TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 16 ranked Washburn men's tennis hits the road for the first time in the spring this weekend taking on No. 7 University of Indianapolis at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and the Prairie Stars of Illinois Springfield on Saturday beginning at 1:30 p.m. 

Ichabod Breakdown

• Washburn will look to continue its undefeated season with matches against No. 7 University of Indianapolis and the University of Illinois Springfield on Friday and Saturday this week.
• The Ichabods are coming off a 7-0 home win over William Jewell College last Saturday and a 6-1 road exhibition loss to Drake on Sunday.
• Washburn is 0-2 all time against the Greyhounds and has a 2-0 record against the Prairie Stars.
• The Ichabods are ranked 16th nationally in the first ITA Coaches Poll of the spring
• Washburn was picked to finish second in the MIAA/GAC Preseason Coaches Poll
• The Ichabods went 17-6 in 2021-22 and earned a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament

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 in singles victories with seven on the year, going 7-3 so far including 2-0 from No. 3
• Pjontek is to 4-1 on the season in singles and is 1-0 in duals after last weekend, winning at No. 2
• Hammes is 2-0 in duals on the year, both at No. 1
• Noah Neideck and Moritz Pieper are both 3-0 in duals for singles play this season
• Daniel Bird has a 5-2 singles record, with three wins in tournament play and a 2-0 duals record
• Hammes leads Washburn with seven doubles victories, going 3-0 in duals
• Pjontek has six doubles wins on the season and is 1-0 in duals
• Pieper and Bird have a 5-2 doubles record together and have gone 2-0 in duals
• Three players have three match winning streaks in singles while the pairing of Bird and Moritz Pieper have also won their last three in doubles.
• Washburn has won 58.6% of their singles matches this season (34-24)
• The Ichabods have won 56.2% of their doubles matches (18-14)

Last time on the court

• Washburn defeated William Jewell 7-0 and lost to Drake 6-1 in an exhibition
• Noah Neideck and Sebastian Pjontek won at No. 1 doubles against the Cardinals, Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon secured the doubles point at No. 2
• All four also won singles matches in positions 1-4
• Moritz Pieper and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji each won two-set singles matches
• The Ichabods dropped No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches against the Bulldogs with No. 2 left unfinished
• Hammes won in three sets at No. 1 singles against Drake
• Moritz Pieper took his opponent to three sets at No. 6 before losing

Milestone markers

• Tim Hammes is two singles victories away from 25 in his career
• Miquel Perez is three singles wins away from 30 in his career
• Daniel Bird needs five more victories in singles to reach the 30 mark and three wins 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 66-27 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
• Volunteer assistant Kurt Reid and graduate assistant Raul-Alin Dicu round out the men's coaching staff

Schedule spring forward

• Washburn's matches this weekend will be the first two regular season games of the spring on the road.
• 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.
• The final home game of the season is March 31 against Newman which will be senior day.
• 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

Opponent Quick Scout

Match #4 - vs Indianapolis
Glance at the Greyhounds

• Indianapolis enters the spring ranked No. 7 nationally in the ITA Coaches poll
• The Greyhounds are 3-0 on the season so far, coming off a 4-0 win at Ferris State on Sunday
• Last sesaon Indy went 21-5 and made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships, losing 4-1 to Barry
• Tom Zeuch is ranked No. 28 in the nation in singles
• Zeuch and Edgar Destouet are the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, they are 10-0 this year overall and 9-0 in tournaments, winning the ITA Cup
• Destouet is 3-1 in singles this year and is 1-0 at No. 1
• Zeuch leads the team with a 4-1 record in singles, and is 1-0 in duals
• The pairing of Jason Gerweck and Pedro Franca are a perfect 4-0 in doubles matches
• As a team the Greyhounds are 18-11 in singles and 25-3 in doubles on the season.

Indianapolis Staff

• The Greyhounds are led by head coach Malik Tabet in his ninth season
• Tabet made the transition to Indianapolis from Austin Peay State University where he served as the head men's and women's coach. Prior to that, Tabet had a six-year stint at Indiana State
• Was the National ITA Women's Coach of the Year in 2020-21
• Franck Soulerot and Jhovana Brena round out the staff

History with Indianapolis

• Washburn is 0-2 all-time against the Greyhounds
• The last match came on Feb. 12, 2022 and was a 6-1 loss for the Ichabods
• The first match was a 5-1 win for Indianaplis on May. 10, 2028
• All three matches, including this weeks will be played on a neutral court.

Match #5 - at Illinois Springfield

Peek at the Prairie Stars

• Illinois Springfield has not played a match this season and will open up play against the Ichabods on Saturday
• The Prairie Stars went 8-9 last year and 2-4 in the GLVC
• They finished with a 4-3 record at home
• Matthew Lapsey is the leading returner in singles wins for Illinois Springfield, last season he went 15-6 and was 9-3 at No. 6 and 7-3 in tournaments
• Lapsey also leads returners from last season in doubles victories, going 11-8 overall in 2021-22 and 9-3 from No. 3
• Lapsey and Nick Revin went 5-4 in doubles competition
• Revin is another key returner for the Prairie Stars, going 10-9 in singles last season with a 5-5 record at No. 2
• Illinois Springfield was picked to finish third in the GLVC East Division Preseason Poll
• Last season the Prairie Stars went 98-64 in singles, good for a 60.5%
• Illinois Springfield won 51.5% of its doubles matches last year, going 34-32

Illinois Springfield Staff

• The Prairie Stars are led by interim head coach Ross Graham
• Assistant coach Ignacio Ascarrunz joins him on the staff

History with the prairie stars

• Last season Washburn defeated the Prairie Stars 6-1 in Sprinfield, Mo. on Feb. 26, 2022
• The first match between the two schools came on April 1, 2016 and was a 8-1 win for the Ichabods
• Washburn has not surrendered more than one point in either contest against Illinois Springfield