TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn hosts No. 44 Southwest Baptist on Friday, March 25 at noon. It is one of five ranked opponents left on the Ichabods schedule.

First Serve

• The men's team defeated Augustana, 4-0, on Friday
• The Ichabods' match against McPherson was canceled due to weather
• Washburn is 13-30 against the Bearcats in program history. The Ichabods last defeated SBU in April 2017 in Lincoln, Neb.
• The Ichabods are 11-2 on the season and 2-2 versus ranked opponents

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird since joining the Ichabods has a 15-5 singles record and a 16-6 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 51-41 and an overall doubles record of 47-38. He is a four-time Academic Honor Roll member, two-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete, 2-time All-MIAA Honorable Mention and an ITA Scholar-Athlete
• Miquel Perez has gone 20-12 in singles and 23-8 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 13-8 in singles and 21-9 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 3-4 in singles and 11-3 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 13-4 in singles play and 3-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record and Noah Neideck is 8-2 in doubles with partner Dicu and has a singles win
• Sophomore transfer Santiago Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 3-2 in singles and 6-0 in doubles play

Milestone Tracker

• Dicu's 51 career singles wins are 18th in Washburn history. He needs 6 more wins to move into the top 15 and 10 wins to be the 11th Ichabod to have 60 wins.
• Dicu is also three doubles wins from the 50 mark. 
• Perez earned his 20th singles win at No. 1 singles against Augustana
• Perez is just outside Washburn's top-15 for career doubles win percentage (.742)
• Hammes is seven singles wins away from tying Aleja Valarezo Plaza for the most singles wins by a freshman

Washburn Notes

PEREZ EARNS AOTW FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK

• In six straight weeks, a Washburn a men's tennis player has won MIAA Athlete of the Week in the North Division
• Perez earned the honor for the third time in three weeks
• In week 5, Perez posted a 2-0 doubles record and a 2-0 singles record. He finished first doubles from No. 3 in both matches and defeated No. 50 Stefan Andrei at No. 4 singles
• In week 6, Perez went 3-0 at No. 3 doubles and 2-1 in singles play this past weekend. In doubles, Perez secured the doubles point at CUI and APU. In singles, he started at No. 3 singles at CUI then won at No. 2 singles at APU
• This week, Perez clinched the doubles point and victory in a sweep over Augustana. He won his first match at No. 1 singles

EARLE-Y WINNER

• Matthew Earle in his freshman year is 3-4 in singles and 11-3 in doubles play
• Earle is also 9-2 at No. 1 doubles with partner Sebastian Pjontek
• Earle played one set against Augustana and won it 6-1

BOTTOM TO THE TOP

• The Ichabods are 9-1 at No. 6 singles
• Five different players have competed at the bottom of the lineup
• Bird leads the team with a 3-0 record from that position

HOME SWEET HOME

• The Ichabods have been on the for the last seven matches but are set to start a four-match home stand
• The last home match was a 4-0 win against No. 17 now No. 16 Ouachita Baptist on Feb. 19
• Washburn is 4-0 at home this season
• During this stretch, the Ichabods face two- top-50 opponents in No. 44 Southwest Baptist and No. 28 Rockhurst

 Last Match Recap

TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 7 Ichabods took care of Augustana (S.D.), 4-0. Washburn men's tennis wins their first conference match of the season. 

In their first time pairing up, Tim Hammes and Noah Neideck looked in sync defeating their opponent 6-0 at No. 3 doubles. Followed by old reliable, Daniel Bird and Miquel Perez, who earned the doubles point with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles.

The 20th-ranked doubles team, Matthew Earle and Sebastian Pjontek swept doubles with their 6-3 victory at No. 1 doubles. The duo is 11-3 this season and 8-2 from No. 1 doubles

In singles play, No. 30 Tim Hammes wasted no time with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the two spot. Hammes leads the team with 13 singles wins. No. 67 Pjontek quickly won his first set 6-1 then battled to win 7-5 in the second set. From No. 3 singles, Pjontek is 5-1 this season. 

Washburn needed just one more point to take home the win. Perez finished the job with his first No.1 singles win of the season. Perez, taking over for No. 49 Raul-Alin Dicu, defeated his opponent 6-3, 7-6 (4). It was also his 20th singles win of his Washburn career.

No. 7 Washburn return to action Tuesday, March 22 against McPherson College at the Washburn Tennis Complex. The match begins at 2:30 p.m.

Doubles Competition

1. #20 Earle,Matthew/Pjontek,Sebastian (WU) def. Dornbusch, Henry/Damgaard, Cade (AU) 6-3

2. Bird,Daniel/Perez,Miquel (WU) def. Karcher, Justin/LaPoint, Nicholas (AU) 6-1

3. Hammes,Tim/Neideck,Noah (WU) def. Cowger, Tyson/Shafer, Tory (AU) 6-0

Order of Finish: 3,2,1

Singles Competition

1. Perez,Miquel (WU) def. Dornbusch, Henry (AU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)

2. #30 Hammes,Tim (WU) def. Karcher, Justin (AU) 6-3, 6-2

3. #67 Pjontek,Sebastian (WU) def. Damgaard, Cade (AU) 6-1, 7-5

4. Earle,Matthew (WU) vs. LaPoint, Nicholas (AU) 6-1, unfinished

5. Bird,Daniel (WU) vs. Plachy, Joseph (AU) 6-1, unfinished

6. Neideck,Noah (WU) vs. Cowger, Tyson (AU) 6-2, unfinished

Order of Finish: 2,3,1

Scouting the Bearcats

• No. 44 Southwest Baptist posted a 18-9 (5-1) season in 2020-21 and are currently 6-6 this season
• The Bearcats brought back eight of their 11 players on last year's roster and adding two freshmen
• SBU lost their top performing singles player in Adham Gaber. He compiled a 22-4 singles record and was 4-1 in doubles
• The Bearcats did bring back senior David Szeri. He posted a 16-8 singles record and led the team with a 18-6 doubles record. Szeri is just 3-8 in singles and 4-8 in doubles in 2021-22
• Sophomore Alvaro Nunez returns after going 11-13 in singles and 17-7 in doubles. Nunez is 3-6 in singles and 6-5 in doubles this year
• Gaber's doubles partner, Youssef Nabil is another returner. Nabil went 5-8 in singles and 17-4 in doubles. This season he leads SBU with a 6-0 singles record and is 5-5 in doubles
• Nunez and Nabil are 4-1 in doubles together and ranked No. 35 nationally
• Freshman Makary Adamek is 4-8 in singles and 2-6 in doubles

Bearcats Head Coach Joao Almeida

• Joao Almeida began his first season coaching the Bearcats
• Almeida spent the past two seasons as the assistant women's tennis coach at Fort Hays State
• While at FHSU, he received a master's degree in Human and Health Performance
• Prior to FHSU, Almeida was a member of the SBU men's tennis team from 2015-19. As an athlete, he was named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll three times and was a two-time recipient of the ITA Scholar Athlete Award

 Ichabods in the Rankings

• The Ichabods stayed in the top-15 of the ITA DII National Rankings released on March 24 at No. 11
• There are four Ichabods ranked in the ITA DII National Singles and Doubles Rankings.
• Freshman Tim Hammes moved down to No. 36 with his 13-4 singles record
• Senior Raul-Alin Dicu did not move as he remained at No. 49 after not competing this past week
• Kim Niethammer took a dive from No. 53 to No. 59
• Sebastian Pjontek went from No. 67 to out of the singles but stayedin the doubles rankings
• Matthew Earle and Pjontek with a doubles record of 11-3 fell just one spot to No. 21

Looking Ahead

The Ichabods finish their homestand hosting No. 42 Rockhurst on Wednesday, March 30 at 1 p.m.