TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 25 Washburn women's tennis plays for the MIAA Championship tomorrow against No. 50 Northeastern State University at 10 a.m. in Edmond, Okla. The Ichabods aim to capture the 7th title in program history and gain an automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament.  

Ichabod Breakdown 

• No. 25 Washburn plays for the MIAA Championship against No. 50 Northeastern State University tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Edmond, Okla.  

• The Ichabods are 15-6 after a 4-0 win over Missouri Western State in the semifinals 

• The RiverHawks are 12-7 after a 4-3 semifinals victory over No. 1 seed Northwest Missouri. 

• Washburn defeated NESU 6-1 on the road in Tahlequah on April 8. 

• The Ichabods are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the RiverHawks are the No. 4 seed.  

• Six Ichabods were named to All-MIAA teams earlier in the week and Sonia Smagina was named player of the year overall. 

• Washburn is ranked 25th nationally in the latest ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.  

• The Ichabods were ranked No. 3 in the Central Region rankings released by the NCAA this week. 

• Washburn is coming off a 16-12 season in 2021-22 and the second appearance in the NCAA National Championships in program history. 

• The Ichabods were picked first in the MIAA Preseason Coaches poll. 

• The Ichabods return six players from last season's roster and add two transfers and one freshman. 

Washburn who's who 

• Washburn is 15-6 on the year after a 4-0 win over Missouri Western State University.  

• The Ichabods finished 6-2 in MIAA play and 2-1 in neutral court matches 

• Washburn is ranked No. 25 in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings and they were listed in the first Central Region rankings last week released by the NCAA. 

• Sonia Smagina is ranked No. 2 nationally in the latest singles rankings for a fourth straight week. She was named the MIAA player of the year earlier in the week. 

• Maja Jung is slotted at No. 29 in singles  

• Smagina leads the Ichabods with a 27-2 singles record overall. She has gone 18-1 in duals all at No. 1 

• Jung has an 21-7 record on the singles side, with a 16-5 duals record, she has gone 13-4 from No. 2 

• Casie Curry has won her last seven matches and is 12-6 in duals with a 4-0 record at No. 5 

• Isabella Martensson is 11-5 in duals with a 6-1 mark at No. 5 

• Washburn has won 64.2% of singles matches, going 102-57 so far this season 

• Smagina and Jung are ranked No. 7 nationally together in doubles 

• Smagina and Lara Schmid are No. 36 but have been limited playing together in the spring due to injury 

• Jung and Smagina are 16-2 together this season, all at No. 1 

• Martensson and Issabella Pensavalle are 12-3 in doubles with a 7-1 record at No. 2 

• Curry and Marta Torres are each 18-6 overall in doubles, going 11-4 together 

• The Ichabods have won 78.8% of doubles matches, going 63-17 this season 

• In duals Washburn has won 65.8% of singles matches and 80.3% of doubles 

Milestone markers 

• Maja Jung is one doubles victory away from 50 in her career and two singles wins away from 60 

• Sonia Smagina needs 3 singles victories for 30 this season and 2 doubles for 25 

• Isabella Martensson is three singles wins away from 25 in her career 

• Casie Curry is two doubles victories away from 20 in her Ichabod 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 92-39 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 won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Sportsmanship award two times. 

The assistants 

• Volunteer assistant Kurt Reid and graduate assistant Miller Zeiders 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. 

• Zeiders joins the Ichabods after a four-year career at Washburn from 2018-22 

Northeastern State Notes 

• The RiverHawks are 12-7 on the year after a 4-3 win over No. 1 seed Northwest Missouri State in the MIAA Tournament semifinals 

• Northeastern State is 2-1 in neutral court matches this season 

• The RiverHawks are ranked No. 50 in the latest ITA rankings 

• Emilia Cosatto is ranked No. 8 in singles in the ITA rankings 

• Cosatto is 13-6 in singles this season, all at No. 1 

• Sandra Marti Mari is 13-3 in singles and has gone 11-2 at No. 2  

• Valeria Teran has a 15-3 record and is 11-2 from No. 5 

• As a team NESU has won 57.1% of singles matches going 64-48 

• Cosatto and Alisha Moldakhmetova are ranked No. 39 in doubles  

• Cosatto and Moldakhmetova have gone 8-3 together in doubles all at No. 1 

• Roos karremans and Belinda Jayaprakash have a 7-5 record together and are 7-4 at No. 3 

• The RiverHawks have won 54.5% of doubles matches going 30-25 this season 

RiverHawks Staff 

• Tim McLane is in his third season as head coach of Northeastern State 

• McLane came to Tahlequah in December 2020 from USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.), where he was the head coach for both men's and women's tennis programs for two seasons 

• Prior to assuming the head coach position at USC Upstate, McLane was the program's top assistant for two seasons 

History with Northeastern State 

• Washburn and the RiverHawks have played 20 times in program history with Northeastern State leading the all-time series 16-4 

• The Ichabods have won the last four matches against the RiverHawks 

• On April 8 Washburn defeated Northeastern State 6-1 on the road 

• The Ichabods got doubles victories from Smagina and Jung at No. 1 and Pensavalle and Martensson at No. 2 

• Smagina, Jung, Torres, Curry and Martensson all claimed singles victories as well 

• The first match between the two was a 6-3 RiverHawks win on March 3, 2000. 

Schedule spring forward 

• With a victory Washburn would win the MIAA Tournament for the seventh time and qualify for the NCAA Regional Tournament.  

• NCAA Regionals are scheduled to begin May 6