Box Score There's no doubt the Hillsdale College men's tennis team fully earned its two victories this weekend.

On Sunday, a day after playing for five and a half hours and pulling out a nailbiting road victory at Goshen, the Chargers came through in the clutch in another five-plus hour match to best host Illinois-Springfield by a 4-3 score.

In a match that included four tiebreaks and four three set matches, Hillsdale showed grit and determination, led by freshman Ryan Papazov, who shook off a heartbreaking 11-9 loss in a first set tiebreak to beat UIS' Pablo Herrera 6-4, 6-4 in the second and third set and win a difficult point for the Chargers.

For the second straight match, Hillsdale also got key contributions from down the lineup, as No. 5 singles player Sam Plys and No. 6 singles player Rintaro Goda both gutted out hard-fought victories. Plys dominated a second-set tiebreak, 7-2, to take down UIS' Lukas Pieringer 6-2, 7-6, and Goda overcame a 7-5 first-set loss to the Prairie Stars' Jorge Roman to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-1 and clinch the match for the Chargers.

Those three singles victories paired with the Chargers taking the doubles point to give Hillsdale the victory. Hillsdale's No. 1 doubles team of Eddie Bergelin and Plys pulled out a 7-5 victory, and the No. 2 doubles team of Ellis Klanduch and Papazov won 6-1 as well.

The Chargers improve to 3-4 overall, and next travel to Fort Wayne on Friday to play Indiana Tech in a match slated to start at 12:30 p.m.

Photo by Vincent Hill