TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 38 Washburn men's tennis returns home after a four match hiatus to play host to Harding on Thursday afternoon in Topeka and No. 16 Northwest Missouri State at the Washburn Tennis Complex at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

Ichabod Breakdown

• No. 38 Washburn will begin a four game homestand against Harding University in Topeka on Thursday and will host No. 16 Northwest Missouri on Saturday.
• The time and location of Thursday's match will be weather dependent. If indoors, it will be moved to the Genesis Tennis Center at noon. 
• The Ichabods are 8-4 on the year after a 5-2 road win over No. 20 Florida Southern. 
• Harding enters the week 7-6 while Northwest Missouri is 6-5, 1-0
• The Ichabods are ranked No. 38 in the latest ITA rankings after being unranked the week prior 
• 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. 
• The Ichabods return eight players from last seasons roster and add one transfer and one freshman. 

Washburn who's who

• Washburn is 8-4 on the season with its last four contests coming on the road against ranked opponents.
• The Ichabods are 3-0 at home this season and 1-0 at the Washburn Tennis Complex.
• Washburn is ranked No. 38 in the latest ITA rankings after being unranked last week
• Tim Hammes moved up to No. 55 on the singles side
• In doubles Sebastian Pjontek and Miquel Perez are ranked No. 21 together
• Hammes and Santiago Rendon jumped into the top-30, ranked No. 29
• Hammes and Pjontek are ranked No. 36 nationally
• Santiago Rendon leads the Ichabods with 13 singles victories going 13-6 on the year and 2-0 at No. 2. 
• Bird has a 12-4 record in singles play, is 9-2 in duals. He has gone 5-2 at No. 4.
• Hammes is 6-5 from the No. 1 spot in singles
• Daniel Harkin has won four of his last five matches with a 4-1 record in duals
• The Ichabods have won 54.5% of their singles matches going 61-51
• Hammes leads Washburn with 14 doubles wins, going 9-2 in duals and 4-0 at No. 1
• Bird has a 11-5 doubles record this season and is 8-3 in duals. Him and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji 6-3 together.
• Overall Pjontek is 8-6 in doubles and has gone 3-3 from No. 1 
• Moritz Pieper is 6-4 in doubles action, going 3-2 in duals 
• Washburn has gone 10-2 this season at No. 2 doubles
• The Ichabods have won 58.6% of doubles matches this season with a 34-24 record
• In duals Washburn's doubles winning percentage is 67.9%

Last time on the court

• Washburn defeated No. 20 Florida Southern on Monday for the Ichabods' first ranked win of the season. 
• Washburn won in all three doubles spots by scores of 5-3(ret.), 6-3 and 6-2
• Sebastian Pjontek and Miquel Perez defeated the No. 6 ranked doubles team for the Moccasins. 
• Pjontek and Daniel Bird went 2-0 on the day with singles and doubles victories. 
• Santiago Rendon and Daniel Harkin each won three-set matches from No. 3 and No. 6 respectively 

Milestone markers

• Tim Hammes is three singles victories away from 30 in his career
• Miquel Perez is one singles wins away from 30 in his career
• Daniel Bird is two wins away from 30 career doubles victories
• 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 76-31 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 against Harding and Northwest Missouri State begin a four match homestand and mark the return of conference play with the Bearcats. 
• Washburn has two more MIAA matches on the slate in the spring after this week.
• 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 #13 - vs Harding University

Harding Hard Scout

• The Bison are 7-6 this season and 4-1 on the road 
• They have lost their last three contests, losing 4-0 to Southwest Baptist most recently
• Cas de Rulter leads Harding in singles with a 17-6 record, going 6-3 from No. 3
• No. 16 ranked Dani Ortiz is 16-9 on the year with a 5-4 No. 1 record
• No. 14 ranked Teodor Zlatar is also 16-9 after going 12-3 in tournament play
• Bryce Walker is 15-4 with a 5-1 record at No. 5
• The Bisons have won 60.8% of singles matches going 93-60
• De Rulter leads Harding in doubles play with a 14-5 record, he has gone 12-0 in duals
• Clan Mikkelsen is 12-0 overall on the year in doubles, going 5-0 at No. 1 and 7-0 from No. 2
• Rulter and Mikkelsen are 12-0 together and are ranked No. 10
• Ortiz and Zlatar are ranked No. 20 in doubles 
• Harding has won 60.7% of doubles matches with a 37-24 record

Bisons Staff

• Harding is led by David Redding in his eighth season in charge of the men's and women's tennis programs
• In his first seven seasons, his men's teams had a 80-49 (.620) record
• Harding's men have been nationally ranked four times, have qualified for the NCAA Central Region Tournament twice and shared the 2021 MIAA South regular season championship during Redding's tenure
• Redding returned to Harding from Dallas, where he was the director of tennis at the Northwood Club beginning in 1989.

History with Harding

• Washburn and Harding have played one another four times with Thursday's matchup making the fifth. They have split the series 2-2
• The Ichabods are 0-1 in Topeka against the Bisons, all three other contests have been on neutral courts
• The first match came on April 4, 2015 and was a 5-4 win for Washburn
• Last season Harding defeated the Ichabods 4-2 in Edmond, Okla., on April 27

Match #14 - vs No. 16 Northwest Missouri

Book on the Bearcats

• Northwest Missouri enters the week 6-5 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA
• The Bearcats have won three of their last four matches and are 4-1 away from home this season
• Northwest Missouri is ranked No. 16 in the latest ITA rankings
• No. 27 Michael Delebois leads Northwest in singles with an 11-5 record
• No. 16 Andrea Zamurri has gone 8-4 on the year and 6-3 from the No. 1 spot
• Fabien Calloud is ranked No. 65 in singles 
• Jan Skerbatis is 7-6 and has won his last four duals
• The Bearcats have won 57.8% of singles matches going 52-38
• The duo of Zamurri and Fillippo Piranomonte lead NWMSU in doubles going 10-2 on the year and 4-0 at No. 3. They are ranked No. 33
• No. 8 nationally ranked Skerbatis and Mason meier both also have 10 wins on the season, going 10-9 overall together 
• In doubles the Bearcats have won 55.3% of matches, going 26-21

Northwest Staff

• Mark Rosewell is in his 39th season in charge of the men's and women's Bearcat tennis programs
• In his career he has 1,193 victories, 27 combined MIAA Regular Season Championships and 10 MIAA Tournament Championships with nine coming on the men's side 
• He has been named MIAA Coach of the Year 27 times, the latest honor coming in 2017.
• He has been named the ITA Regional Coach of the Year seven times combined
• Graduate assistants Juan Esteban Druan and Martin Sanchez round out the staff

History with the Bearcats

• Washburn and the Bearcats have played eachother 64 times in program history with Northwest leading the series all-time 19-49
• The Ichabods are 8-21 all-time in Topeka against Northwest Missouri
• The first match came on April 6, 1968 in Maryville, Mo., and was a 5-4 win for the Bearcats