Tuesday, October 04, 2011

TULSA, Okla. (October 3, 2011) - Senior Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) defeated Drake's James McKie (6-2, 6-1) in the opening round of the qualifying draw at the 2011 ITA All-American Tennis Championships, on Monday, inside the Case Tennis Center.

Gille and junior Jesus Bandres (Caracas, Venezuela) skipped the championship's pre-qualifying rounds on Saturday and Sunday, having already earned their spots in Monday and Tuesday's qualifiers. Gille's opening round opponent, McKie, played through the pre-qualifiers and was awarded the "Lucky Loser" bid into the qualifying draw after going 2-2 over the weekend.

McKie went 22-10 last year for the Bulldogs, which included a 1-0 record against nationally ranked opponents. Gille made easy work of the Drake junior and now looks forward to a second round matchup against the draw's No. 8 seed, Daniel Whitehead, out of the University of Texas.

Bandres did not fair as well in his opening round match, as the junior was eliminated from the draw after falling to Nebraska's Benedikt Lindheim (6-4, 5-7. 6-4).

Gille and Bandres are also competing in the championship's doubles draw and will begin play tomorrow against Louisiana State's Olivier Boros and Neal Skupski. Both duos received opening round byes.

The ETSU men's tennis team continues the ITA All-American Tennis Championships on Tuesday, when Gille and Whitehead take the courts at 8 a.m., followed by Gille and Bandres taking on Boros and Skupski in doubles play at 3:30 p.m. 

For more information on ETSU tennis, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links.