EDMOND, Okla. -- No. 24 Washburn men's tennis opened the MIAA/GAC Championship Tournament with a 4-2 indoor win over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Wednesday afternoon. The No. 2 (MIAA) seeded Ichabods advance to the semifinals to take on No. 1 (GAC) Harding at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Washburn (14-7) had lost to the Savage Storm (11-9) 4-3 in Edmond on April 2 but had a strong showing in singles to bring about a different result the second time around.
In doubles No. 8 ranked Sebastian Pjontek and Miquel Perez struck first, notching a 6-2 win at No. 1. Southeastern Oklahoma tied it at No. 2 as No. 16 Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon fell 6-1 to No. 45 Juan Gonzales and Marin Jurkovic.
The Savage Storm clinched the match's opening point with Daniel Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji falling 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
Singles was a different story, beginning with No. 28 Hammes knocking off No. 31 Stipan Madzar at No. 1 in two sets, both 6-4, to tie the match at one. No. 47 Pjontek followed on court two with swift 6-3, and 6-1 sets. Perez lost his opening set 6-2 at No. 3 and battled back after trailing early in the second set but fell 7-5 to tie the match at two.
Playing at No. 5, Rendon, ranked No. 70, won his opening set seven games to five and finished his match with a 6-3 decision in the second set. That result set up Bird to clinch after winning his opening set 6-3. He broke a 5-5 tie in the second set to win 7-5, clinching the match and advancing the Ichabods in the semifinals.
At No. 6, Daniel Harkin won his opening set 6-3, lost the next set 6-3 and was tied 1-1 in the third when the match was completed.
Doubles competition:
-
Pjontek, Sebastian/Perez, Miquel (WU) def. Naraya, Gen/Madzar, Stipan (SOSU) 6-2
-
Gonzales, Juan/Jurkovic, Marin (SOSU) def. Hammes, Tim/Rendon, Santiago (WU) 6-1
-
Ncube, Thabo/Orduz, Diego (SOSU) def. Bird, Daniel/Nakatsuji, Yoshinobu (WU) 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles competition:
-
Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Madzar, Stipan (SOSU) 6-4, 6-4
-
Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) def. Ncube, Thabo (SOSU) 6-3, 6-1
-
Gonzales, Juan (SOSU) def. Perez, Miquel (WU) 6-2, 7-5
-
Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Naraya, Gen (SOSU) 6-3, 7-5
-
Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Mann, Jurkovic (SOSU) 7-5, 6-3
-
Harkin, Daniel (WU) vs Orduz, Diego (SOSU) 6-3, 3-6, 1-1 uf
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3, 5, 4
