TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 8 Washburn men's tennis officially begins the spring season this weekend on the road against Illinois Springfield and No. 24 McKendree. 

First Serve

• No. 8 Washburn men's tennis will begin the spring season officially as they face Illinois Springfield and No. 24 McKendree on the road. 
• The Ichabods will face the Prairie Stars at 10 a.m. on Saturday in Springfield, Il. They will take on the Bearcats the next morning at 8 a.m.
• Washburn enters the spring ranked No. 8 in the ITA Preseason poll. 
• Last time the Ichabods were on the court was an exhibition match against Cowley County CC at home on Jan. 25. 
• Both teams will also be officially begining the season this weekend as they enter with 0-0 records. 

BODS AND BITS 

• Washburn's 2024-25 roster features ten returners from a season ago with four new additions to round out the roster.  
• The Ichabods were ranked No. 8 nationally in the first ITA poll of the season.
• Washburn was picked to finish first in the MIAA/GAC Preseason Coaches Poll. 
• Last season the Ichabods went 7-0 in matches in Topeka, 8-2 on the road and 5-3 in neutral court matches. 
• Washburn is coming off a 20-5 season where they went 4-0 in the MIAA/GAC North, won the MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16. 

AROUND THE RANKINGS

• In the ITA singles rankings Tim Hammes begins the spring ranked No. 5. 
• Vasek Schneider is tabbed at No. 15 and Pavlos Parson is ranked No. 33 nationally. 
• On the doubles side Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle have the No. 1 national ranking after winning the ITA Cup.
• Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider are just outside the top-10 at No. 11. 

SINGLES SETUP

• On the year Washburn has gone 76-44 (63.3%) in singles duals overall. 
• Tim Hammes has 11 wins, tied for the most on the squad, he has gone 11-1 on the year so far after winning the ITA Central Region Championship. 
• Vasek Schneider also has 11 victories on the singles side, posting an 11-4 record in his first semester in Topeka. 
• Marco Romano went 10-4 during the first half of his freshman campaign. 
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji compiled a 7-1 mark in singles action during the fall. 
• Pavlos Parson went 7-4 on the singles side in the fall. 
• Tommy Cecchetti posed a 5-5 record in singles action. 
• Ivan Ivanov is 6-2 in singles play, winning his last three matches. 
• Moritz Pieper has gone 5-6 in singles play on the year. 
• Matthew Earle is 4-6 on the year in singles competition. 

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD

• The Ichabods have gone 32-25 (56.1%) across their doubles matches this season. 
• After winning the ITA Cup Doubles National Championship, Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle have gone 10-1 together in the fall. 
• Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider posted a 7-4 mark in doubles action together. 
• Graham Faris and Daniel Harkin went 4-2 playing together at fall tournaments. 
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Pavlos Parson are 2-3 together on the year. 
• Matthew Earle leads the way with 12 doubles victories as he carries a 12-4 record into the spring. 
• Tim Hammes is second on the team with a 10-1 doubles mark for the year. 

Last Time Out

Washburn Invitational (Oct. 27, 2024.)

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn men's tennis wrapped up its fall season with multiple draw champions on day two of the Washburn Invitational on Sunday. The Ichabods ended the second day with 13 total victories.  

In singles Vasek Schneider and Pavlos Parson squared off in an all-Washburn battle for the Flight 1 title. Schneider came away with a 7-5 first set victory and carried the momentum into a 6-3 win in the second set.  

Tommy Cecchetti swept the tiebreaker of his first set in the Flight 2 finals but came up just short in the second set, 7-5, and in the super tiebreaker, 10-6.  

From Flight 3, Moritz Pieper had no trouble working a two-set victory to claim the title with scores of 6-2 and 6-3.  

Yoshinobu Nakatsuji wrapped up his round robin style tournament in Flight 5 winning 6-3, 6-4. Ivan Ivanov did the same in Flight 6, winning the first set 7-5 and breezing through a 6-1 second set victory.  

In doubles competition Moritz Pieper and Pavlos Parson fell 6-1 in their semifinals dual in Flight 1. On the other side of the flight Tommy Cecchetti and Marco Romano advanced after the team from Rockhurst withdrew. The finals dual went into an extra game and in the tiebreaker Cecchetti and Romano fell just short, losing 7-6(3).  

Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Graham Faris also went into a tiebreaker in their semifinals dual from Flight 2 but were able to pull away late 7-6(4). They worked quicker in the championship match, knocking off an Emporia State duo to win 6-4. 

Head Coach Kirby Ronning

• Ronning is in year five 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 136-52 combined record with Washburn.
• Has been named the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year three times. He earned the award on both the men's and women's side in the 2022-23 season and repeated as the men's winner after 2023-24.
• 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 Maja Jung and Santiago Rendon begin their first season on the Ichabod coaching staff while Kurt Reid enters his sixth season with both programs as a volunteer assistant.
• Reid started his collegiate tennis career at Tulsa (1977-78) before transferring to Washburn for the 1978-79 season.
• A Topeka-native, Reid played tennis at Topeka West High School and was elected to the Topeka West Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. 
• Maja Jung joins the coaching staff after finishing her four-year playing career at Washburn with the second most total victories of any player in women's program history. 
• Santiago Rendon also moves from playing to the sidelines after wrapping up three seasons with the Ichabods headlined by an ITA Cup Doubles National Championship in fall of 2023. 

OPPONENT QUICK SCOUT 

ABOUT THE ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD PRAIRIE STARS

• Illinois Springfield enters the match 0-0 on the season. Last time on the court came on Jan. 25 with a scrimmage against Southern Illinois.
• Last season the Prairie Stars went 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC. They lost in the first round of the GLVC Tournament. 

PRAIRIE STARS STAFF

• Ross Graham enters his third season as the head men's and women's tennis coach in 2024-25. 
• Graham is a native of of Atlanta, Ill., coached at Springfield High from 1998 to 2017
• He is a 1993 graduate of Illinois State University who became the director of tennis at the Springfield Racquet and Fitness Center that same year.

HISTORY WITH ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD

• Washburn leads the all-time series with Illinois Springfield 3-0 and are 2-0 on the road. 
• The last meeting came on Feb. 11, 2023 in Springfield and was a 5-2 win for the Ichabods. 

ABOUT THE MCKENDREE BEARCATS

• McKendree will begin the spring season this weekend entering with a 0-0 record. Last time on the court was an exhibition win over William Woods on Jan. 25 by a 5-2 score. 
• They are ranked No. 24 in the preseason ITA rankings. 
• Last season they went 18-5 overall and 4-1 inside the GLVC, ending the season in second round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament. 

BEARCATS STAFF

• Chance Joost is in his first season as the head coach at McKendree for the men's and women's tennis programs. 
• Joost spent the previous five seasons as the head coach at William Woods University. 
• He is a Tecumseh, Kan. native and graduate from Washburn in 2015 after playing three seasons for the Ichabods. From 2014-16 he was an assistant coach with the Ichabods to begin his coaching career. 

HISTORY WITH MCKENDREE

• Washburn leads the all-time series over McKendree 4-0 but have not played on the road. 
• The last meeting between the two came on Feb. 22, 2020 and was a 6-1 win for the Ichabods in Topeka. 

MILESTONE MARKERS

• Tommy Cecchetti is three wins away from 30 in singles. 
• Pavlos Parson needs three more wins in singles to reach 30 career victories. 
• Matthew Earle needs seven more doubles victories to reach 50 in his career. 

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD

• Washburn will return to Topeka for the first official home match of the year against Midwestern State on Feb. 8 at 12 p.m. 
• MIAA play will begin on February 23 when the Ichabods face Augustana in Sioux Falls, S.D.
• The regular season concludes with senior day for Washburn hosting Arkansas-Fort Smith on April 26 at 1 p.m.
• The MIAA Tournament will be held in Springfield, Mo. from April 30 through May 2.