The Valparaiso University men’s tennis team enjoyed another successful showing at the ITA Midwest Regional in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday. All three individuals competing in main draw singles won their first matches on Saturday, while three Valpo doubles tandems punched their ticket to Sunday’s quarterfinals.

How It Happened

• Senior Charlie Emhardt (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) started his Saturday in style, winning a morning match against Ohio State’s Martin Joyce in convincing fashion, 6-0, 6-4 in second-round main draw singles.
• Senior Dave Bacalla (Skokie, Ill. / Niles North) eked out a win over Marquette’s Luke Smrek 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round.
• Senior Jeffrey Schorsch (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg), Valpo’s school record holder for career singles wins, also rolled to victory, topping Wisconsin’s John Zordani 6-2, 6-2 in the Round of 32.  
• Schorsch and Emhardt enjoyed a doubles Round 2 win, besting Ohio State’s Kyle Seelig and Alex Kobelt 8-4. Then, the Crusaders’ top doubles combo nipped Western Michigan’s Maik Steiner and Jannik Opitz 8-6 to advance to the quarterfinals.
• Garrett Gardner (Poland, Ohio / Poland) and Kyle Dunn (Fond du Lac, Wis. / Fond du Lac) cruised to an 8-2 victory over Western Michigan’s Billy Heckman and Nick Schnobel, punching their ticket to the quarterfinals in the process.
• Chad Kissell and Bacalla collected an 8-5 victory over Illinois State’s Christoffer Greve and Dylan Steffens in second-round doubles play. Then, Kissell and Bacalla vaulted into the quarterfinals with a thrilling 8-7 win over Michigan’s Myles Schalet and Runhao Hua.
• Brandon Ancona (Belvidere, Ill. / Rockford Christian) and Daniel Langston (Ponca City, Okla. / Ponca City) prevailed against Youngstown State’s Joao Garreto and Yossi Dahan 8-4. Ancona and Langston then fell to Wisconsin’s Lamar Remy and Chase Colton by the tight score of 8-6.
• In the third round of singles play, Emhardt fell to Notre Dame’s Alex Labedev 6-1, 6-4.
• Bacalla also dropped his third-round match, succumbing to Ohio State’s Herkko Pollanen 6-4, 6-4.
• Schorsch lost a tight first set to Wisconsin’s Josef Dodrige 7-6, then dropped Set 2 6-2.

Next Up

The Crusaders account for three of the eight doubles teams in Sunday’s quarterfinals. Dunn and Gardner will play Notre Dame’s Eddy Covalschi and Josh Hager, Kissell and Bacalla will meet Notre Dame’s Matt Gamble and Alex Labedev and Emhardt and Schorsch will clash with Lamar Remy and Chase Colton of Wisconsin.