EMPORIA, Kan. -- Washburn competes in its last road game of the regular season at Emporia State on Saturday, April 16, starting at noon.

First Serve

• The men's team bounced back in conference play with a 5-2 win at Newman
• Washburn is 73-29 against the Hornets and 30-17 on the road
• The Ichabods also have won 34 of the last 35 matches against Emporia State, including a match in the NCAA North Central Regional
• The Ichabods have won by five points or more in the last four match-ups
• Washburn men are 5-1 in the MIAA under Coach Ronning

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird, since joining the Ichabods, has a 17-8 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 54-44 and an overall doubles record of 51-40. 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 27-10 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 16-10 in singles and 23-13 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 13-7 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 17-6 singles record and 3-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record, and Noah Neideck is 12-4 in doubles with partner Dicu and has three singles win
• Sophomore transfer Santiago Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 6-5 in singles and 10-2 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.
• Perez is in Washburn's top-15 for career doubles win percentage (.730)
• Perez is three doubles wins away from 30 in his career
• Hammes is three singles wins away from tying Aleja Valarezo Plaza for the most singles wins by a freshman
• Bird is three singles wins away from 20 in his career
• Pjontek is four singles from 20 as well

Washburn Notes

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

• The Ichabods have played three of their four conference opponents and are 2-1
• Washburn defeated Augustana and Newman but lost to Northwest Missouri
• The final match is at Emporia
• The Ichabods are 5-1 in the MIAA under Coach Ronning

DOUBLE DOWN

• The Ichabods earned the doubles point in 17 of their 19 matches in 2021-22
• The team has six players, and two teams with double-digit doubles wins
• Bird is one off of ten doubles wins, and Rendon/Perez are also one win from ten as a duo

HIT THE -DECK

• Neideck has helped the Ichabods in multiple places throughout the season
• He has played in all three doubles positions (1-0 at No. 1 singles, 7-4 at No. 2 doubles, and 4-0 at No. 3 doubles)
• He not only won from three different positions but with three different doubles teammates (Dicu, Bird, Hammes)
• Neideck stepped in at the bottom of the singles lineup three times and has delivered each time. He has won all three singles matches this season

BACK ON THE ROAD

• The Ichabods finish their regular-season road schedule on Friday at Emporia State
• Washburn is 6-1 on true road matches, 3-3 at neutral sites and 2-1 in the conference
• The Ichabods split the neutral site matches against No. 8 Southern Arkansas and No. 55 Harding

Last Match Recap

WICHITA, Kan. – No. 16 Washburn men's tennis team defeated conference opponent Newman, 5-2. The Ichabods are 13-1 all-time against the Jets.

In doubles play, Raul-Alin Dicu and Noah Neideck were the first to finish with a 6-2 victory against Andrea Bramati and Kurt Suarez Bruckner at No. 3 doubles. Newman (8-10) fought back by grabbing a win at No. 2 doubles.

No. 24 Matthew Earle and Sebastian Pjontek end their three-match slump to clinch the doubles point. Earle and Pjontek defeated Ali Mounir and Pedja Kolaric, 6-4, at No. 1 doubles.

Daniel Bird kept the pressure on the Jets, quickly taking down Gustavo Gil, 6-1, 6-1, for his first win in the fourth position. The Ichabods (15-4) took the 3-0 lead when Pjontek topped Mounir, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3 singles. No. 28 Tim Hammes clinched the conference win with a 6-2, 7-5 victory against Kolaric in the third spot.

Despite the Jets having lost the match, Luca Penteado grabbed a win at No. 5 singles. In a late change to the lineup, Neideck moved to 3-0 in singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win at the bottom of the lineup. The match wrapped up with a third-set tiebreaker at No. 1 singles. Bruckner outlasted Dicu, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (8).

The Ichabods travel for the last time in the regular season to Emporia State on Saturday, April 16, starting at noon.

Doubles Competition

Earle, Matthew/Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) def. Kolaric, Pedja/Mounir, Ali (NU) 6-4

Gil, Gustavo/Penteado, Luca (NU) def. Perez, Miquel/Rendon, Santiago (WU) 6-2

Dicu, Raul-Alin/Neideck, Noah (WU) def. Bramati, Andrea/Suarez Bruckner, Kurt (NU) 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,2,1

Singles Competition

Suarez Bruckner, Kurt (NU) def. Dicu, Raul-Alin (WU) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (8)

Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Kolaric, Pedja (NU) 6-2, 7-5

Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) def. Mounir, Ali (NU) 6-2, 6-2

Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Gil, Gustavo (NU) 6-1, 6-1

Penteado, Luca (NU) def. Rendon, Santiago (WU) 6-3, 6-0

Neideck, Noah (WU) def. Nowark, Jarrod (NU) 6-2, 6-2

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

Scouting the Hornets

• The Hornets sit below .500 at 5-6 overall and are 1-1 in the MIAA/GAC
• Emporia State returned all but one senior from last season's roster and added two freshmen
• Juniors Theo Belmonte and Harrison Brown were one and two for best singles and doubles winning percentage in 2020-21
• Belmonte is just 5-4 in singles and 5-5 in doubles this season. Brown has also not kept the same production with just a 2-7 at No. 1 singles record and a 4-4 doubles record
• Freshmen Jaden Tredway and Sergio Vera have made an impact in their first seasons
• Tredway is 5-4 in singles and 3-3 in doubles
• Vera leads the team in singles winning percentage with a 6-2 singles record along with a 5-5 doubles record

Hornets Head Coach Les Stafford

• Les Stafford is in his third season head coaching the Hornets' men's and women's tennis programs
• Stafford compiled a 14-16 men's record since being hired before the 2019 season
• He spent 15 years before becoming the head coach as the head tennis pro at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kan.
• Stafford spent 14 seasons as the head coach of the women's program at Wichita State from 1990-2004 and was a four-time conference coach of the year
• He went 178-143 in dual match play with four conference tournament championships and one regular-season title
• Stafford was a four-time NAIA National Tournament qualifier during his career with the Hornets
• He went 20-5 in singles while going 20-6 with Ken Hush in doubles in 1979 as they were the first teammates in District 10 history to qualify for singles at nationals in the same year
• He won the No. 1 singles and No.1 doubles championship at the CSIC Tournament his senior year
• He was the No. 1 ranked singles player in the state of Kansas for seven years and was ranked No. 1 in the state in doubles for 15 years

 Ichabods in the Rankings

• The Ichabods checked in at No. 16 in the latest ITA National Team Rankings, released on April 14
• There are four Ichabods ranked in the ITA DII National Singles and Doubles Rankings.
• Freshman Hammes moved up a couple of places to No. 28 with his 16-6 singles record
• Senior Dicu fell from No. 44 to No. 52. Dicu is 10-8 at No. 1 singles this year
• Earle and Pjontek still ranked No. 24 in doubles

Looking Ahead

The Ichabods finish the regular season at home against Bethel College and Cowley County Community College on April 21 and April 22 at 2 p.m.