Best-Case Scenario: Hackman Heffner Grateful for Family, Hillsdale

Written by Doug Goodnough

Playing tennis at Hillsdale College became a family affair for Sarah Hackman Heffner, ’23.

As a high school standout from the northern suburbs of Chicago, she was being recruited by then-Hillsdale women’s tennis coach Nikki Walbright. However, her twin brother, Brian Hackman, ’23, was also a prep tennis standout. The coaches were able to persuade the twins to make Hillsdale “a package deal.”

“We knew we wanted to play tennis in college, and the conversation was if we can play at the same school, great,” Heffner said. “But if we can’t, that is OK, too. I do think it was the best-case scenario that we went to college together.”

Once on campus, she quickly became a force on the court. In fact, Heffner was a first team all-conference performer as a freshman, eventually becoming a two-time Great Midwest Conference Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

But it was her ability to adapt to playing doubles that really elevated her career at Hillsdale.

“It was definitely challenging at the beginning,” said Heffner, who was used to competing in singles through most of her prep career. “I was just trying to learn the skills and strategies. I loved [playing doubles] by the end of my time there.”

And that time was extended by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Granted a rare fifth year of athletic eligibility, she made the most of it. Besides getting a chance to compete collegiately and be around her brother, Heffner’s younger sister, Megan, ’26, was a freshman on the women’s team.

“That was part of the reason why I wanted to stay at Hillsdale,” Heffner said. “A lot of people took those COVID years and went to other schools. For me, I was able to stay and play a year with my sister and my brother. We all got to be at Hillsdale for one year together, which was really nice.”

She said being able to practice with her brother during their early years gave her a competitive edge.

“He has a really strong serve, and he is six-foot-three,” Heffner said of Brian. “He had a much stronger serve than most girls, so I wasn’t fazed by a strong serve coming at me in college. We learned how to be competitive with each other.”

Brian currently works for the College’s Advancement Department, and Sarah’s senior doubles partner, Melanie Zampardo, ’25, is now Hillsdale’s head women’s tennis coach. With her sister now a senior on the team, Heffner said she is still very connected to the program.

A psychology major at Hillsdale, Heffner is in her second year at the University of Dayton’s clinical mental health counseling program. Recently starting an internship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, she and her husband, Will Heffner, ’25, were married last summer. She hopes to own and operate her own counseling business one day.

“My mom battled breast cancer for seven years during my high school and college years, and I think that made me really empathetic to people’s life experiences and the hardships that come along with it,” Heffner said. “I want to help people, but I knew I wasn’t going to be a doctor or a nurse because I’m not the biggest fan of blood.”

She has not played competitive tennis since starting graduate school, but she hopes to pick up a racket again someday and maybe get into coaching. She is thankful for her Hillsdale experience.

“I would go back and do it all over again,” she said. “I got such a strong academic experience and that amazing team experience with tennis. I never felt like I had to choose between the two. There was always that room to balance classes and your sport. Hillsdale found a way to make both feel really important.”

Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.

Published in January 2026