TOPEKA, Kan. – No. 20 ranked Ichabod men's tennis edged the No. 23 ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon to close out regular season play. The team is set to compete in the MIAA Championship in Edmond, Okla., on May 1-2 with the bracket to be set by the conference tomorrow.
 
The Ichabods recognized graduating seniors Bradley Eidenmueller, Paul Haase and Luke Howard at the conclusion of the match. Eidenmueller joined the team as a freshman in 2017 and Haase joined as a freshman in 2016, while Howard transferred into the program in 2018. The trio have significantly impacted the program through the past few years.
 
Washburn won the doubles point by taking wins at the first and second spots. The No. 12 nationally-ranked doubles pair of Eidenmueller and Sebastian Pjontek defeated their opponents by a score of 6-2 from the top spot, before Haase and Miquel Perez won their match at the No. 2 spot with a 6-4 victory.
 
Haase opened singles play with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over his opponent at the third spot. After the Ichabods lost two points as No. 37 nationally-ranked Perez fell to Fabien Calloud of Northwest Missouri at the No. 2 spot and No. 24 Raul-Alin Dicu fell to the Bearcats' No. 6 nationally-ranked Andrea Zamurri at the top spot, the match was tied and it all came down to the bottom half of Washburn's lineup to win it. 
 
Eidenmueller battled back and forth in three sets with his Northwest Missouri opposition at the No. 4 spot, ultimately winning it by set scores of 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to put the Ichabods back on top. With the match on the line, Daniel Bird and Marc Roura Casi went to work at the fifth and sixth spots, both going to three sets. To clinch the Ichabods' win, Bird took down his opponent by set scores of 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 at the bottom of the lineup. Roura Casi battled till the very end, taking his opponent to three sets and a tiebreaker, but fell by scores of 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7). The Ichabods still claimed a 4-3 victory over the Bearcats.
 
Both teams were tied for first place with a 2-0 conference record coming in to today's match. Washburn improved to 3-0 and claimed the No. 1 seed in the North Division for the upcoming MIAA Championship, while Northwest Missouri now sits at 2-1 and takes the second seed. Overall, the Ichabods improved to 10-3 while the Bearcats moved to 12-4.
 
Washburn will compete in the MIAA Championship on May 1-2 at the Edmond Center Court in Edmond, Okla. The schedule will be released after the last MIAA regular season matches on Sunday.
 
The squad is also currently on the list of schools under consideration for the NCAA regional for the Central Region. The selection committee will determine who the regional brackets on May 4.