Kyle Manthe/Assistant Director Athletic Communications

No. 16 Washburn travels to Augustana for conference opener on Saturday

2/16/2023 3:28:00 PM

TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 16 Washburn men's tennis travels to Sioux Falls, S.D., on Saturday to open conference play against Augustana beginning at 2 p.m.

Ichabod Breakdown

Washburn travels to Sioux Falls to take on Augustana in the Ichabods' first MIAA North Division match of the season.
Washburn is coming off a 5-2 road win over Illinois Springfield last Saturday and a 5-2 loss to No. 7 Indianapolis the day before
The Ichabods are 3-0 all-time against the Vikings
Washburn is ranked 16th nationally in the first ITA Coaches Poll of the spring
The Ichabods were picked to finish second in the MIAA/GAC Preseason Coaches Poll
Washburn went 17-6 in 2021-22 and earned a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Ichabods return eight players from last seasons roster and add one transfer and one freshman.

Washburn who's who

Sebastian Pjontek enters the spring ranked No. 35 in the nation in singles
Pjontek is joined by Tim Hammes and the pair are ranked No. 12 by the country in doubles
Santiago Rendon leads the Ichabods with eight singles victories going 8-4 on the year and 3-1 at No. 3.
Daniel Bird has a 7-2 record in singles play and is a perfect 4-0 in duals.
Noah Neideck has five singles victories and is 4-1 in duals including 2-0 at No. 4
Hammes leads Washburn with nine doubles wins, going 4-0 in duals and 3-0 at No. 2
Bird has a 7-2 doubles record this season and is 4-0 in duals. Him and Moritz Pieper have gone 5-2 together and are 2-0 in duals.
Hammes and Santiago Rendon are 3-0 as doubles partners, winning all three matches at No. 2
Sebastian Pjontek has six doubles wins on the year and went 5-3 in tournament play
Daniel Bird owns the longest winning streak on the team, winning his last five singles matches.
The Ichabods are 5-0 this season at No. 2 doubles as well as 5-0 in No. 4 singles
Washburn has gone 39-31 in singles matches this year, 55.7%
The Ichabods are 22-15 in doubles, good for a a 59.5% winning percentage

Last time on the court

Washburn defeated Illinois Springfield 5-2 on the road and lost to No. 7 Indianapolis on a neutral court
Daniel Bird went 4-0 on the week, winning twice and No. 4 singles and at No. 3 doubles along with Yoshinobu Nakatsuji
Santiago Rendon and Tim Hammes went 2-0 at No. 2 doubles in both matches as well as picked up wins in singles competition against the Prairie Stars
The Ichabods lost to the first time in the match against the Greyhounds but won their first road match of the season against Illinois Springfield

Milestone markers

Tim Hammes is one singles victory away from 25 in his career
Miquel Perez is three singles wins away from 30 in his career
Daniel Bird needs three more victories in singles to reach the 30 mark and one win in doubles to reach 25 in his career.

Head coach Kirby Ronning

Ronning is in his third year as head coach of the Ichabod men's and women's tennis teams
He has led both teams to the NCAA tournament in both seasons at the helm
Ronning has a combined record of 68-29 in his two plus seasons at Washburn
Prior to joining the Ichabods Ronning spent four seasons as the assistant coach at Azusa Pacific from 2016-2022
Ronning played for Bethel University (Minn.) for four seasons and was honored with the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Sportsmanship award two times.

The assistants

Volunteer assistant Kurt Reid and graduate assistant Raul-Alin Dicu round out the men's coaching staff
Reid enters his fourth season as an assistant with the Ichabods.
He started his collegiate tennis career at Tulsa (1977-78) before transferring to Washburn for the 1978-79 season. He wrapped up his career at Kansas State where he graduated with his bachelor's of science degree in 1981.
Dicu joins the Ichabods after a five-year standout career for Washburn from 2017-22
He finished his career with a 56-45 singles record and 53-41 doubles mark and is in the top-20 in singles and doubles wins in program history

Opponent Quick Scout
Game #6 - vs Augustana
All about Augustana

The Vikings enter the week 1-3 after a 4-3 win over William Jewell last Sunday
Augustana will take on the Northwestern Red Raiders on Friday evening before facing the Ichabods
Last season the Vikings finished 7-9 and went 0-4 in the MIAA/GAC North Division but had a 2-0 record at home
This season Augustana has only played neutral court games, the home opener for the Vikings will come on Friday
Henry Dornbusch leads Augustana with two singles wins and has gone 2-2 at No. 1
Five players have singles wins for the Vikings
Tyson Cowger has the most doubles wins with two, going 2-2 overall
Cade Damgaard and Henry Dornbusch are 1-0 at doubles together, with a win at No. 1
Augustana has a 6-18 record in singles, a 25% winning percentage
The Vikings record in doubles is 3-9, also a 25% winning percentage

Vikings Staff

Marc Kurtz leads Augustana in his 19th season with the Vikings
Kurtz has compiled a 273-51 record on the women's side and a 94-157 on the men's side
The Viking women have gone undefeated in each of the past 12 NSIC regular seasons, including 11-straight NSIC Tournament Championships and 12 NSIC regular season championships
Jared Hofer and Mitch Barr round out the coaching staff

History with Augustana

Schedule spring forward

Saturday's match is the first MIAA/GAC conference matchup of the season.
The Ichabods will travel to Florida in March to play four matches in five days
Washburn has four MIAA matches on the slate in the spring including Saturday's match.
The longest home stretch of the season comes from March 23 to March 31 with four matches in that time
The match on March 31 against Newman will be senior day for the Ichabods.
Washburn wraps up the regular season with two matches in Arkansas, the final regular season game comes on April 15 against Southern Arkansas University
The Men's MIAA Tournament will take place from April 19-21

Washburn University Athletics