EDMOND, Okla. – No. 24 Washburn men's tennis is advancing to the MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship after sweeping No. 36 Harding 4-0 in the semifinals on Thursday morning. The Ichabods will face No. 15 Northwest Missouri State in the championship on Friday, April 21 at 9 a.m.

Washburn (15-7) entered as the No. 2 seed in the MIAA while the Bisons (11-9) were the No. 1 seed in the GAC, giving them a bye in the quarterfinals. 

The Ichabods (15-7) won a fifth straight match beginning with a strong performance in doubles. Daniel Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji kicked off the match at No. 3 with a quick 6-1 win. Shortly after the No. 16 ranked pairing Santiago Rendon and Tim Hammes slammed the door on doubles with a 6-4 win at No. 2 over Dani Ortiz and Teodor Zlatar. 

No. 7 Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek were trailing 5-3 to No. 7 Cian Mikkelsen and Cas de Ruiter before the match was left unfinished. 

After helping to close doubles Hammes, ranked No. 28, opened singles action at No. 1 defeating No. 18 ranked Oritz 6-2, 6-1 in under 45 minutes. Daniel Harkin started his first set at No. 6 with a 3-0 lead before winning 6-3. In the second set he broke away early, winning 6-1 to make the match 3-0. 

No. 70 Rendon closed the match for a third time in the last four matches, winning his opening set without dropping a game, 6-0, and finishing his No. 5 match winning 6-2 to defeat Harding for a second time this season.

Three singles matches were left unfinished, at No. 2, Pjontek, ranked No. 47 was locked into a 6-6 tie in his first set against No. 20 Zlatar. Perez lost his first set at No. 3, 6-3 and trailed 2-1 in the second, and at No. 4 Bird lost 6-2 in the opening set and had a 2-1 lead in the second when the match was decided.

Doubles competition:

1. Mikkelsen, Cian/de Ruiter, Cas (HU) vs Pjontek, Sebastian/Perez, Miquel (WU) 5-2 uf
2. Rendon, Santiago/Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Ortiz, Dani/Zlatar, Teodor (HU) 6-4
3. Bird, Daniel/Nakatsuji, Yoshinobu (WU) def. Petrovic, Milosh/Urquiola, Andres (HU) 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles competition: 

1. Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Ortiz, Dani (HU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) vs Zlatar, Teodor (HU) 6-6 (5-1) uf
3. Ruiter, Cas de (HU) vs Perez, Miquel (WU) 6-3, 2-1 uf
4. Mikkelsen, Cian (HU) vs Bird, Daniel (WU) 6-2, 1-2 uf
5. Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Petrovic, Milosh (HU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Harkin, Daniel (WU) def. Walker, Bryce (HU) 6-3, 6-1

Order of finish: 1, 6, 5