EDMOND, Okla. -- No. 9 Washburn men's tennis captured its second straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship on Friday afternoon with a 4-0 sweep over No. 41 Harding. The Ichabods clinch a spot in the NCAA Central Region Tournament which will be announced on May 6.
No. 22 ranked Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle led off doubles at No. 1 winning a 6-4 duel over the No. 3 ranked duo Teodor Zlatar and Cas de Ruiter to give the Ichabods (19-4) the advantage. The Bisons (15-8) evened things up as Santiago Rendon and Pavlos Parson fell 6-3 at No. 3. After trailing early No. 39 Daniel Bird and Sebastian Pjontek rallied to win the final games at No. 2, taking the doubles point with a 7-5 victory.
Just like in doubles No. 10 Hammes began singles, this time with a pair of 6-0 wins at No. 1 to make it 2-0. Bird grinded out a 6-4 first set win at No. 6 and carried the momentum into a 6-2 win in the second to set up match point. No. 43 Rendon took a first set victory 6-3 at No. 4 before sweeping the second set 6-0 to clinch the final point of the championship.
Playing on court two No. 26 Pjontek won his opening set 6-4 over No. 40 Zlatar and trailed in the second. No. 69 Parson lost a first-set tiebreaker 8-6 to No. 59 de Ruiter and had taken an early lead in the second set at No. 3. Tommy Cecchetti won his opening set 6-2 and was leading 4-3 in the second when the match was decided.
With the victory Washburn eclipsed last season's win total of 18 and completed an undefeated run through both the MIAA/GAC North Division regular season and postseason.
Doubles competition:
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Hammes, Tim/Earle, Matthew (WU) def. De Ruiter, Cas/Zlatar, Teodor (HU) 6-4
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Bird, Daniel/Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) def. Folse, Caleb/van Vreden, Jaydon (HU) 7-5
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Mikkelsen, Cian/Gayme, Florian (HU) def. Rendon, Santiago/Parson, Pavlos (WU) 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles competition:
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Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Oritz, Dani (HU) 6-0, 6-0
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Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) vs. Zlatar, Teodor (HU) 6-4, 2-5, UF
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De Ruiter, Cas (HU) vs Parson, Pavlos (WU) 7-6(6), 1-2 UF
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Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Mikkelsen, Cian (HU) 6-3, 6-0
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Cecchetti, Tommy (WU) vs. Diaz, Munio, Luis (HU) 6-2, 4-3 UF
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Bird, Daniel (WU) def. Walker, Bryce (HU) 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 6, 4
