The Valparaiso men’s tennis team downed host Toledo 4-1 in the Rocket Invitational on Saturday to improve to 3-0 on the weekend. In addition, three Valpo players participated in prequalifying at the ITA Men’s All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla.

How It Happened – ITA Men’s All-American Championships

• Sophomore Chad Kissell (Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe) notched a 6-3, 6-4 win over Virginia Tech’s Jai Corbett in the opening round of prequalifying.
• Later in the day, Kissell fell to Texas’s Julian Zlobinsky 6-0, 6-2.
• Senior Charlie Emhardt (Carrmel, Ind. / Carmel) also prevailed in his first match, besting Columbia’s William Matheson in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
• Like Kissell, Emhardt suffered a defeat in his second match of the day. He dropped the opening set 6-3 to Virginia Tech’s Alexandre Ribeiro before losing a tightly-contested second set 7-5.
• Senior Dave Bacalla (Skokie, Ill. / Niles North) suffered a three-set setback at the hands of Miami’s Max Andrews in the opening round. After dropping the opening set 6-4, Bacalla battled back to take Set 2 6-3, but then Andrews captured the decisive set 6-2.

How It Happened – Toledo

• Valpo junior Garrett Gardner (Poland, Ohio / Poland) prevailed 6-2, 6-3 over Vince Anzalone.
• Freshman Brandon Ancona (Belvidere, Ill. / Rockford Christian) continued the strong start to his Valpo career with a victory over Juan Carranza. Ancona eked out a 7-5 win in the first set before steamrolling his way to a 6-0 victory in Set 2.
• Brian Pecyna (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Franklin Brozovich (Fort Gratiot, Mich. / Port Huron Northern) formed Valpo’s doubles combination on Saturday as the Crusaders continued to shuffle the lineup. The pair notched a 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 win over Reid Teatsorth and Luke Vitosevic.
• Valpo freshman Daniel Langston (Ponca City, Okla. / Ponca City) competed against Duquesne’s Chris Corrao and triumphed 8-4.
• Kyle Dunn (Fond du Lac, Wis. / Fond du Lac) suffered Valpo’s lone loss of the match, falling to Toledo’s Serjen Olmedo 6-4, 6-1.

Next Up

The Rocket Invitational continues on Sunday. The Crusaders face off with Duquesne at 8 a.m. Central Time, then round out the weekend against Western Michigan at 10 a.m.