While none of them are seniors, it's hard to call the top four players in the Hillsdale College men's tennis team's lineup anything but veterans, with the amount of tennis they've played over the past two years.
Those four vets came through in a big way on Saturday at home, combining to win the two doubles matches and three singles matches needed to clinch an important victory over Lake Superior State, 4-3.
The match started off on the right foot as Hillsdale secured the doubles point thanks to victories in the top two flights. The Chargers' No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Sean Barstow and junior Tyler Conrad held serve late to take a critical 6-4 victory, while sophomores Brennan Cimpeanu and Daniel Gilbert rolled to a 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles.
In singles play, Cimpeanu continued to display the talent and skill that makes him a top 10 player in the nation at the NCAA Division II level in singles, as the sophomore made quick work of Lake St.'s Juho Kantola, 6-0, 6-2.
The Chargers also got dominant victories from Barstow and Gilbert at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, to clinch the match. Barstow was a 6-3, 6-1 victor over the Lakers' Krishan Taneja at No. 3 singles, while Gilbert took a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Harris Irfan Ul Haq at No. 4 singles to give the Chargers the four points they needed to seal the victory.
While Conrad didn't win his match at No. 2 singles, he came as close as anyone could to pulling it off, falling to Xavier Vicent Navarro of Lake St. 6-2, 6-7 (4), 9-11 and coming up just short in two hard-fought tiebreaks.
Junior Bogdan Janicijevic also went to a tiebreak in his match at No. 5 singles for the Chargers, battling back from a 6-1 first set defeat and coming up just short in a 7-6 (4) second set loss to the Lakers' Aaron Osmond.
Now 4-5 overall, Hillsdale next heads to Florida for its annual Spring Break trip, playing some of the top teams in the country. The Chargers face Saint Leo, ranked ninth in Division II in the most recent ITA poll, on Sunday, March 13, then take on a tough Florida Southern squad the next day. Those two matches are the Chargers' final tune-ups before conference play begins on March 19 at home, where Hillsdale faces a crucial match against conference newcomer Ashland.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan