TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 24 Washburn women's tennis is the No. 12 seed in the NCAA National Championships and will play in the Round of 16 against No. 29 nationally ranked Azusa Pacific, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, on Friday, May 12 at 11 a.m. central time in Orlando, Fla. 

Ichabod Breakdown

• No. 12 Washburn faces No. 5 Azusa Pacific in the NCAA Championship round of 16 on Friday, May 12 at 11 a.m. CT in Orlando, Fla. on the UTSA National Campus
• The Ichabods advanced to nationals for the third time ever after defeating Augustana 4-2 in the Central Region tournament. This is the second straight season the team will play in the National Championships.
• Washburn enters the tournament 17-6, winning its last seven matches
• The No. 29 nationally ranked Cougars are 22-5 on the year
• Washburn is ranked 24th in the latest ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. 
• Six Ichabods were named to All-MIAA teams this season and Sonia Smagina was named player of the year overall.
• 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 finished second in the MIAA regular season. 
• The Ichabods return six players from last season's roster and add two transfers and one freshman. 

Washburn who's who

• Washburn enters nationals with a 17-7 record after advancing out of the NCAA Central Region tournament
• The Ichabods are the No. 12 seed in the National Championships and have a 4-1 record in neutral court matches
• Washburn has won seven straight matches, its longest streak of the season 
• The Ichabods are ranked No. 24 nationally in the latest ITA Rankings
• Sonia Smagina is ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles
• She leads the Ichabods with a 29-2 record andi s 20-1 in duals, all at No. 1
• Maja Jung is ranked No. 27 in singles by the ITA 
• Jung is 22-8 in singles overall and has gone 17-6 in duals with a 14-5 mark at No. 2
• Marta Torres is 16-10 in singles with a 4-0 record at No. 4
• Casie Curry is 15-10 overall with a 13-6 record in duals, she has won her last eight matches
• Washburn has won 63.5% of its singles matches as a team, going 108-62 overall
• Smagina and Jung are ranked No. 8 nationally in doubles
• Smagina and Lara Schmid are ranked No. 40 together but have been limited playing together in the spring due to injury 
• Jung and Smagina are 18-2 together, all at No. 1, they are 5-2 against ranked opponents and have won their last 11 matches
• Curry and Torres have gone 13-5 together, including a 9-1 mark at No. 3 doubles
• Isabella Martensson and Issabella Pensavalle are 11-4 overall this year and have gone 6-2 from No. 2
• The Ichabods have won 78.6% of doubles matches going 66-18 this season
• In duals, Washburn has won 64.9% of singles and 80% of doubles  

Last time on the court

• No. 2 Washburn defeated No. 3 Augustana 4-2 in the NCAA Central Region Tournament to advance to the NCAA National Championships 
• The Ichabods got doubles wins at No. 1 and No. 3 for the first point in the match
• Marta Torres and Casie Curry won 6-3 at No. 3 to start
• Sonia Smagina and Maja Jung won 6-3 at No. 1 to clinch 
• Smagina won at No. 1 singles in two sets, and Jung won at No. 2 in two sets as well
• Torres clinched the match, winning in three sets at No. 4

Milestone markers

• Marta Torres is seven singles victories away from 50 in her career
• Maja Jung needs one more victory in singles for 60 total 
• Isabella Martensson is three doubles wins away from 25 career 
• Sonia Smagina is one singles victory away from 30 as an Ichabod
• Issabella Pensavalle is four doubles wins away from 20 in her 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 95-39 in his two plus seasons at Washburn
• Prior to joining the Ichabods, Ronning spent four seasons as the assistant coach at Azusa Pacific from 2016-2020
• 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

Opponent Quick Scout
Match #24 vs No. 29 Azusa Pacific

All about Azusa

• Azusa enters the match at 22-5 overall after winning the NCAA West Regional 4-0 over Concordia 
• The Cougars lost to No. 1 Hawai'i Pacific in the Pacific West Conference Championship, 4-2
• Azusa Pacific is the No. 5 seed in nationals and is ranked No. 29 in the ITA rankings
• The Cougars are 3-1 in neutral court matches this season
• Eleonora Liga is ranked No. 6 nationally in singles 
• She is 24-1 this season in duals, all from No. 1
• Miruna Tudor is 19-1 overall and has gone 15-1 at No. 5
• Madison Kane is 14-7 on the year all coming from No. 2
• Azusa Pacific has won 79.3% of its singles matches going 107-28
• Liga and Kane are ranked No. 9 nationally in doubles 
• The pair is 22-3 this season all at No. 1
• Vini Bautista and Tudor are 9-0 together this season all coming at No. 2
• The Cougars won 73.5% of doubles matches this season going 50-18

Cougars Staff

• Mark Bohern leads Azusa Pacific in his 25th season at the helm of the Cougar programs and his sixth as the Director of Tennis operations
• He has posted a 509-141 (0.783) mark on the men's side, while the Cougar women have gone 358-171 (0.677) under his tutelage heading into the season
• Bohren guided Azusa Pacific to the 2013 & 2014 National Christian College Athletics Association titles
• Ichabod head coach Kirby Ronning was an assistant under Bohern from 2016-2020 before joining Washburn
• Assistant coach Eric Barnard and graduate assistant Zdenek Derkas round out the staff 

History with Azusa

• Washburn has played against the Cougars one time in program history, last season on March 12 where they lost 4-1 in Azusa, Calif. 
• The Ichabods won the doubles point and lost four singles matches 

Schedule spring forward

• With a victory in the first round Washburn would advance to the second round, playing against the winner of No. 4 Flager and No. 13 Wilmington on Saturday, May 13 at 3 p.m. CT