TOPEKA, Kan. – The 36^th-ranked Washburn men's tennis team derailed No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney Wednesday afternoon at the Wood Valley Racquet Club. This is the second straight win over a ranked opponent for the Ichabods this season after defeating No. 49 Colorado Mesa.


Washburn wasted little time securing a lead after winning two of three doubles points. Blake Hunter and Alejandro Valarezo cruised to an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles over Joey Richards and Lucas Garces. Paul Haase and Chase Brill defeated Alavaro Arias and Georges Wakim 9-7 at No. 3 doubles. A pair of Nebraska-Kearney netters notched an 8-6 win at No. 2 doubles over Matt Barlow and Tommy Hunter.
With a 2-1 lead in hand, Washburn headed into singles play against the No. 21 Lopers. Paul Haase was defeated in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

With the score tied 2-all Blake Hunter would win his match at No. 2 singles in three sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Valarezo would continue the three set trend when he defeated Wakim at No. 1 singles 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

The Lopers would pick up back-to-back wins at No. 3 singles and No. 4 singles when Barlow fell 4-6, 7-5, 1-6 to Mohab El Zanty and Tommy Hunter was defeated 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 by Joey Richards.

With the match tied 4-4 Brill took the court against Aaron Reekie of Nebraska-Kearney to clinch the match. Brill got out to any early 2-1 lead over the UNK netter. Back-to-back wins from Reekie would leave Brill trailing 3-2 halfway into the opening set. The freshman powered back and eventually walked away with the first set 7-5. Brill maintained his momentum from the first set and jumped out to 4-1 lead in the second set. The upset minded Ichabod never relented and picked up the second set 6-1 clinching the match for Washburn.

Washburn improves to 9-2 on the season and will take the rest of the week off before embarking on a two-match trip to Lindenwood and Southwest Baptist.