First serve . . . 

• The 35th-ranked Washburn Ichabod men's tennis heads home after splitting a pair of road matches this weekend to face Missouri - St. Louis in a mid-week match.

• Washburn is off to its best start under head coach Lance Lysaught with only three losses and a pair of marquee wins against No. 49 Colorado Mesa and No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney.

•   Washburn is a perfect 5-0 at the Washburn Tennis Complex. 

•  Washburn leads the all-time series with the Tritons 5-1 after winning four of the last five.

 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 17-7 at the No. 1 singles position.

• The lone senior and team captain, Matt Barlow, garners a regional singles ranking coming at No. 14 in the Central region after posting a 17-5 record this season .

•  Blake Hunter is the third Ichabod to boast a regional ranking after jumping into the rankings at No. 13 as well as landing at No. 2 in the regional doubles rankings paired with Valarezo.

 The Opp . . . 

• Rick Gyllenborg is in his 21st season at the helm of the UMSL men's tennis program.

•  The 44th-ranked Tritons are 4-1 this season after winning two of its last three matches and falling to No. 34 Southern Indiana.

• Ben Kasprzak leads the Tritons with a 9-6 overall record including a 2-1 record at No. 1 singles.

 And the winner is . . . 

• The Ichabods have picked up three 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 winning two in the past month alone, most recently for the his performance last week against Lindenwood and Southwest Baptist.

 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 and Blake Hunter are the most recent Ichabod to come back from an deficits after posting three set wins in the upset of No. 21 Nebraska-Kearney.  

 High ranking, no problem . . . 

• Washburn has now posted back-to-back wins over ranked oppoonents for the first time under head coach Lance Lysaught.

 Coaching. . . 

•   Former Ichabod tennis player Lance Lysaught is in his third season at the helm of the Ichabodmen's tennis program. He is 37-41 as a men's collegiate head coach in his fifth season and 28-20 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 down I-70 to face Rockhurst University on April 2 with first serve slate for 1 p.m.