First serve . . .
• The No. 30-ranked Washburn Ichabod men's tennis open the MIAA postseason with a rematch from less than six days ago when they will take on Southwest Baptist at 9 a.m. on Saturday in the tournament semifinals in Springfield, Mo.
• The Ichabods defeated the Bearcats 6-3 on April 24 in Topeka in the regular season finale.
• Southwest Baptist is the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Tournament after gaining a share of the MIAA regular season crown.
• The winner of the Washburn/Southwest Baptist match will take on the winner of the Northwest Missouri/Nebraska-Kearney match for the tournament title on Sunday at 9 a.m.
• The Ichabods are 14-5 overall and 3-3 in the MIAA and have won five of their last six matches.
• The Ichabods were No. 5 in the latest NCAA Central Regional poll behind Northwest Missouri, Southeastern Oklahoma, Nebraska-Kearney and Southwest Baptist.
• The top four teams in the final NCAA Central Regional Rankings will make the NCAA Tournament starting May 7.
• SBU jumped from 31st to 18th in the latest ITA National Poll and ranked fourth in the NCAA Central Regional Poll.
• The Bearcats lead the all-time series 23-13 after getting beat by the Ichabods last Sunday.
• The Ichabods are 17-13 all-time in the MIAA Tournament.
• The Ichabods are looking to win their first MIAA Tournament title since the 2008-09 season.
• Washburn is in search of its first NCAA postseason bid since the 2012-13 season.
Drop shots . . .
• The Ichabod doubles team of
Blake Hunter and
Alejandro Valarezo Plaza are ranked No. 21 in the nation and No. 2 in the regional rankings … they are 26-5 overall this season and 16-3 in dual matches … the 26 doubles wins are second on the single-season doubles win chart … the Ichabod single season record for wins is 32 held by Santiago Giraldo and Jesse Sherer set in 1996-97 season after going 32-2.
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Alejandro Valarezo Plaza is 20-6 overall in singles and ranked No. 48 in the ITA national rankings and No. 6 in the latest ITA regional rankings.
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Matt Barlow is ranked No. 17 in the singles regional rankings and has a 20-8 singles record.
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Blake Hunter is ranked No. 18 in singles in the region going 23-6 this season …the 23 singles wins are tied or seventh on the single season cahrt and the most by an Ichabod since Ryan Ward recorded 24 during the 2009-10 season.
• Hunter leads the Ichabods with 23 singles wins and Barlow and Valarezo Plaza each have 20.
• The Ichabod single season wins record is 24 shared by Ryan Ward (2010) and Santiago Giraldo (1997).
• The doubles team of Barlow and
Zach Hampton are 18-7 this season.
• Statistically speaking, the Ichabods are a combined 105-65 (.618) in singles play and they are 61-30 (.670) in doubles action.
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Blake Hunter was named the MIAA Tennis Player of the Week on Feb. 15 and on March 28.
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Alejandro Valarezo Plaza was named MIAA Tennis Player of the Week on March 21 and on April 18.
Coaching . . .
Former Ichabod tennis player
Lance Lysaught is in his second season as the Ichabod head coach. He is 27-37 as a collegiate head coach in his fourth season and 18-16 at Washburn.
Up next . . .
The winner of the Washburn/SBU match will take on the winner of the UNK/NWMSU match on Sunday at 9 a.m. in Springfield. NCAA Regional rankings will be released at 7 p.m. on May 3. Be sure to check wusports.com for updated information.
