After finishing last year’s conference season as semi-finalists and accepting three new freshmen this year, the Hillsdale College Men’s Tennis team will begin its fall season with a Charger Invitational the weekend of Sept. 9.
“One of the biggest things is we have a new group of three freshmen coming in, who are all great players and great people,” senior Tyler Conrad said. “We’re having weekly team dinners, and just trying to be closer together. As a team, being more of a unit was great to see. There’s a lot more of a team emphasis on practices, and everyone needs to get on the same page at all times.”
The team will hit the ground running in September with three weekends of tournaments and one dual match. The team’s two day invitational will bring in five teams from the region to the Charger homecourt.
“The thing about the invitational is that it’s the week before ITA, so it’s a great warm-up event, and it’s a great opportunity for me to see the freshman play to see what I got,” Coach Keith Turner said.
The following weekend, the team will travel to the University of Indianapolis for the fall regional tournament against multiple Division II teams from across the Midwest in an individual tournament.
“This is the event that Brennan actually won last year,” Turner said. “It’s the national qualifying event. So when Brian won, which was an amazing feat last year, and Brian and Shawn made the finals, it was an absolutely amazing accomplishment.”
The team will then play Indiana Tech at home on Sunday, Sept. 25 at the Mary Jane Delp Tennis Courts and finish out the season at the GMAC invitational at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, during the weekend of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.
“The fall season is a lot more individual-based,” Conrad said. “The spring season is made up of entirely dual matches between teams. This year, we only have one of those in the fall, and that’s the first one that we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
The team practices two hours a day for five days a week with lifting practice twice a week, running through October. After October, due to NCAA restrictions, the team’s practice time will be cut down to a maximum of eight hours a week.
“Our season is so long and so involved with so much strain on your body and your shoulders that we don’t mind that shortened time period,” Turner said. “After a few months here, they can use the break and get ready for the spring.”
Coach Turner anticipates a much stronger season than last year, and describes last season as “the worst season we’ve had since our first year that we started the program” due to injuries and team dynamics.
“We’re gonna improve on our conference win-loss record because we were not focused enough during conference competition last year,” junior Daniel Gilbert said. “Come out to our matches. We’re entertaining, I swear.”
