Three freshmen and sophomores won at least two matches in singles in an encouraging showing for the Hillsdale College men's tennis team at the Davenport Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Grand Rapids.

Leading the youth movement was freshman Zeteny Paragi who played well in the top singles flight, opening with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Pedro Diaz of Purdue Northwest and also picking up a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Northwood's AJ Duggan.

In the B singles flight, sophomore Patrick Cretu continued a strong start to the season with wins over host Davenport's Reuben Bakker (6-4, 6-3) and Northwood's Finn Buschmaas (up 6-0 before an injury retirement, while in the C singles flight, freshman Jack Ford bounced back from an opening round loss with strong victories over Northwood's Julian Czapiewski (6-2, 6-1) and Davenport's Rudinger Dusselberg (6-4, 6-3). Junior Alex Cordero Lopez also picked up a win for the Chargers in the B singles flight, dispatching Buschmaas 7-5, 6-4.

All four of Hillsdale's doubles pairings picked up at least one win as well in the event. Seniors Ellis Klanduch and Henry Hammond bested teams from Northwood (8-5) and Davenport (8-6) to go 2-1 in the top doubles flight, and Paragi and Cretu picked up a victory over a team from Northwood (8-2) in A doubles as well.

In B doubles, Ford and junior Ryan Papazov won matches against teams from Davenport (9-7) and Northwood (8-4), while Cordero Lopez and junior Rintaro Goda combined for wins against two Davenport teams, 8-6 and 8-2, as well.

Northwood is the defending G-MAC champions while Davenport and Purdue Northwest are always strong regional squads, so head to head success for the Chargers is encouraging as Hillsdale looks to bring the fall portion of its schedule to a close in October.

Hillsdale will next compete three weekends from now at the ITA Midwest Regional back in Grand Rapids, beginning on Oct. 17. The cornerstone of the fall schedule for the Chargers, the ITA Midwest Regional will bring together all the top players in the region to compete in singles and doubles brackets, with a berth to the ITA Cup, the de facto singles and doubles national championship on the line for high-finishing players and teams.