TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Ichabods host Ouachita Baptist at the Genesis Tennis Center on Saturday, February 19 at 1 p.m.

First Serve

• The Ichabods have competed against the Tigers four times in program history. The all-time series is tied 2-2
• It will be the Ichabods' first time playing the Tigers at home in school history. The last three times have been at neutral sites and the first meeting was on the road
• Washburn dropped its first match on Saturday against No. 7 Indianapolis
• The Ichabods bounced back with a win over William Jewell on Sunday
• Matthew Earle, Noah Neideck, and Santiago Rendon all earned their first singles wins of their young careers. 
• Rendon also won his first doubles match against William Jewell. Kim Niethammer competed in dual doubles for the first time and grabbed his first dual doubles win

2022 Ichabods

• Since joining the Ichabods, Daniel Bird has a 12-3 singles record and an 12-6 doubles record. Bird was All-MIAA Second Team at No. 5 singles in 2021
• Raul-Alin Dicu is a fifth-year senior holding an overall singles record of 48-37 and a overall doubles record of 43-37. 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
• Miquel Perez has gone 14-10 in singles and 14-8 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 7-5 in singles and 13-8 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 10-3 overall singles record and 8-6 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. He is 2-3 in singles and 3-2 in doubles in his first season
• Freshman Tim Hammes played No. 1 singles and doubles throughout high school while leading them to three regional championships. Hammes is 6-2 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Santiago Rendon are joining the Ichabods this spring
• Sophomore transfer Rendon, from Norfolk State, earned his first singles and doubles win of the season on Sunday against William Jewell

Milestone Tracker

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

STRONG AT SIX

• The Ichabods are 4-0 at No. 6 singles this season
• In four matches, four different Ichabods have lined up sixth in the lineup. All four have gotten the win
• Earle was the only win in singles against No. 7-ranked Indianapolis at No. 6 singles

PUT THE HAMMER DOWN

• Freshmen Kim Niethammer began his collegiate career advancing to the ITA Regional quarterfinals in the fall. Niethammer went 3-1 in the tournament
• After a singles and doubles win against William Jewell on Sunday, Niethammer is 2-0 in dual singles and 1-0 in dual doubles
• He has competed in both matches against the Cardinals

DOUBLES SWITCH

• Nine different doubles teams have competed for Washburn this season
• Washburn has two teams who have played more than 3 matches together
• Neideck and Dicu played together for the first three matches. Neideck paired up with Bird against William Jewell
• Bird leads team with five doubles wins with two partners. He is 4-1 with Perez as his partner

Previous Match Recap

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Washburn men's tennis defeat William Jewell, 7-0, for the second time this season. The Ichabods remain undefeated against the Cardinals with a 17-0 record.

In doubles competition, Senior Miller Zeiders, in his first appearance of the season, partner Kim Niethammer went up 4-0 and never looked back in a 6-1 victory. Santiago Rendon, with partner Tim Hammes, earned his first doubles win as an Ichabod to secure the doubles point. Rendon competed in doubles against William Woods but did not finish the match.

Noah Neideck and Daniel Bird finished doubles play with a 6-2 victory. Neideck/Bird after getting a three-point lead allowed their opponent to come within one. However, they would score the next three to seal the match.

Rendon got singles play started with a quick two-set win from the No. 3 spot. It is his first career singles win with Washburn. Rendon started up 3-0 and 5-0 in the first and second sets. At No. 2 singles, Bird gave the Ichabods a three-score lead. Bird had to battle after being down 0-2 to start set one. He would rattle off four in a row to take back the lead and ultimately win the first set 6-3. In the second set, Bird started up 2-0 then trailed 3-5. Bird would finish the set winning 7-5 following four straight.

Hammes fought in three sets to give Washburn the match win over William Jewell. Hammes began with a 4-1 lead in the first set. His opponent tied it a four apiece, but Hammes would get two in a row to win set one. He started set two in a similar fashion, leading 5-2 before giving up five straight points to force a third set. The third set played out the same as set one.

Niethammer took no time in winning 6-0 in the first set and 6-1 in the second to put the Ichabods up 5-0. In his first singles match of the season, Neideck defeated his opponent in two sets, 6-3, 6-1. Zeiders, also in his first singles match, jumped out to early leads in both sets as he won 6-1 and 6-2.

Washburn returns home to the Genesis Tennis Center to face MIAA South Division opponent, Ouachita Baptist. First serve at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 19.

Doubles Competition

1. Neideck, Noah/Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Wheeler, Max/Quennery, Max (WJC) 6-2

2. Hammes, Tim/Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Bickauskis, Ugnius/Lafranchise, Julien (WJC) 6-1

3. Niethammer, Kim/Zeiders, Miller (WU) def. Shields, Nick/Conley, Cory (WJC) 6-1

Order of finish: 3,2,1

Singles Competition

1. Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Bickauskis, Ugnius (WJC) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

2. Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Quennery, Max (WJC) 6-2, 7-5

3. Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Lafranchise, Julien (WJC) 6-1, 6-2

4. Niethammer, Kim (WU) def. Acuff, Evan (WJC) 6-0, 6-1

5. Neideck, Noah (WU) def. Ledbetter, Jack (WJC) 6-3, 6-1

6. Zeiders, Miller (WU) def. Shields, Nick (WJC) 6-1, 6-2

Order of finish: 3,2,1,4,5,6

Scouting the Tigers

• The Tigers had a 9-6 overall record and a 2-2 conference record last season. Their season ended with a 7-0 win over Oklahoma Baptist.
• Ouachita Baptist finished the 2020-21 season ranked No. 36th nationally and No. 6 in the central region
• Their roster consists of seven returners out of nine from their 2021 season and one freshman
• Four of the returning Tigers are ranked in the ITA Central Region polls. Led by Francisco Oliviera ranked at No. 4 after going 5-1 at the ITA Regional Tournament. He is also ranked No. 17 nationally in DII. Oliviera led the Tigers with an 11-3 singles record
• Santiago Kearney is ranked at No. 18 and Fernando Docters is ranked No. 20 in the central region. Kearney went 10-5 and Docters went 8-2 last season.
• Oliviera and Kearney are 2-0 together in doubles and individually 2-0 in singles to start the year
• Alex Blanchar also returns after his 10-2 singles season. He ranks No. 13 in the central region, going 3-1 at the ITA Regional Tournament
• Tobias Fuerschuss and Matias Parzajuk are not ranked but went 9-5 and 6-1 in 2020-21
• As a team, the Tigers have taken down No.11 Delta State and No. 19 Southwest Baptist on their way to 2-0

Tigers Head Coach Craig Ward

• Greg Ward is entering his 31st year coaching the Tigers men's and women's tennis teams
• Ward is Ouachita's most successful tennis coach with a 262-99 record
• He has earned many coaching accolades including: GSC Coach of the Decade, National College Coach of the Year, United States Professional Tennis Association College Coach of the Year, etc.
• Ward has led the Tigers to two NCAA Division II Final Four appearances, two No. 1 National rankings, 25 Tennis All-Americans, and 11 Conference Championships
• He also was inducted into the Arkansas Tennis Hall of Fame
• He is 2-2 against Washburn

 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 will travel to Springfield, Mo. for matches against Illinois-Springfield and No. 24 Drury on Feb. 26 and 27. First serve against Illinois-Springfield is 1 p.m. and against Drury it is at 11 a.m.