The Hillsdale College men's tennis team battled with a nationally-ranked opponent, but came up short at home on Friday in a 7-0 loss to 24th-ranked Ferris State.
Although the Chargers were blanked in the final results, the score doesn't tell the full story of a match that had several tight battles, including two matches that went to a third-set tiebreak.
Junior Brennan Cimpeanu rallied from a 4-6 first-set loss to Ferris State's Erik Kovacs at No. 1 singles to force a third set with a 6-3 victory, before falling 10-5 in the tiebreak, and junior Sean Barstow at No. 5 singles also pushed his opponent, Ferris St.'s Alessandro Santangelo, to a third set before falling 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 in a nailbiter match.
At other positions, Hillsdale fought back after tough starts. Freshman Aidan Pack played a hard-fought match against a tough opponent at No. 2 singles, falling to Ferris' Benjamin Lortie, 4-6, 4-6, while Tyler Conrad overcame a 6-1 first-set loss at No. 4 singles to push Yannic-Alexander Mader in a 7-5 3rd set as well.
The Chargers lost the doubles point to the Bulldogs in competitive matches, with both Hillsdale's No. 1 doubles team of Cimpeanu and Barstow and the Chargers' No. 3 doubles team of Conrad and junior Daniel Gilbert falling by 6-3 scores. Hillsdale's No. 2 doubles team of senior Brian Hackman and freshman Nik Wastcoat also was in a tough fight at No. 2 doubles, trailing just 5-4 when the doubles point was clinched.
Hillsdale falls to 3-1 in dual matches with Friday's result, and will look to bounce back on Saturday morning with a 10 a.m. match against visiting Lewis, another regional foe.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan