so the result really wasn’t a question, but I think we played well. We did what we were supposed to do,” Barstow said.
No. 6 singles Kober had his first match of the season, taking the victory 6-1, 6-0.
“Lennart got to step into the lineup for the first time, and he did a really good job,” Gilbert said. “He was a little nervous in doubles, but they were able to get the win there and then in singles, he did fantastic for the first time playing as a varsity player.”
In the Tuesday out-of-conference match against Wayne State, the only doubles win was in the No. 3 position with Pack and Gilbert who won a tiebreaker match 13-11. No. 1 Cimpeanu and Hackman lost 3-6, and No. 2 Conrad and Barstow lost 5-7.
No single points were gained, with each position taking a loss. No. 1 Cimpeanu lost 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, No. 2 Conrad lost 1-6, 6-7, No. 3 Pack lost 2-6, 1-6, No. 4 Hackman lost 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, No. 5 Barstow lost 2-6, 2-6, and No. 6 Gilbert lost 3-6, 3-6.
“We competed well against a very strong team,” head coach Keith Turner said. “Our doubles overall showed improvement. We need to play the big points better. Playing a strong team like Wayne State gets us ready for the remainder of our regular season and postseason play.”
Hillsdale’s record is now 10-6 overall as they go on to play Cedarville University April 7 and Ashland University April 8. These are among the last of the Chargers regular season matches and will determine their seeding in the end of season G-MAC Tournament.
“It’s getting towards the end, so just a few more matches,” Barstow said. “So we gotta stay focused and hopefully we have a good conference tournament and maybe make regionals. That’s the goal.”
