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Conlan Birdsall/Washburn Athletic Communications Intern

Men's Tennis Fly for Thursday Match at Concordia Irvine

3/9/2022 3:00:00 PM

IRVINE, Calif. -- Washburn takes a flight to California for three matches. The first match on Thursday, March 10. First serve at 3 p.m. CT.

First Serve

  • The men's team won both their games this past weekend. Washburn defeated both Southeastern Oklahoma State, 4-3, and Midwestern State, 5-2
  • It will be the first time the Ichabods will compete in California and against Concordia Irvine
  • After a loss to No. 7 Indianapolis, the Ichabods have won six straight including a win over No. 17 Ouachita Baptist
  • The Ichabods are 8-1 on the season

2022 Ichabods

  • Daniel Bird since joining the Ichabods has a 13-4 singles record and a 15-6 doubles record. Bird was All-MIAA Second Team at No. 5 singles in 2021
  • Dicu is a fifth-year senior holding an overall singles record of 51-39 and 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
  • Perez has gone 17-11 in singles and 19-8 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 11-6 in singles and 17-9 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 7-3 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 10-3 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles in 2021-22
  • Noah Neideck is dominating in doubles play with a record of 6-1 along with a singles win
  • Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record and Noah Neideck is 7-2 in doubles with partner Dicu and has a singles win
  • Sophomore transfer Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 2-1 in singles and 3-0 in doubles play

Milestone Tracker

  • Dicu's 51 career singles wins is 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. 
  • Tim Hammes in just 13 matches has reached 10 wins as an Ichabod. He has a win from the top four singles spots
  • Perez is three singles wins and one doubles win from 20. Pjontek is three doubles wins away from 20

Washburn Notes

FOUR-TIME AOTW WINNERS

  • In three straight weeks, a Washburn a men's tennis player has won MIAA Athlete of the Week in the North Division
  • Hammes won week two after going 1-1 in singles along with his second doubles win of the season
  • In week three, Raul-Alin Dicu wins AOTW after his performance against No. 17 Ouachita Baptist. Dicu got the first doubles match win to put the Ichabods in a good position to eventually win the point. He then secured the 4-0 sweep over the Tigers with a victory in two sets against No. 17 Francisco Oliveira
  • In week four, Sebastian Pjontek received the award. He went 2-0 at No. 1 doubles and 2-0 at No. 3 singles. He was huge in a tight 4-3 win over Drury
  • This week, Perez was 2-0 in doubles and 2-0 in singles. He finished first doubles from No. 3 both matches and defeated No. 50 Stefan Andrei at No. 4 singles

DOUBLE PEREZ

  • Perez is leading the Ichabods with nine doubles wins this season mostly from No. 3 doubles
  • It ties the most wins Perez has had in a season. He went 9-6 last year in doubles
  • He is 7-2 with Bird and 2-0 with Rendon

ROAD TRIP

  • The Ichabods start what will be a seven-match road trip where they will head to Missouri, Texas and California
  • Washburn will compete against three top-20 opponents
  • In the last five seasons, the Ichabods are 25-18 in road/neutral matches. Washburn is 9-5 under Coach Ronning
  • Washburn is 4-0 to start their road stand

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

  • Washburn will play Concordia Irvine for the first time in program history.
  • The Ichabods have a 75-42 record when facing a team for the first time

Last Match Recap

WICHITA FALLS, Tex. – Washburn men's tennis wins their seventh straight match, 5-2, over Midwestern State. The Ichabods are 8-1 on the season.

The Ichabods quickly took the lead in doubles competition. The doubles team of Miquel Perez and Santiago Rendon dominated for a 6-2 victory. Midwestern State made it even with a 6-2 win over Raul-Alin Dicu and Noah Neideck.

Matthew Earle and Sebastian Pjontek defeated their opponents 6-4 at No. 1 double to give Washburn the lead. The Ichabods would never give it back.

In singles competition, Tim Hammes gave the Ichabods a 2-0 lead at No. 2 singles. He won both of his sets by scores of 6-3. The Mustangs fought back, taking a win over Pjontek in two sets. Pjontek, in the third spot, lost both sets 6-4. Washburn still led 2-1.

Washburn was again up by two when Dicu got a straight set win at No. 1 singles. He won his first set 6-4 and came away with the 7-5 set-two victory. Perez continued his great weekend with another singles win from the fourth spot. His 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory gave the Ichabods their seventh win in a row.

Daniel Bird quickly won at the bottom of the lineup 6-1, 6-3. Earle fell in two sets, 6-3, 6-1

The Ichabods take flight for a match at Concordia Irvine on Thursday, March 10. First Serve at 3 p.m. CT

Doubles Competition

1. Earle, Matthew/Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) def. Bradshaw, Brice/Westwick, Ben (MSU) 6-4

2. Andrei, Stefan/Scharfenberg, Quentin (MSU) def. Dicu, Raul-Alin/Neideck, Noah (WU) 6-2

3. Rendon, Santiago/Perez, Miquel (WU) def. Miret Avante, Marcal/Slocombe, Stephen (MSU) 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,2,1

Singles Competition

1. Dicu, Raul-Alin (WU) def. Westwick, Ben (MSU) 6-4, 6-2

2. Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Bradshaw, Brice (WU) 6-3, 6-2

3. Miret Avante, Marcal def. Pjontek, Sebastian (WU)6-4, 6-4

4. Perez, Miquel (WU) def. Andrei, Stefan (MSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

5. Heffernen, Charles (MSU) def. Earle, Matthew (WU) 6-3, 6-1

6. Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Muniz, Jean (MSU) 6-1, 6-3

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

Scouting the Eagles

  • The Eagles went 9-9 in 2020-21 and are 4-4 this season. The Eagles started the year rocky, losing three of the first four games but have gotten it together winning four of the last five
  • The team has just five returners from last season along with four transfers and a freshman
  • CUI is losing five players including freshmen standout Benjamin Buck. He went 11-1 in singles and 7-8 in doubles in his first year
  • Another key loss is Patrick Wong who went 9-4 in singles play and 5-9 in doubles. Wong was second team All-PacWest in 2021. Wong transferred to Sacramento State
  • The other three not coming back combined for a singles record of 0-1 and a doubles record of 7-10
  • The Eagles top performer, Yassine Smeig, will be returning after a 9-5 singles record and a 10-8 doubles record.
  • Senior Jan Simon also will be returning. He posted a 8-13 singles record and a 8-10 doubles record.
  • Transfer from Alabama-Huntsville, James Caddies, went 2-5 in singles and 4-3 in doubles in 2020
  • Another transfer Younes Kodiji was 21-3 in singles and 19-7 in doubles with American River College

Eagles Head Coach Jonathan Sanchez

  • Jonathan Sanchez is entering his 11th-year coaching as the Eages head men's tennis coach
  • During his tenure, he has earned more than 100 victories
  • Sanchez was voted GSAC Coach of the Year in 2015 and took the men to five NAIA Championships
  • As a player, Sanchez served as team captain and played the No. 1 position of both singles and doubles at Brighum Young
  • At BYU, Sanchez played for and coached with ITA Hall of Famer Brad Pearce

 Ichabods in the Rankings

  • The Ichabods dropped to No. 22 in the Division 2 Men's Coaches' Poll released on February 17 
  • Seven Ichabods landed on the ITA Central Regional rankings including six in the singles ranking. Four Ichabods in the top 10
  • Kim Niethammer 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

The Ichabods stay in California for matches on Saturday and Sunday. Washburn's Saturday match is at Azusa Pacific with a start time of 4 p.m. CT

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