Bacalla Stays Hot in Tulsa, Advances to Round of 32
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Bacalla Stays Hot in Tulsa, Advances to Round of 32

Junior Dave Bacalla (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) marched on to the Round of 32 at the ITA All-American Championships pre-qualifying draw in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sunday following a pair of straight-set victories.

Bacalla downed Louisville's Courtney Lock, 6-4, 6-3, in the morning to advance to the Round of 64. There, he dispatched William & Mary's Damon Niquet, 6-2, 6-3 in the afternoon.

The 9th-16th ranked Bacalla will now face the winner of Auburn's Conner Huertas/Texas A&M's Jordi Arconada on Monday, the final day of pre-qualifying play. If Bacalla wins his Monday morning match, he'll leap into the qualifying draw scheduled to begin later that day.

Junior Kyle Dunn (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac) also continued play in the pre-qualifying draw on Sunday. He fell 6-4, 6-3 to Utah's Dan Little in their Round of 128 match.  

Freshman Chad Kissell (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and sophomore Garrett Gardner (Poland, Ohio/Poland) both competed in a consolation match.

Kissell faced a familiar foe in his tilt against Wisconsin's Jakhongir Jalalov. The Badger senior defeated Kissell in straight sets at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic back on September 18th, but Kissell exacted revenge Sunday with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 triumph. The rookie improved to 5-3 in singles with the win.

Illinois State's Dylan Steffens got past Gardner, 6-2, 6-2, in their meeting.

Pre-qualifying singles play concludes Monday while doubles play picks up at the Union High School and Case Tennis Center Courts.