First Serve

• The Ichabods travel to Illinois for a match against No. 7 Indianapolis on Feb. 12 and then to Kansas City to face William Jewell on Feb. 13
• It is Washburn's first top-10 matchup of the season. Washburn's schedule consists of eight top-25 teams including two in the MIAA/GAC league
• The Ichabods have competed against the Greyhounds just once in program history back in May 2018. In their only match Washburn lost to the Hounds, 5-1
• Washburn men's tennis defeated William Jewell, 7-0 back in October in its season opener
• It is Washburn's fourth 7-0 sweep in the last two seasons, six in the last 3 seasons
• The Ichabods are undefeated in the all-time series against William Jewell with a record of 16-0. Washburn has swept the Cardinals in its last five matches

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird since joining the Ichabods is now 10-1 in dual singles, his only loss to Northwest Missouri's Martin Sanchez. Bird was All-MIAA Second Team at No. 5 singles in 2021
• Dicu is a fifth-year senior holding an overall singles record of 47-36 and a overall doubles record of 42-36. He is a four-time Academic Honor Roll member, two-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete, 2-time All-MIAA Honorable Mention and a ITA Scholar-Athlete
• Perez has gone 13-9 in singles and 14-7 in doubles while at Washburn. He earned All-MIAA Honorable Mention at No. 2 singles and All-MIAA Second Team at No. 2 doubles in 2021.
• Sebastian Pjontek is now 7-3 in singles and 12-7 in doubles since joining the Ichabods in 2020. Pjontek, along with partner Eidenmueller, earned ITA All-American in doubles last season
• Miller Zeiders holds a 9-3 overall singles record and 7-6 in doubles play. He was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete in 2021
• Freshman Matthew Earle comes in with many accolades while playing for St. Michael's College. Earle helped lead the team to Leinster School Senior Champions twice and as an individual was a two-time National Doubles champion and National Grade 1 singles champion
• Freshman Tim Hammes played No. 1 singles and doubles throughout high school while leading them to three regional championships
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Santiago Rendon are joining the Ichabods this spring
• Sophomore transfer Rendon, from Norfolk State, posted a 7-5 record at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots and 5-5 at No. 2 doubles his freshman year. Named MEAC Rookie of the Week twice and earned a spot on the All-MEAC Second Team

Milestone Tracker

• Dicu's 48 career singles wins are tied 20th in Washburn history. He needs 9 more wins to move into the top 15 and 12 wins to be the 11th Ichabod to have 60 wins.

Washburn Notes
UNDEFEATED ALL-TIME

• The Ichabods head into its match against William Jewell undefeated in the all-time series (16-0) 
• Washburn men's tennis team is undefeated against 54 different schools in program history
• William Jewell is just one of three teams that have never defeated the Ichabods with a minimum of 10 games played

HAMMES WORLD

• Freshmen Tim Hammes has come out strong to start his Washburn career
• In the fall, Hammes advanced to the ITA Regional quarterfinals. He won three games before losing his first collegiate match
• In dual matches, he is 2-0 in singles to start after defeating William Jewell's No. 3 and William Woods' No. 4
• In Hammes' only doubles match against William Jewell, he and his partner Sebastian Pjontek got the win at No. 1 doubles

OFF TO A GREAT START

• The 2016-2017 season is the last time the Ichabods won their first two games of the season. Washburn also accomplished this feat the year before
• Both seasons started with a sweep over William Jewell
• The Ichabods have a tough challenge against No. 7 Indianapolis on Saturday

FIRST APPEARANCE

• Three freshmen competed collegiately for the first time for the Ichabods in the match against William Jewell. Two earned singles wins and two received doubles wins. Hammes earned both a singles and a doubles victory
• Two more freshmen started their first collegiate match on Sunday against William Woods. Matthew Earle and Santiago Rendon competed in doubles. Earle and partner Pjontek earned a doubles win while Rendon's match was cut short
• Earle also competed in singles at the No. 5 spot. He took a loss in a third-set super tiebreaker
• Freshmen Tobias Dreher competed in the ITA Regional Tournament but not yet in dual matches
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji has yet to make an appearance

Scouting the Greyhounds

• Indianapolis men's tennis went 19-4 and 6-0 in conference in its 2020-21 campaign. The Hounds started 2021 winning seven straight matches then lost two of their next three matches. They would then go on a nine straight until losing to Southwest Baptist in the GLVC Championship match. The Hounds made it through the region and to the NCAA semifinals
• The Hounds are returning seven key players from their 2020-21 season and adding two  incoming freshmen and a transfer
• Indianapolis is losing three seniors including Renato Lima. Lima had a singles record of 10-8 and a 13-5 doubles record. He is a four-time All-GLVC member and earned 2020-21 ITA Senior Player of the Year
• The Greyhounds are bringing back four players with double-digit singles wins and three with 10-plus doubles wins. 
• ITA Doubles All-American and ITA Rookie of the Year, Tom Zeuch, returns after going 18-1 in singles and 15-6 in doubles
• Zeuch's doubles partner, Yoan Viel is also making a return. Viel was 15-2 in singles and 13-4 in doubles. Viel also earned ITA Doubles All-American with Zeuch
• Senior Nikolai Talimaa looks to repeat his 2020-21 performance. Talimaa was 12-3 in singles and 14-5 in doubles with returning partner Pedro Franca
• Junior Jason Gerweck also had a solid 2020-21 campaign. Gerweck had a 12-2 singles record and a 6-2 doubles record
• Western Michigan transfer, Zac Faveri, holds the all-time doubles record at WMU at 42-12 and led the Broncos to three MAC Championships

Greyhounds Head Coach Malik Tabet

• Malik Tabet is entering his eighth year coaching the Greyhounds men's and women's tennis teams
• Tabet has led the Hounds to 11 Midwest ITA Regional individual championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight total trips to the NCAA Sweet 16, program-first trips to the NCAA semifinals for both the men's and women's programs, and seven GLVC Tournament championships
• He has won GLVC Women's Coach of the Year four-times and ITA Midwest Women's Coach of the Year twice. He earned National ITA Women's Coach of the Year in 2020-21.

Scouting the Cardinals

• William Jewell men's tennis went 3-12 and a 0-4 conference record in its 2020-21 campaign. The Cardinals were 2-2 in the fall and then started went 1-10 in the spring
• The Cardinals are losing just one player from last season's roster while adding four freshmen to the squad
• The lone graduated senior, Cutter Sanders, was 4-12 in singles and 8-8 in doubles. Both he played the No. 1 spot
• The four freshmen aim to be the difference in 2021-22. As they have played the top four spots in singles so far this season
• Freshman Max Quennery has split between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots with a 3-2 singles record. Quennery along with junior Max Wheeler are 3-1 in No. 2 doubles. Senior Pedro Braga is also split between the same spots and holds a 2-2 singles record
• Freshman Ugnius Bickauski is 3-2 at the No. 1 spot to start the year. He has partnered with both Braga and Quennery in No. 1 doubles for a 2-3 record. 
• Freshman Julian Lafranchise is 3-1 at No. 3 doubles with two different partners in sophomores Evan Acuff and Cory Conley

Cardinals Head Coach Thomas Balkholm

• Thomas Balkholm began his first season coaching William Jewell men's and women's tennis teams
• Balkhom also serves as William Jewell's Assistant Director for Events. Facilities and Equipment and the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Designee
• Before William Jewell, he spent time as the Associate Director of Player Personnel at Georgia Tech
• Balkhom spent 20 years as a football defensive coach
• He played collegiate football at Georgia Tech as a defensive back. Balkhom was the co-captain of the 1990 national championship team and earned Defensive MVP of the 1991 Florida Citrus Bowl

 Ichabods in the Rankings

• The Ichabods sit at No. 21 in the Division 2 Men's ITA Preseason Coaches' Poll released on January 19 
• Seven Ichabods landed on the ITA Central Regional rankings including six in the singles ranking. Four Ichabods in the top 10
• Kim Niethamer was the highest ranked Ichabod at No. 7 after going to the quarterfinals at the ITA Central Region Tournament in early October while defeating No. 15 Sofiane Bah. He was also ranked 49th nationally
• Tim Hammes ranked No. 8 after making it to the quarterfinals at the ITA Central Region Tournament and defeating the regions No. 19 Morgan Salvan and No. 16 Fabien Calloud on his way there
• Miquel Perez ranked No. 9, Raul Dicu ranked No. 10, Sebastian Pjontek ranked No. 12 and Daniel Bird ranked No. 14
• In doubles, Perez/Bird ranked No. 3 regionally and No. 19 nationally after going 3-1 at the ITA Central Region Tournament. On their way to the semifinals, the duo defeated the No. 7 doubles team in Birgerson/Calloud. They would then lose to the No. 1 ranked doubles team.
• Pjontek/Matthew Earle rank No. 5 regionally

Looking Ahead

Washburn heads back home for a match against Ouachita Baptist on Saturday, February 19 in the Genesis Tennis Center at 1 p.m.