TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 38 Washburn men's tennis closes out its regular season with two matches in Arkansas against No. 16 Ouachita Baptist on Friday and Southern Arkansas on Saturday. 

Ichabod Breakdown

• No. 38 Washburn plays its final two regular season matches this week against No. 16 Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas.
• The Ichabods are 11-7, 3-1 on the season after a 7-0 win over Newman.
• The Tigers are 11-8 and the Muleriders enter the week at 7-12.
• Washburn is ranked 38nd nationally in the latest ITA Coaches Poll. 
• They were ranked No. 4 in the Central Region rankings released by the NCAA this 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 11-7 with a 3-1 record in conference play
• The Ichabods are 4-4 in road matches this season
• Washburn is ranked No. 38 in the latest ITA Rankings
• In singles, Tim Hammes is ranked No. 28, his highest ranking of the season
• Sebastian Pjontek is slotted in at No. 49, he has won his last five singles matches
• Santiago Rendon leads the Ichabods with a 17-8 singles record, he has gone 3-0 from No. 2 and is 2-1 at No. 4. 
• Daniel Bird is 15-7 in singles and has gone 12-5 in duals, at No. 4 he has gone 6-2
• Hammes has a 11-6 mark at No. 1 singles
• The Ichabods have a winning record at the top four singles positions, and are at least .500 in every position
• Washburn has won 56.1% of its singles matches going 83-65
• Miquel Perez and Pjontek are ranked No. 15 together nationally in doubles
• Rendon and Hammes are slotted at No. 17 together
• Hammes and Pjontek are ranked No. 36 together 
• Rendon and Hammes have a 13-3 record in doubles together going 10-3 from No. 2
• Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji have gone 10-5 together with a 3-0 record at No. 2
• Perez and Pjontek are 6-3 together overall and 3-1 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 62.7% of doubles matches, going 47-28 on the year
• In duals Washburn has won 60.2% of singles matches and 68.6% of doubles

Last time on the court

• Washburn defeated Newman 7-0 at the Washburn Tennis Complex to close home and conference play
• It was the fourth sweep of the season
• The Ichabods swept doubles play, getting wins of 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4
• Tim Hammes, Miquel Perez, Santiago Rendon and Daniel Bird all went 2-0 on the day with singles victories
• Moritz Pieper and Daniel Harkin each won singles matches to complete the sweep at No. 5 and No. 6 respectively

Milestone markers

• Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek are both 4 doubles wins away from 40 in their careers.
• Pjontek is three singles victories away from reaching 30 career wins
• Santiago Rendon needs one singles win 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 84-39 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
• Ronning played for Bethel University (Minn.) for four seasons and was honored with the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Sportsmanship award two times
• Graduate assistant Raul-Alin Dicu and volunteer assistant Kurt Reid round out the coaching staff

Schedule spring forward

• 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

Opponent Quick Scout
Match #19 - at No. 16 Ouachita Baptist

Tale of the Tigers

• Ouachita Baptist is 11-8 on the season after a 4-3 loss at No. 49 Harding on April 11
• The Tigers are 5-2 this season in Arkadelphia 
• Ouachita Baptist is ranked No. 16 in the latest ITA Rankings
• Phil Exner is ranked No. 5 in singles 
• Alex Blanchar is ranked No. 23
• Exner leads the Tigers with a 23-5 singles record, he is 11-2 at No. 2
• Blanchar is 18-7 on the year and is 11-3 from No. 1 
• Aaron Osmond is 12-9 in singles from No. 5 and No. 6
• Exner and Blanchar are ranked No. 5 nationally in doubles
• Osmond and Fernando Docters are ranked No. 38
• Exner and Blanchar are 19-8 on the year and 11-6 at No. 1
• Docters and Osmond are 13-11 together overall and 7-11 at No. 2

Ouachita Baptist Staff

• Craig Ward is in his 33rd season at the helm of the Ouachita Baptist men's tennis program
• In that time he has compiled a 318-143 record and has led the program to 18 national tournament apperances
• He was the 2022 ITA Central Region Coach of the Year and the MIAA/GAC Coach of the Year 
• He won the Coach of the Decade in the Gulf South Conference and is in the Arkansas Tennis Hall of Fame 
• Ouachita Baptist has reached two final fours and had 14 top-ten finishes in his time with the Tigers

History with the Tigers

• Washburn and Ouachita Baptist have played eachother six times in program history with the all-time series locked at 3-3
• Last season the Ichabods and Tigers played twice, first a 4-0 win for Washburn in Topeka, the second time Ouachita Baptist ended the Ichabods' season with a 4-3 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
• The first match between the two teams took place on March 17, 2002 and was a 7-1 win for the Tigers
• Washburn is 0-1 against Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia

Match #20 - at Southern Arkansas

Scouting Southern Arkansas

• Southern Arkansas enters the week at 7-12 after winning a 5-2 match over Harding on April 8
• The Muleriders will face Texas A&M-Texarkana on Friday before facing the Ichabods
• SAU is 3-4 at home this season 
• Sander Jans is ranked No. 12 nationally in singles by the ITA
• Jans has an 8-6 record this season overall and is 8-5 from No. 1
• Ole Valkyser is 9-6 in singles duals mostly from No. 2 and No. 3
• Mathieu Wierniezky is 9-9 in singles from No. 2 - No. 4
• The Muleriders have won 45.8% of singles matches going 44-52
• Jans and Ben Schneider are No. 26 nationally in doubles
• Valkyser and Gabriel Breitenmoser are 7-3 together in doubles and 6-1 from No. 3
• Jans and Schneider are 3-2 together at No. 1
• The Muleriders have won 34.1% of doubles matches going 15-29

Muleriders Staff

• Greg Owen is in his fifth season as head coach of the men's and women's teams at Southern Arkansas
• Owen comes to SAU from Seward County Community College (Liberal, Kan.) where he was into his third season as head men's and women's tennis coach
• Prior to his time at Seward, Owen was the head tennis coach at Midlothian High School (Midlothian, Texas) for six years from 2009-2015
• Graduate Assistant Charlie Hudson rounds out the coaching staff

History with Southern Arkansas

• Washburn and the Muleriders have played eachother four times in program history with the Ichabods trailing all-time 3-1
• Last season Southern Arkansas defeated Washburn 4-3 on April 2 in Springfield, Mo.
• The first match between the two teams took place on Feb. 15, 2019 and was a 4-3 win for the Muleriders
• Washburn has never played Southern Arkansas in Magnolia