First serve . . . 

•    The 36th ranked Washburn Ichabod men's tennis looks to notch its first conference victory of the 2016-17 season when it host No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney.

•        Washburn is off to its best start under head coach Lance Lysaught with its two losses coming at the hands of then-No. 20 Drury on Feb. 3 and No. 12 Northwest Missouri State.

•   Washburn is 4-0 in front of its home crowd at the Washburn Tennis Complex. 

•  Washburn leads the all-time series with the Lopers that dates back to 1986 13-8. The last time these two teams met Nebraska-Kearney defeated Washburn 3-6 at home.

 Three's Company . . . 

•    Alejandro Valarezo leads the Ichabods landing at No. 31 in NCAA Divison II singles and No. 2 in the Central region. The sophomore heads into the match with a 16-5 at the No. 1 singles position.

•    The lone senior and team captain, Matt Barlow, is the second Ichabod to garner a regional singles ranking coming at No. 14 in the Central region after posting a 15-4 record this season including a near perfect 7-1 at the No. 3 spot.

•  Blake Hunter is the third Ichabod to boast a regional ranking at No. 16 as well as landing at No. 4 in the regional doubles rankings paired with Valarezo.

 The Opp . . . 

•        Jake Saulsbury is in his 8th season at the helm of the Loper tennis programs.

•    The Nebraska-Kearney men's tennis team is 6-2 on the season with a 1-0 record in MIAA action.

•  Nebraska-Kearney is currently ranked 21st in the ITA rankings. 

 And the winner is . . . 

•        The Ichabods have picked up a pair of weekly awards this season. 

•    Alejandro Valarezo was the first Ichabods to pick up a weekly honor after starting the season at 4-0 at No. 1 singles.

•  Matt Barlow is the lastest winner of an MIAA Weekly Award after extending his win streak at No. 3 singles to seven.

Tournament success. . .

•  The Ichabods closed out the 2016 calendar year with each player picking up at least one flight victory in tournament play.

•    Alejandro Valarezo ended 2016 with a spot in the ITA Central Regional singles final after a stellar victory over the defending champion in the semifinal.

 The Comeback kids . . . 

•  Five Ichabods have staged and successfully carried out comeback wins this season.

•  Alejandro Valarezo is the most recent Ichabod to come back from an early deficit. In his latest match against Newman the sophomore defeated Eduardo Santos 6-4, 3-6, 10-8. 

 The young and the restless . . . 

•    With one senior on both the men and women's tennis teams combined the Ichabods have the youngest roster in the MIAA conference.

 Coaching. . . 

•   Former Ichabod tennis player Lance Lysaught is in his third season at the helm of the Ichabodmen's tennis program. He is 35-40 as a men's collegiate head coach in his fifth season and 26-19 at Washburn.

•   Washburn added former Washburn men's tennis standout, David Price, as the assistant coach to both the men and women's teams during the offseason.

 Up next . . . 

•   Washburn will head out on the road to face Lindenwood and Southwest Baptist.

 MIAA Standings... 

Southwest Baptist    1-0        1.000      6-0      1.000           W6

Northwest Missouri  1-0        1.000      4-1      0.800           W2

Emporia State          0-0        0.000      5-0      1.000           W5

Nebraska Kearney   0-0        0.000      6-2      0.750            W1

Washburn                0-1         0.000      8-2      0.800           W1

Lindenwood            0-1           0.000      4-6      0.400          W1