TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 9 nationally ranked Washburn men's tennis will travel to Altamonte Springs, Fla. as the No. 6 seed in the NCAA National Championships where they will face the No. 11 seed in No. 20 ranked Wayne State (MI) in the round of 16 at 11 a.m. CST from Sanlando Park. 

FIRST SERVE

• Washburn men's tennis enters the NCAA National Championships as the No. 6 overall seed where they will face the No. 11 seed and No. 20 nationally ranked Wayne State (MI) on Tuesday, May 21 at 11 a.m. CST at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. 
• The Ichabods are 20-4 on the year after defeating the Bisons 4-0 in the NCAA Central Region Tournament on May 13. 
• The Warriors are 16-10 on the year after defeating No. 44 Grand Valley State 4-1 in the NCAA Midwest Regionals on May 14. 
• The Ichabods are No. 9 in the ITA rankings. 
• With a win WU would move into the National Quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 22. 
• Washburn went 17-8 in 2022-23 with a 3-1 record in the MIAA during the regular season. They won the MIAA Championship Tournament and advanced to the NCAA National Championships. 
• The Ichabods return eight players from last season's roster while adding four freshmen and one transfer to complete the roster. 

SINGLES SITUATION 

• Washburn has four players ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings with Tim Hammes at No. 13, Sebastian Pjontek checking in at No. 34, Santiago Rendon ranked 42 and Pavlos Parson rounding out the group at No. 69. 
• For the season the Ichabods are 148-62 (70.5%) in singles matches and are 93-38 in duals. 
• Santiago Rendon leads the team with 25 wins and has a 25-7 overall record this season. he is 11-3 at No. 3 and has won his last six matches.
• Tim Hammes is 19-7 overall with a 11-5 record after moving to No. 1.  
• Tommy Cecchetti has gone 7-2 from the No. 5 spot and is 21-6 overall. 
• Sebastian Pjontek has an overall record of 15-13 on the year with a 6-7 mark from No. 2. 
• Pavlos Parson carries an 19-7 mark in singles play from four different positions with a 5-0 record at No. 4. 
• Daniel Bird has posted a 16-2 record this season with a 7-0 record at No. 6 and has won his last 11 matches overall. 
• Matthew Earle is 11-7 on the year and has gone 2-0 at No. 4. 
• Moritz Pieper has a 11-1 record on the singles side and is 3-0 at No. 6.

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD

• Washburn has three doubles duos ranked in the latest ITA doubles ranking with Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle leading the group at No. 10. Hammes and Santiago Rendon are ranked No. 13 while Daniel Bird and Sebastian Pjontek are ranked No. 43. 
• On the year the Ichabods have gone 64-30 (68.1%) on the year with a 41-17 record in duals. 
• Daniel Bird and Sebastian Pjontek have the most wins together of any Ichabod pair with an 15-1 mark together. They are 10-0 at No. 2 and are on a 13 match winning streak. 
• Santiago Rendon and Pavlos Parson are 12-3 together, with an 11-3 record from No. 3. 
• Matthew Earle and Tim Hammes are 9-1 together this season all coming from No. 1. They are 5-1 against nationally ranked teams. 
• Hammes leads all Ichabods with an 22-11 doubles record, he is 13-7 at No. 1. 
• Rendon and Bird are tied for second on the team with 20 doubles victories. 

LAST TIME OUT

Washburn 4, Harding 0 (May 13, 2024) 

TOPEKA, Kan. -- For a second straight match No. 9 Washburn defeated No. 41 Harding in sweeping fashion, this time to advance to the NCAA National Championships for a second straight season after the 4-0 Monday afternoon in the Genesis Tennis Center. The Ichabods will begin play in Altamonte Springs, Fla. beginning on Tuesday, May 21.  

Early on in doubles play all three Washburn (20-4) teams trailed. No. 43 ranked Daniel Bird and Sebastian Pjontek were the first to bounce back, winning 6-3 from No. 2 to gain the advantage for the point. Santiago Rendon and Pavlos Parson followed closely behind with a 6-4 win from No. 3 to take the first point of the match. No. 10 Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle were locked into a 5-5 dual with No. 3 ranked Cas de Ruiter and Teodor Zlatar of the Bisons (15-9) when the point was decided.  

Tommy Cecchetti led off his dual in singles with a 6-0 sweep in his first set at No. 5. He built an early lead in the second set and held on through an extra game, winning 7-5 to give the Ichabods a second point. On the top court No. 13 Hammes cruised to a 6-1 first set win over No. 40 ranked Zlatar. In the second set Zlatar evened the dual up with a 6-3 win. Hammes was able to flip the scores in his favor in the third to set up match point.  

No. 42 ranked Rendon went back and forth early in his first set before pulling away late to win 6-4 from No. 4. In the second he traded the first two games of the dual before winning the final five in a row to win his dual and the match while also punching Washburn's ticket to nationals.  

No. 34 Pjontek was trailing 4-2 in the third set after he had split the first two sets at No. 2 each by scores of 6-2. No. 69 Parson was tied at three in the second set with No. 59 de Ruiter after falling in the first set. Bird was all squared away at one in the third set after he and his opponent had each won one of the first two sets 6-3.  

HEAD COACH KIRBY RONNING

• Ronning is in year four as the head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams at Washburn  
• Has led both teams to the NCAA Tournament in every season at the helm with a 136-50 combined record with Washburn.
• Was named the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year on both the men's and women's side after the 2022-23 season.   
• Prior to joining the Ichabods Ronning spent four seasons as the assistant coach at Azusa Pacific from 2016-2022
• As a player, he played for four years at Bethel University (Minn.). Ronning received his bachelor's degree in Business from Bethel in 2014 and earned his master's degree in Physical Education at Azusa Pacific in May 2020.

THE ASSISTANTS

• Graduate assistants Sofia Smagina and Casie Curry begin their first season on the Ichabod coaching staff while Kurt Reid and Raul-Alin Dicu enter their fifth and second seasons respectively.  
• Kurt Reid enters his fifth 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.
• Reid, a Topeka-native, played tennis at Topeka West High School and was elected to the Topeka West Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. 
• Dicu enters his second season with Washburn and his first as a volunteer assistant after serving as a graduate assistant in 2022-23. 
• Dicu finished his five-year career with Washburn in 2022 with a 56-45 singles record and 53-41 doubles mark. He is in the top-20 in singles and doubles wins in program history
• Former All-American Sofia Smagina joins the coaching staff after wrapping up one of the best seasons in Ichabod tennis history in 2022-23. 
• Finished as the runner-up at the ITA Cup in singles and was named the MIAA Player of the Year while going 30-3 in singles and 26-5 in doubles in her one season at Washburn. Joined the Ichabods as a transfer from Kansas. 
• Casie Curry rounds out the coaching staff as a graduate assistant after spending one season with Washburn in 2022-23. 
• Curry received All-MIAA recognition in both singles and doubles while going 16-11 and 22-6 respectively. She joined the Ichabods after transferring from Midwestern State. 

OPPONENT QUICK SCOUT - MATCH #25

ABOUT THE WAYNE STATE WARRIORS

• Wayne State is 16-10 on the year after defeating No. 44 Grand Valley State 4-1 in the NCAA Midwest Regionals on May 14. 
• The Warriors are 4-4 in neutral court matches this season. 
• Last season Wayne State went 23-10 and 5-1 inside the GLIAC, advancing to the NCAA Quarterfinals before losing 4-1 to Barry. 
• The Warriors are ranked No. 20 in the latest ITA Rankings. 
• WSU has gone 120-74 in singles matches this season (61.9%) with an 82-55 record in duals. 
• Two players are ranked by the ITA in singles with Daniel Grey at No. 5 and Cedric Drenth at No. 12. 
• Cedric Drenth leads Wayne State with a 26-4 singles record he is 21-1 from No. 2. 
• Daniel Grey is 21-8 on the year and has gone 17-7 at No. 1. 
• Dom Spicer has a 17-11 record while going 13-8 at No. 3. 
• In doubles the Warriors have gone 82-44 overall (65.1%) with a 45-25 record in duals.  
• A pair of duo pairs are ranked in the ITA Doubles ranking with Cedric Drenth and Daniel Grey at No. 1 and Dom Spicer and Luke Laws ranked No. 27. 
• Drenth and Grey are 32-9 together this season and have a 19-7 record at No. 1. 
• Laws and Spicer have gone 26-19 this season with a 15-8 mark from No. 2. 

WARRIORS STAFF 

• Bryan Morrow enters his 16th season as the head coach of the men's tennis program at WSU.
• Morrow has been the co-head professional and co-manager at the Peachtree Tennis Club in Clinton Township, for the past 10 years before joining the Warriors. 
• Named the 2022 ITA National Coach of the Year. 
• Graduated from Wayne State in 1991 with a degree in marketing sales management, Morrow became the ninth men's tennis player inducted into the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003
• Assistant coach Ryan Stevens and volunteer assistants Bob Hartwick, Bob Jackson and Alex DeMuth round out the staff. 

HISTORY WITH WAYNE STATE

• Tuesday's match will be the third all-time between Washburn and Wayne State with the Warriors winning the first two matches. 
• Both matches have been at neutral court locations. 
• The first match was last season at the NCAA National Championships where Wayne State won 4-2 on May 11.
• Earlier this season the Warriors won 4-1 over the Ichabods in Indianapolis on February 10. 

MILESTONE MARKERS

• Daniel Bird is four singles and doubles victories away from reaching 60 career wins in both. 
• Sebastian Pjontek is four wins in singles away from reaching the 50-win mark. 

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD 

• The winner of the match between Washburn and Wayne State will face the winner of No. 3 Saint Leo and No. 14 Queens (NY) on May 22 at 11 a.m. CST.