MARYVILLE, Mo. -- Washburn men compete in conference match-up at No. 32 Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, April 9.

First Serve

• The men's team lost to No. 8 Southern Arkansas, 4-3, on Saturday and defeated No. 55 Harding, 4-2, on Sunday
• Washburn are 15-48 when playing the Bearcat. The Ichabods have won two of the last four matchups
• The Ichabods played the Bearcats three times last season. Washburn defeated No. 23 Northwest Missouri on Senior day last year to win the MIAA/GAC regular season title then lost to them in the MIAA Championship and NCAA Central Region Championships
• The Ichabods are 14-3 on the season and 4-3 versus ranked opponents
• Washburn is 1-0 in the conference and Northwest Missouri is 1-0, both with a win over Augustana

2022 Ichabods

• Daniel Bird since joining the Ichabods has a 16-7 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 54-41 and an overall doubles record of 49-39. 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 21-15 in singles and 26-9 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 15-9 in singles and 22-12 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 12-6 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 16-5 singles record and 3-1 in doubles in 2021-22
• Kim Niethammer holds a 6-2 singles record and Noah Neideck is 10-4 in doubles with partner Dicu and has two singles win
• Sophomore transfer Santiago Rendon, from Norfolk State, is 6-3 in singles and 9-1 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 is also one doubles win from the 50 mark. 
• Perez is in Washburn's top-15 for career doubles win percentage (.743)
• Perez is four 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
• Neideck earned his 10th doubles win against Harding

Washburn Notes

VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS

• The Ichabods are 4-3 this year against ranked opponents
• Washburn has defeated current No. 22 Ouachita Baptist, No. 15 Azusa Pacific, No. 58 Southwest Baptist and No. t45 Rockhurst
• The Ichabods also won against No. 40 Midwestern State and No. 62 Concordia Irvine. However, those teams were not ranked at the time
• No. 32 Northwest Missouri is the final ranked opponent left on the schedule

DICU GRABS HIS THIRD MIAA AOTW

• The men's teams won its eighth MIAA Athlete of the Week honors in a row
• Dicu went 1-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles against No. 8 Southern Arkansas and No. 55 Harding
• In his singles win, he topped No. 38 Sander Jans
• It is his third time receiving the honors this season and fifth time in his career

BACK ON THE ROAD

• The Ichabods remain on the road for their last three road matches of the regular season
• The final three road matches are all conference opponents
• Washburn is 5-0 on true road matches, 3-3 at neutral sites and 1-0 in the conference
• The Ichabods split the neutral site matches against No. 8 Southern Arkansas and No. 55 Harding
• The men's team travel to No. 32 Northwest Missouri State during the road-stretch

Last Match Recap

BOLIVAR, Mo. – The No. 13 Washburn Ichabods topped regional foe Harding, 4-2. Washburn's early lead was too much for the Bisons to overcome.

Miquel Perez and Santiago Rendon returned to their winning ways with a 6-3 victory over Milosh Petrovic and Diego Pierola at No. 3 doubles. Perez leads the team with a 16-3 doubles record. Harding (8-6) put the pressure back on Washburn (14-3), defeating No. 18 Matthew Earle and Sebastian Pjontek.

Raul-Alin Dicu and Noah Neideck took down No. 31 Alvaro de Lorenzo and Morgan Salvan for the doubles point. The win was Neideck's tenth doubles win as an Ichabod.

In singles play, Perez dominated in straights sets, 6-2, 6-2 in the second spot. Pjontek followed close behind with his straight-set victory at No. 4 singles. Despite being down three, Harding won a pair of singles matches to pull within one. Dicu and Hammes lost at No. 1 and No. 3 singles.

Both Rendon and Daniel Bird battled to clinch the final point. Rendon won the first set 6-3 but fell in the second set 6-4. He sealed the victory with a 6-3 third set win over Cas de Ruiter. Bird won a second-set tiebreaker, forcing a third set. However, he would not need to finish since the Ichabods had claimed the win.

Washburn begins the final slate of conference matches at Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, April 9, starting at 1 p.m.

Doubles Competition

1. Arthur Bellan/Dani Ortiz (HU) def. #18 Earle,Matthew/Pjontek,Sebastian (WU) 6-4

2. Dicu,Raul-Alin/Neideck,Noah (WU) def. #31 Alvaro de Lorenzo/Morgan Salvan (HU) 6-3

3. Perez,Miquel/Santiago Rendon (WU) def. Milosh Petrovic/Diego Pierola (HU) 6-3

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Singles Competition

1. Dani Ortiz (HU) def. #55 Dicu,Raul-Alin (WU) 6-3, 6-3

2. Perez,Miquel (WU) def. Arthur Bellan (HU) 6-2, 6-2

3. Morgan Salvan (HU) def. #35 Hammes,Tim (WU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

4. Pjontek,Sebastian (WU) def. Alvaro de Lorenzo (HU) 6-3, 6-1

5. Milosh Petrovic (HU) vs. Bird,Daniel (WU) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 0-1, unfinished

6. Santiago Rendon (WU) def. Cas de Ruiter (HU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

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

Scouting the Bearcat

• No. 32 Northwest Missouri started the season 2-2 with two top-20 losses but have one seven of their last nine for a 9-4 record 
• The Bearcat's lineup returned five key players from last season, losing senior Agustin Velasco. 
• Velasco went 10-2 from the bottom of the singles lineup and 16-2 in doubles
• Velasco's doubles partner, Fabien Calloud came back. Calloud continues to have success with a 13-4 singles record and a 12-5 doubles record with three different teammates
• The Bearcat's No. 1 singles player Andrea Zamurri had a breakout freshmen year going 18-2 in singles and 14-7 in doubles. The 13th ranked singles player is 15-5 in singles and 12-4 in doubles
• Franco Oliva is 12-3 in doubles mostly with Zamurri and 10-11 in singles. Oliva is ranked 29th in singles
• Zamurri and Oliva are ranked No. 45 with a 9-3 record at No. 1 doubles
• Transfer Simon Birgerson from Rockhurst and freshmen Mason Meir stepped in and performed well
• Birgerson is just 8-10 in singles but has made his mark in doubles with a 11-3 doubles record
• Meir is 10-3 in singles and 7-5 in doubles
• Birgerson and Meir are 6-2 together at No. 2 doubles

Bearcat Head Coach Mark Rosewell

• Mark Rosewell is in his 38th season as head men's and women's tennis coach
• Rosewell holds a 1,141-546 (.676) mark while coaching at Northwest Missouri
• He is just the second MIAA coach in any sport to reach 1,000 wins
• He has taken the Bearcats to 26 MIAA Regular Season Championships (12 women, 14 men) 10 MIAA Tournament Championships (9 men, 1 women) and 40 NCAA Tournament appearances (21 men, 19 women)
• Rosewell has coached 136 MIAA champions and 87 first team All-MIAA performers
• He has been named MIAA Coach of the Year 27 times
• Previously coached at alma mater, the University of Central Missouri. Rosewell was 22-27 at UCM in his two seasons
• Compiled Central Missouri's best career winning percentage in the 1970s

 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 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 compete in another conference match at Newman on Thursday, April 14, starting at 1 p.m.