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Kirby Ronning
Kyle Manthe/Assistant Director Athletic Communications

No. 24 Ichabods face No. 15 Bearcats in MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship on Friday

4/20/2023 2:59:00 PM

TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 24 Washburn men's tennis will look for its first ever MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship against the No. 15 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 21. A win for the Ichabods would guarantee qualification into the NCAA Regional Tournament.  

Ichabod Breakdown 

  • No. 24 Washburn faces No. 15 Northwest Missouri State in the MIAA/GAC Championship on Friday, April 21 at 9 a.m. 

  • The Ichabods are the No. 2 seed in the MIAA while Northwest Missouri State is the No. 1 seed after winning the conference regular season 

  • Washburn lost to the Bearcats 4-3 on March 25 in Topeka earlier this season. 

  • The Ichabods are 15-7 on the season after defeating Harding 4-0 in the semifinals 

  • Northwest Missouri State is 14-5 overall and defeated Ouachita Baptist 4-2 in the semifinals 

  • 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 15-7 with a 3-1 record in conference play 

  • The Ichabods are 3-2 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 21-8 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 13-7 mark at No. 1 singles 

  • The Ichabods have a winning record at every singles position 

  • Washburn has won 58.5% of its singles matches going 96-68 

  • 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 16-4 record in doubles together going 13-4 from No. 2 

  • Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji have gone 12-6 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 22-7 doubles record, he has gone 17-4 in duals 

  • As a team the Ichabods have won 64.3% of doubles matches, going 54-30 on the year 

  • In duals Washburn has won 62.9% of singles matches and 70.0% 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 one doubles victory 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 89-39 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 #23 - vs Northwest Missouri State 

Book on the Bearcats 

  • Northwest Missouri enters the match 14-5 overall and went 4-0 in the MIAA North Division 

  • The Bearcats are 3-3 in neutral court contests 

  • They defeated No. 20 Ouachita Baptist 4-2 in the MIAA/GAC Tournament semifinals 

  • Northwest Missouri State is ranked No. 15 in the latest ITA Rankings, they are No. 1 in the NCAA Regional Rankings for the Central Region 

  • Andrea Zamurri is No. 12 in the nation in singles 

  • Michael Delebois is ranked No. 45 

  • Fabien Calloud is No. 65 in the latest ITA rankings 

  • Calloud leads the Bearcats with a 15-6 singles record, he is 7-3 from No. 3 

  • Zamurri is 10-5 this season including 8-4 at No. 1  

  • Simon Birgerson is 11-4 in singles with a 9-2 mark at No. 6 

  • Northwest has won 62.4% of singles matches going 83-50 this season 

  • Mason Meier and Jan Skerbatis are ranked No. 18 in doubles 

  • Zamurri and Filippo Piranomonte are No. 19  

  • Calloud and Skerbatis are ranked No. 36 together in doubles 

  • Zamurri and Piranomonte are 11-3 together including 4-0 at No. 3 

  • Meier has a 15-11 singles mark this season and has gone 9-9 in duals 

  • Skerbatis and Calloud are 7-0 together all at No. 1 and No. 2  

  • The Bearcats have won 63.2% of doubles matches going 43-25 

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 over 2,000 victories, 29 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 each other 65 times in program history with Northwest leading the series all-time 19-50 

  • In the two team's matchup earlier in the season Washburn won the doubles point and got victories from Sebastian Pjontek and Santiago Rendon in singles but fell at the other singles positions to lose the match 

  • The Ichabods are 3-7 all-time against the Bearcats in neutral court contests 

  • The first match came on April 6, 1968 in Maryville, Mo., and was a 5-4 win for the Bearcats 

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