WICHITA, Kan. -- Washburn travels to Wichita, Kan., for a conference match against Newman on Thursday, April 14, starting at 1 p.m.

First serve

• The men's team dropped their first conference match of the season to No. 32 Northwest Missouri, 6-1, on Saturday
• Washburn is 12-1 when playing the Bearcats with a 1-1 road record
• The Ichabods have beaten the Jets the last five times, all by four or more points

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird, since joining the Ichabods, has a 16-8 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 54-43 and an overall doubles record of 50-40. 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 21-16 in singles and 27-9 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 15-10 in singles and 22-13 in doubles since joining the Ichabods in 2020. Pjontek, along with partner Bradley 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 12-7 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 16-56 singles record and 3-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record, and Noah Neideck is 11-4 in doubles with partner Dicu and has two singles win
• Sophomore transfer Santiago Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 6-4 in singles and 10-1 in doubles play

Milestone Tracker

• Dicu's 54 career singles wins are 17th in Washburn history. He needs three more wins to move into the top 15 and seven wins to be the 11th Ichabod to have 60 wins.
• Dicu 's doubles win at No. 41 Northwest Missouri gave him 50 in his career
• Dicu becomes the 16th Washburn men's tennis player to compile 50 singles and 50 doubles wins in a career
• Perez is in Washburn's top-15 for career doubles win percentage (.750)
• Perez is three doubles wins away from 30 in his career
• Hammes is four singles wins away from tying Aleja Valarezo Plaza for the most singles wins by a freshman
• Bird is four singles wins away from 20 in his career

Washburn Notes

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

• The Ichabods have played two of their four conference opponents and are 1-1
• Washburn fell to Northwest Missouri on Saturday
• The final two matches against Newman and Emporia State are on the road
• The Ichabods are a combined 85-30 against the Jets and Hornets

50/50

• Dicu earned his 50th doubles win on Saturday when he and partner Noah Neideck defeated Fabien Calloud and Franco Oliva
• Dicu becomes the 16th Ichabod to win 50 singles matches and 50 doubles matches
• He joins names like Plaza, Santiago Giraldo, Blake Hunter, Chase Brill, Paul Haase, Matt Barlow, etc.
• Dicu has the chance to become the 11th Ichabod to have 60 singles wins and 50 doubles wins with six singles wins. Add ten doubles wins he would be the 10th Ichabod to have 60 singles and doubles wins

BACK ON THE ROAD

• The Ichabods remain on the road for their last two road matches of the regular season
• The final two road matches are conference opponents
• Washburn is 5-1 on true road matches, 3-3 at neutral sites and 1-1 in the conference
• The Ichabods split the neutral site matches against No. 8 Southern Arkansas and No. 55 Harding
• The men's team lost their first road match against No. 32 Northwest Missouri

Last Match Recap

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The No. 14 Ichabods dropped their first conference match of the season at No. 32 Northwest Missouri, 5-2. 

The Ichabods (14-4) started strong by taking the doubles point. Raul-Alin Dicu and Noah Neideck were the first to finish with a 6-2 win over Fabien Calloud and Franco Oliva at No. 3 doubles. Northwest Missouri (11-4) evened doubles when they defeated No. 24 Matthew Earle and Sebastian Pjontek at No. 1 doubles.

Santiago Rendon and Miquel Perez moved up to No. 2 doubles and still topped their opponents, Simon Birgerson and Mason Meier, 7-6 (7-3).

The Ichabods lost four straight-set singles matches to drop just their first conference match of the season. Both No. 44 Dicu and No. 30 Tim Hammes fell to ranked opponents, No. 12 Andrea Zammuri and No. 32 Franco Oliva, in two sets.

Despite the loss, Rendon and Daniel Bird battled in matches that went to a third-set super tiebreaker. Unfortunately, both men fell in the third set.

Washburn travels for another conference match at Newman on Thursday, April 14, at 1 p.m.

Doubles Competition

1. Andrea Zamurri/Fillippo Piranomonte (NWMSU) def. #24 Pjontek,Sebastian/Earle,Matthew (WU) 7-5

2. Santiago Rendon/Perez,Miquel (WU) def. Simon Birgerson/Mason Meier (NWMSU) 7-6 (7-3)

3. Dicu,Raul-Alin/Neideck,Noah (WU) def. Fabien Calloud/Franco Oliva (NWMSU) 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Singles Competition

1. #12 Andrea Zamurri (NWMSU) def. #44 Dicu,Raul-Alin (WU) 6-2, 6-4

2. #32 Franco Oliva (NWMSU) def. #30 Hammes,Tim (WU) 7-6 (8-6), 7-5

3. Fabien Calloud (NWMSU) def. Perez,Miquel (WU) 7-5, 6-1

4. Mason Meier (NWMSU) def. Pjontek,Sebastian (WU) 6-1, 6-3

5. Simon Birgerson (NWMSU) def. Santiago Rendon (WU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4)

6. Fillippo Piranomonte (NWMSU) def. Bird,Daniel (WU) 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)

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

Scouting the Jets

• The Jets are one game below .500 at 8-9 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Newman ends the season with three conference matches in its final four matches
• Newman returned six players while adding six freshmen and two transfers
• Junior Gustavo Gil is one of two Jets with double-digit singles wins and the only Jet with 10-plus doubles wins. Gil is 14-3 in singles and 12-5 in doubles
• Sophomore Luca Penteado is 7-6 in singles and 12-5 in doubles
• Gil and Penteado did not start the season as a doubles team but have come onto the scene with a 9-1 doubles record together
• Junior Jarrod Nowark has also had a late breakout year. Nowark is 7-1 at the bottom of the singles lineup
• Newcomers Kurt Bruckner Suarez, Pedja Kolaric and Andrea Bramati are consistently in the lineup
• Suarez transferred to Newman from Bethany College. He is just 4-13 in singles and 0-7 in doubles as a Jet
• However, Chicago State transfer Kolaric is having his best collegiate season. Kolaric is 10-4 in singles after going just 2-7 at Chicago State

Jets Head Coach Shella Augspurger

• Shella Augspurger is in her 18th season with the Newman tennis program in 2021-22. It is her 16th year after beginning in the spring of 2006, and she took over as Director of Tennis before the 2007-08 season
• Augspurger has led the men's and women's teams to 21 trips to the Heartland Conference tournament out of 23 chances
• She has taught tennis for over 20 years, beginning at multiple clubs in St. Louis, Missouri, area
• Since moving to Wichita in 1999, she has been a teaching pro at Reflection Ridge Golf and Swim Club and coached the Maize High School boy's tennis team for four years
• Augspurger played three different sports at the University of Kentucky
• Her son Derrick played volleyball for Kentucky, and her daughter played volleyball at Wichita State

 Ichabods in the Rankings

• The Ichabods stayed in the top-15 of the ITA DII National Rankings released on     April 7 at No. 14
• There are four Ichabods ranked in the ITA DII National Singles and Doubles Rankings.
• Freshman Hammes moved back to No. 30 with his 16-5 singles record
• Senior Dicu topped No. 38 Sander Jans moving him back into the top-50 at No. 44
• Earle and Pjontek ranked No. 24 in doubles

Looking Ahead

The Ichabods finish conference play at Emporia State on Saturday, April 16, starting at noon.