TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 35 Washburn men's tennis closes out conference action on Tuesday against Newman in the teams final match played in the capital city this season. The Ichabods head to Arkansas on Friday and Saturday to close the regular season. 

Ichabod Breakdown

• Washburn plays its last home match on Tuesday at 1 p.m. against Newman in a match that was rescheduled from March 31. 
• The Ichabods are 10-7, 2-1 on the season after a 4-3 road loss to No. 18 Cameron University on Thursday. 
• The Jets enter Tuesday's contest 10-8 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA/GAC. 
• The Ichabods are 13-1 all-time against the Jets, winning the last six. 
• Washburn is ranked 35nd nationally in the latest ITA Coaches Poll. 
• They were also listed in the first Regional rankings released by the NCAA last week.
• 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

• Washburn enters the match at 10-6 with a 2-1 record in conference play
• The Ichabods are 4-3 in road matches this season
• Washburn is ranked No. 35 in the latest ITA Rankings
• In singles, Tim Hammes is also ranked No. 35
• Sebastian Pjontek is slotted in at No. 49, he has won his last five singles matches
• Santiago Rendon leads the Ichabods with a 16-8 singles record, he has gone 3-0 from No. 2 and is 2-1 at No. 4. 
• Daniel Bird is 14-7 in singles and has gone 11-5 in duals, at No. 4 he has gone 6-2
• Hammes has a 10-6 mark at No. 1 singles
• The Ichabods have a winning record at the top four singles positions
• Washburn has won 54.2% of its singles matches going 77-65
• Rendon and Hammes are ranked No. 14 nationally in doubles
• Miquel Perez and Pjontek are slotted at No. 16 in the nation
• Hammes and Pjontek are ranked No. 31 together 
• Rendon and Hammes have a 12-3 record in doubles together going 9-3 from No. 2
• Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji have gone 9-5 together with a 3-0 record at No. 2
• Perez and Pjontek are 3-1 together against nationally ranked opponents
• Hammes leads all Ichabods with a 18-6 doubles record, he has gone 13-3 in duals
• As a team the Ichabods have won 61.1% of doubles matches, going 44-28 on the year
• In duals Washburn has won 57.8% of singles matches and 66.7% of doubles

Last time on the court

• Washburn lost a 4-3 road contest to No. 18 Cameron last Thursday 
• It was the Ichabods second straight 4-3 loss 
• Washburn lost all three doubles matches by scores of 6-4, 6-4, and 6-3
• Tim Hammes defeated the No. 28 ranked singles player 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1
• Sebastian Pjontek and Santiago Rendon each picked up singles victories from the No. 2 and No. 5 positions respectively
• Three of the Ichabods' last four matches have been 4-3 losses 

Milestone markers

• Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek are both 5 doubles wins away from 40 in their careers.
• Pjontek is three singles victories away from reaching 30 career wins
• Santiago Rendon needs two singles wins for 25 in his time at Washburn
• 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 82-39 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

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 #18 - vs Newman University

View of the Jets

• Newman 10-8 on the season after a road 4-3 win over Empoira State last Thursday 
• The Jets are 2-2 in conference play with the last match of the regular season against the Ichabods
• They are 4-3 in true road matches this season but 0-4 in neutral court duals
• Newman has lost four of its last six matches

 Newman Staff

• Shella Augspurger is in her 19th season with Newman and is in her 17th full season after becoming Director of Tennis in 2007-08
• Has led the men's and women's programs to a combined 21 Heartland Conference Tournaments in 23 chances
• She has been teaching tennis over 20 years including experience with clubs in the St. Louis area and at Maize High School

History with the Jets

• Washburn and Newman have played 11 times in program history with the Ichabods leading 9-2 in the all-time series
• The Ichabods are 7-1 at home against the Jets
• Washburn has won the last five matches including a 6-1 win on April 14, 2022 last season
• The first match between the two was a 9-0 Washburn win on April 21, 2008 in Topeka.

Schedule spring forward

• Tuesday's match against Newman is the final match of the season in Topeka 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
• NCAA Regionals are scheduled to begin May 6