Bolivar, Mo. -- Washburn begins a six-match road trip starting with No. 15 Southern Arkansas and Harding.

First Serve

• The men's team defeated No. 28 Rockhurst, 4-0, on Tuesday
• Washburn has played Southern Arkansas just three times in school history for a 1-2 record. The Ichabods got their first win just last spring, 4-2.
• Washburn has faced Harding just a couple of times for a 1-1 record. The Ichabods dropped the last matchup, 5-2 in March 2019
• The Ichabods are 13-2 on the season and 4-2 versus ranked opponents

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird since joining the Ichabods has a 16-6 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 53-41 and an overall doubles record of 48-39. 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 20-14 in singles and 25-8 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 14-8 in singles and 22-10 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 12-4 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 leads the team with a 15-4 singles record and 3-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record and Noah Neideck is 9-3 in doubles with partner Dicu and has two singles win
• Sophomore transfer Santiago Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 4-3 in singles and 8-0 in doubles play

Milestone Tracker

• Dicu's 53 career singles wins are 17th in Washburn history. He needs four more wins to move into the top 15 and seven wins to be the 11th Ichabod to have 60 wins.
• Dicu is also two doubles wins from the 50 mark. 
• Perez is in Washburn's top-15 for career doubles win percentage (.758)
• Hammes is five singles wins away from tying Aleja Valarezo Plaza for the most singles wins by a freshman

Washburn Notes

VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS

• The Ichabods are 4-2 this year against ranked opponents
• Washburn is coming off a 4-3 win over No. 44 Southwest Baptist and a 6-1 win over No. 28 Rockhurst
• They are undefeated against opponents ranked outside the top-10. Southern Arkansas is ranked No. 15
• Two ranked teams left on the schedule

DICU WINS SECOND MIAA AOTW

• The men's team won its seventh MIAA Athlete of the Week honors in a row
• Dicu went 2-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles against No. 44 Southwest Baptist and No. 28 Rockhurst
• It is his second time receiving the honors this season and fourth time in his career

BACK ON THE ROAD

• The Ichabods hit the road for their last five road/neutral matches of the regular season
• Washburn is 5-0 on true road matches and 2-2 at neutral sites
• The Ichabods have two neutral site matches this weekend against No. 15 Southern Arkansas and Harding
• The men's team will also travel to No. 32 Northwest Missouri State during this road-stretch

Scouting the Muleriders

• The Muleriders compiled a 13-6 record last season and are on pace to top it in 2021-22 with already a 12-3 record
• No. 15 Southern Arkansas continued success has a lot to do with bringing back all but one player and adding back a key piece from 2019
• Senior Sander Jans returns for his final season. Jans is currently ranked 38th with a 11-4 singles record. He is also ranked No. 8 in doubles with Marko Nikoliuk
• Nikoliuk is 13-3 at No. 3 singles and ranked No. 16 in singles. He was an ITA Singles All-American in 2020 and First Team All-GAC in 2019
• Sofiane Bah is ranked at No. 75 with a 6-2 singles record 
• The Muleriders brought back Stuart Rehfuss who did not play during the 2020-21 season. He recently moved into first on the SAU all-time matches played list, matches won list, doubles matches won. Rehfuss is ranked No. 51 in singles
• Southern Arkansas brought back six other players and added three freshmen

Muleriders Head Coach Greg Owen

• Greg Owen enters his fourth spring season as the head women's men's tennis coach
• Owen came to SAU from Seward County CC where he coached two full seasons for both men and women
• He captured two men's and one women's NJCAA Region VI Championships
• Prior to Seward, Owen was the head tennis coach at Midlothian High School for six years
• Owen played collegiately for a season at Seminole State College and then his final seasons at GAC-rival Southeastern Oklahoma State

Scouting the Bisons

• Harding posted a 9-8 record in 2020-21. The No. 48 Bison are one win shy with a 8-5 record currently will plenty left on the schedule. 
• The 15 player roster gets slightly bigger this year with 12 returning players and four incoming freshmen
• Seniors Arthur Bellan and Alvaro de Lorenzo return after great seasons. 
• Bellan was dominant in doubles with a 12-4 record in 2020-21 and continues to be as he is already 11-4 in 2021-22
• Lorenzo went 11-4 in singles and 8-6 in doubles last season. This year, he is 9-7 in singles and 11-5 in doubles with Morgan Salvan
• Salvan came back for a 5th year and he has made it count. Slavan has compiled a 9-7 singles record and a 11-5 doubles record. 
• Lorenzo and Salvan are ranked No. 31 in doubles
• Junior Dani Ortiz performed well in both singles and doubles last season with an 11-5 record in both. Ortiz is 7-6 in singles and 11-2 in doubles
• Bryce Walker did not play doubles in 2020-21 but went 9-6 in singles. He is 11-8 in singles this year along with a 2-2 doubles record
• Senior Milosh Petrovic is having an outstanding season going from 2-2 in singles and 4-1 in doubles last year to 9-2 in singles and 10-1 in doubles
• Freshmen Cas de Ruiter, Hunter DeMunbrun, Axel Le Ho and Lukas Rambohave contributed a 8-6 singles record and a 9-2 doubles record
• De Ruiter himself is 7-1 in doubles mostly with Petrovic as his partner

Bisons Head Coach David Redding

• David Redding is in his eighth season as head men's and women's tennis coach
• The men's team is 78-45 under Redding
• Redding led the men's team to tie for the MIAA-South regular season championship and qualifying for NCAA Central Region Tournament
• Before Harding, He was the director of tennis at the Northwood Club since 1989 and served as the assistant tennis professional at the club from 1984-1989
• Redding was a graduate assistant at Southern Methodist from 1983-1985
• Redding was a member of the Harding tennis team from 1979-83. He earned multiple all-district and all-conference honors and earned the 1983 NAIA Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship
• He was inducted into the Harding Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990

 Ichabods in the Rankings

• The Ichabods stayed in the top-15 of the ITA DII National Rankings released on March 31 at No. 13
• There are four Ichabods ranked in the ITA DII National Singles and Doubles Rankings.
• Freshman Hammes climbed up one spot to No. 35 with his 15-4 singles record
• Despite winning both his singles matches this past week, Senior Dicu dropped to No. 55
• Niethammer fell out of the top-75 in the ITA Singles Rankings
• Earle and Pjontek returned to top-20 in doubles at No. 18

Looking Ahead

The Ichabods are on the road for their final three conference matches, starting at No. 32 Northwest Missouri State on April 9 at 1 p.m.