EDMOND, Okla. -- No. 9 Washburn men's tennis advanced to its second straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship on Thursday morning after defeating No. 29 Ouachita Baptist 4-1. The Ichabods will take on the No.1 seed out of the GAC, Harding at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.
The No. 1 seed Washburn (18-4) took an early advantage in doubles with No. 22 Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle winning 6-2 at No. 1 over No. 5 Alex Blanchar and Phil Exner. The Ichabods took the point over the Tigers (13-7) with No. 39 Daniel Bird and Sebastian Pjontek pulling away late to win 7-5 over No. 9 Aaron Osmond and Ramon Strassmann on court two. Santiago Rendon and Pavlos Parson trailed 6-5 at No. 3 when the point was decided.
Ouachita Baptist, the No. 2 GAC seed, got on the board to begin singles play with No. 18 Exner defeating No. 26 Pjontek in two sets on court two, 6-3 and 6-4. No. 10 Hammes came up short his first set on the top court against No. 12 Blanchar 6-4. In the second he battled back from an early deficit to win a tiebreaker 7-6(3) to even the dual. He carried the momentum to a 6-2 third set win to regain the advantage for Washburn.
At No. 3, the Tigers also took the first set with No. 69 Parson falling 6-2. He rallied in the second set to win 6-3 over No. 64 Docters and continued to roll into a 6-2 third set win to set up match point. No. 43 Rendon led early in his first set at No. 4 before going into a tiebreaker. He regained control to take the tiebreaker 7-3 before rolling into a 6-3 second set match-clinching win.
Playing at No. 5, Tommy Cecchetti breezed to a 6-1 win in the first set and narrowly trailed 4-5 in the second when the match was decided. Bird took his first set to an extra point at No. 6 before coming up short, 7-5. He led 2-1 in the second set when the match was completed.
Doubles competition:
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Earle, Matthew/Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Exner, Phil/Blanchar, Alex (OBU) 6-2
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Pjontek, Sebastian/Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Strassmann, Ramon/Osmond, Aaron (OBU) 7-5
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Lagger, Elias/Docters, Fernando (OBU) vs Rendon, Santiago/Parson, Pavlos (WU) 6-5 UF
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles competition:
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Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Blanchar, Alex (OBU) 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2
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Exner, Phil (OBU) def. Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) 6-3, 6-4
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Parson, Pavlos (WU) def. Docters, Fernando (OBU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
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Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Strassmann, Ramon (OBU) 7-6(3), 6-3
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Cecchetti, Tommy (WU) vs Buss, Moritz (OBU) 6-1, 4-5 UF
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Osmond, Aaron (OBU) vs. Bird, Daniel (WU) 7-5, 1-2 UF
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3, 4
