TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 24 Washburn men's tennis will continue its postseason run against No. 36 Harding in the semifinals of the MIAA/GAC Championship Tournament on Thursday at 10 p.m. in Edmond, Okla.  

Ichabod Breakdown 

• No. 24 Washburn faces No. 36 Harding in the semifinals of the MIAA/GAC Championship Tournament on Thursday at 10 p.m. in Edmond, Okla. 

• The Ichabods are the No. 2 seed in the MIAA while Harding is the No. 1 seed in the GAC 

• Washburn defeated Harding 4-3 on March 23 in Topeka earlier this season. 

• The Ichabods are 14-7 on the season after defeating Southeastern Oklahoma State 4-2 in the tournament semifinals 

• The Bisons are 11-8 overall and had a bye in the first round of the tournament.  

• Washburn had seven players named to All-MIAA/GAC conference teams on Tuesday. 

• They were ranked No. 2 in the Central Region rankings released by the NCAA today. 

• 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 seven players from last seasons roster and add one transfer and one freshman. 

Washburn who's who 

• Washburn enters the match at 14-7 with a 3-1 record in conference play 

• The Ichabods are 2-2 in neutral court matches this season 

• Washburn is ranked No. 24 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. 47, he has won his last five singles matches 

• Santiago Rendon leads the Ichabods with a 19-8 singles record, he has gone 3-0 from No. 2 and is 4-1 at No. 4.  

• Daniel Bird is 18-7 in singles and has gone 15-5 in duals, at No. 4 he has gone 8-2 

• Hammes has a 12-7 mark at No. 1 singles 

• The Ichabods have a winning record at every singles position 

• Washburn has won 57.8% of its singles matches going 93-68 

• Miquel Perez and Pjontek are ranked No. 8 together nationally in doubles 

• Rendon and Hammes are slotted at No. 16 together 

• Hammes and Pjontek are ranked No. 29 together  

• Rendon and Hammes have a 15-4 record in doubles together going 12-4 from No. 2 

• Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji have gone 11-6 together with a 3-0 record at No. 2 

• Perez and Pjontek are 8-3 together overall and 3-1 against nationally ranked opponents 

• Hammes leads all Ichabods with a 21-7 doubles record, he has gone 16-4 in duals 

• As a team the Ichabods have won 63.4% of doubles matches, going 52-30 on the year 

• In duals Washburn has won 62.0% of singles matches and 69.0% of doubles 

Milestone markers 

• Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek are both 2 doubles wins away from 40 in their careers. 

• Pjontek is one singles victory away from reaching 30 career wins 

• Santiago Rendon needs two doubles victories for 30 in his Ichabod career 

• Daniel Bird is two singles wins away from 40 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 85-39 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. 

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 #22 - vs Harding 

Harding Hard Scout 

• The Bison are 11-8 on the season and went 2-1 in the GAC 

• Harding is 2-2 in neutral court contests this season  

• The Bison are ranked No. 36 in the latest ITA rankings 

• Dani Oritz is ranked No. 18 nationally in singles 

• Teodor Zlatar is slotted No. 20 in singles  

• Cas de Ruiter is 28-8 in singles, leading Harding in victories, he has gone 7-3 from No. 3 

• Bryce Walker has 19 singles wins, he has gone 14-4 in duals and is 5-1 from No. 5 

• As a team Harding has won 59.3% of singles matches going 112-77 

• De Ruiter and Cian Mikkelsen are ranked No. 7 nationally in doubles  

• Ortiz and Zlatar are ranked No. 43 

• Mikkelsen and de Ruiter are 15-0 together in doubles at No. 1 and No. 2 

• Ortiz and Zlatar are 8-6 together and have gone 5-2 at No. 1 

• The Bison have won 58.9% of doubles matches going 43-30 

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 five times with Thursday's matchup making the sixth. Washburn leads the series 3-2. 

• The Ichabods defeated Harding 4-3 on March 23 in Topeka earlier this season 

• Washburn won the doubles point and got singles victories from Tim Hammes, Sebastian Pjontek and Daniel Bird  

• The Ichabods are 2-1 against the Bisons in neutral court matchups  

• 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