TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 15 Washburn men's tennis returns from a three-match road swing to take on the Rockhurst Hawks at the Genesis Tennis Center in Topeka at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Ichabod Breakdown
- Washburn returns home for two matches beginning with a Saturday square-off against Rockhurst at the Genesis Tennis Center beginning at 2 p.m.
- The Ichabods are now 5-1 on the year after a 7-0 road win over MIAA/GAC conference foe Augustana last Saturday.
- Washburn is looking to win its third match in a row which would match its longest winning streak of the season.
- The Ichabods are 19-13 all-time against the Hawks including a 6-1 win in the fall
- 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 nine singles victories going 9-4 on the year and 3-1 at No. 3.
- Daniel Bird has a 8-2 record in singles play and is a perfect 5-0 in duals.
- Noah Neideck has five singles victories and is 4-1 in duals including 2-0 at No. 4
- Hammes leads Washburn with 10 doubles wins, going 5-0 in duals and 3-0 at No. 2
- Bird has a 8-2 doubles record this season and is 5-0 in duals. Him and Moritz Pieper have gone 5-2 together and are 2-0 in duals.
- Hammes and Santiago Rendon are 4-0 as doubles partners splitting time at No. 1 and 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 six singles matches.
- Miquel Perez and Daniel Harkin each made their spring debuts against Augustana, with Harkin winning at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles and Perez winning at No. 4 singles
- Washburn won 59.2% of its singles matches this year going 45-31 overall
- The Ichabods have won 62.5% of its doubles matches with a 25-15 record
Last time on the court
Milestone markers
- Tim Hammes is five singles victory away from 25 in his career
- Miquel Perez is two singles wins away from 30 in his career
- Daniel Bird needs two more victories in singles to reach the 30 mark
- Noah Neideck needs one more singles victory to reach 10 career wins
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 70-29 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.
- 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
Match #7 - vs Rockhurst
The Rockhurst Round Up
- Rockhurst enters Saturday 5-1 overall after defeating Midland University on the road 6-1 last Sunday
- The Hawks lone loss came to the Ichabods on Oct. 22, 2022 in the team's season opener.
- Rockhurst has won its last five matches of the season
- The Hawks are 3-0 on the road in 2022-23
- In 2021-22 Rockhurst finished 9-10 overall and were eleminated in the first round of the GLVC Tournament
- Three players lead the Hawks with four singles victories on the year
- Agustin Cortes has a 4-1 record and has gone 3-0 at No. 5
- Josef Truhlar and Semyon Tsyrenov are both 4-2 overall, Truhlar is 4-2 at No. 2 and Tsyrenov is 4-0 at No. 3
- As a team Rockhurst is 20-13 in singles matches, a 60.6% winning percentage
- Agustin Cortes and Felipe Castellanos lead the Hawks in doubles with a 5-0 record from No. 2 and No. 3
- Josef Truhlar and Louis Keiner are 2-1 at No. 1 doubles this season
- As a team Rockhurst is 11-5 in doubles play, a 68.8% win percentage
Rockhurst Staff
- Jamie McDonald leads both the men's and women's tennis teams at Rockhurst after being hired on Jan. 22, 2021.
- McDonald graduated from Denison University in 2018. He was a three-time All-Conference honoree and team captain in his senior year.
- Both teams qualified for the GLVC tournament in McDonald's first full season at the helm
- Assistant coach Ryan Moody and manager William Thomsen round out the coaching staff
History with the Hawks
- Washburn and Rockhurst have played eachother 32 times in program history with the Ichabods leading the series 19-13
- Washburn has won seven in a row over the Hawks including a 6-1 win on Oct. 22, 2022 earlier this season in Kansas City, Mo.
- The Ichabods have won each of the last three matches 6-1
- Washburn is 9-8 all-time against the Hawks in Topeka
- The first match between the two teams came on April 28, 1988 and was a 9-0 win for the Ichabods in Topeka.
Schedule spring forward
- Saturday's match against Rockhurst will be the first of two straight matches played in the capitol city and a rematch from the fall
- 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
