TOPEKA, Kan. -- For the first time Washburn will appear in the DII ITA National Indoor Championship beginning this Friday as the No. 8 Ichabods face off with No. 3 Saint Leo at 10 a.m. in Indianapolis, In.

First Serve

• No. 8 Washburn men's tennis begins the ITA Division II National Indoor Championship against No. 3 Saint Leo. 
• The Ichabods will face the Lions at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 14 in Indianapolis, In. 
• Washburn is 3-0 on the year after sweeping No. 19 Midwestern State on Saturday in the home-opener. 
• The Ichabods enter the spring ranked No. 8 in the ITA Preseason poll.
• The Lions are 2-0 on the year heading into the weekend after defeating Marian 7-0 on Wednesday in Indianapolis. 

ITA DII NATIONAL INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

• This is the first season that either Ichabod tennis squad has qualified for the National Indoor Championship.
• Qualification is determined by the top-7 ranked teams in the final ITA poll of the previous season, with one spot reserved for the host school, Indianapolis. 
• Washburn is seeded as the No. 8 seed and will face the top-seeded Lions. 
• With a win the Ichabods would face either No. 4 Columbus State or No. 5 Rollins on Saturday. 
• With a win in the first round the Ichabods would play at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with a loss it would be at 8 a.m. 
• Live streaming and live scoring of the matches can be found on the tournament home page on the ITA site as well as linked through the Washburn schedule page. 

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. 
• So far this year Washburn is 1-0 inside Topeka while going 2-0 in road matches and has not played a neutral court contest. 
• 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 93-45 (67.4%) in singles duals overall. 
• Tim Hammes has 14 wins, tied for the most on the squad, he has gone 14-1 on the year and has won his last four times out. He is 3-0 from No. 1. 
• Vasek Schneider also has 14 victories on the singles side, posting an 14-4 record in his first season in Topeka. He has a team-high streak of seven straight victories and is 3-0 from No. 2. 
• Matthew Earle is 7-6 on the year in singles competition and has gone 3-0 in duals from No. 3 and No. 4. 
• Tommy Cecchetti posed a 8-5 record in singles action and has a 3-0 record in duals from No. 4 and No. 5. 
• Pavlos Parson is 8-4 on the year in singles, going 1-0 at No. 3 in duals. 
• Zino Nahirniak is 3-0 on the year, all coming at No. 6. 
• Marco Romano is 10-4 on the year in singles, all coming in the fall. 
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji compiled a 7-1 mark in singles action during the fall. 
• 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. 
• Tobias Berning has played in both dual matches, going 1-1. 

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD

• The Ichabods have gone 39-26 (60.0%) across their doubles matches this season. 
• After winning the ITA Cup Doubles National Championship, Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle are 12-1 together on the year and 2-0 from No. 1. 
• Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider have posted a 10-4 mark in doubles action together. They have gone 3-0 at No. 2. 
• Zino Nahirniak and Pavlos Parson are 1-1 together in doubles play, both coming at No. 3. 
• Graham Faris and Daniel Harkin went 4-2 playing together at fall tournaments. 
• Matthew Earle leads the way with 14 doubles victories as he carries a 14-4 record into the spring. 
• Tim Hammes is second on the team with a 12-1 doubles mark for the year. 

Last Time Out

Washburn 7, Midwestern State 0 (February 8, 2025)

TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 8 Washburn opened its home schedule with a 7-0 sweep of No. 19 Midwestern State for its second straight ranked victory. The Ichabods will next head to the ITA Indoor National Championships in Indianapolis, In. against Saint Leo on Feb. 14.  

Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider opened the match in doubles play with a 6-3 win at No. 2 for Washburn (3-0). On court three, Pavlos Parson and Zino Nahirniak went into an extra game but fell 7-4 in the tiebreaker as the Mustangs' (1-1) evened the match. Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle stayed undefeated together in duals this season as they won their tiebreaker 8-6 on the top court to secure the doubles point.  

In singles play Schneider worked quickly as well, winning 6-1 in his first set and 7-5 in the second. Hammes brought up match point with a 7-5 win in his opening set and riding that momentum to a 6-1 second set victory. Parson fell behind, losing 6-3 in the first set, but bounced back for a 6-2 win in the second and 6-3 in the third to clinch the match from No. 3.  

Earle worked a 6-3 first set win before finishing out his dual with a 7-6(2) tiebreaker win at No. 4. Cecchetti split his first two sets, 6-3 in his favor and falling 6-4. In the third set super tiebreaker he pulled away for a 10-6 win at No. 5. Nahirniak followed the same format, splitting the first two sets 6-3 in either direction at No. 6 before a 10-7 win in the abbreviated third set to close the match.  

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 141-53 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 SAIN LEO LIONS

• Saint Leo enters the match 2-0 on the year after defeating Marian 7-0 in Indianapolis, Ind. on Wednesday. 
• Last season the Lions went 24-4 overall and a perfect 7-0 inside the SSC. They fell to Barry in the Sunshine State Conference Championship and advanced all the way to the NCAA National Semifinals before losing 4-3 to Valdosta State. 
• They are ranked No. 3 in the first ITA poll of the spring. 
• On the year Saint Leo is 9-3 (75.0%) in singles matches, all coming in duals. 
• Both Taiyo Hirano and Kodai Kato are 2-0 on the year to start the spring. Kato has played both at No. 3 while Hirano has played No. 5 and No. 6. 
• In the doubles side of the ITA rankings Luis Iriarte and Eduardo Cohen are slotted at No. 3 in the nation. Jose David Segovia and Kodai Kato are ranked No. 19 nationally. 
• The Lions are a perfect 5-0 (100.0%) in doubles matches this spring. 
• Vincent Thiel and Taiyo Hirano are 2-0 together at No. 1. Playing at No. 3, Kodia Kato and Jose David Segovia are also 2-0. 

LIONS STAFF

• Austin Hensley is in his first season as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Saint Leo. 
• Comes to Saint Leo following a number of years coaching at the Division I level most recently spending three seasons at the University of Cincinnati as an assistant for the women's tennis team.
• Hensley, a native of Milford, Ohio, graduated from Xavier University in 2018 with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing.

HISTORY WITH SAINT LEO

• Saint Leo leads the all-time series over Washburn 3-0. 
• The series began on March 22, 2018 with a 7-2 win for the Lions in Orlando. 
• The last meeting came a season ago, on February 29, 2024 and was a 5-2 win for Saint Leo. 

MILESTONE MARKERS

• Tim Hammes is one win in singles away from reaching 70 for his career. 
• Pavlos Parson needs two more wins in singles to reach 30 career victories. 
• Matthew Earle needs five more doubles victories to reach 50 in his career. 

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD

• Washburn will play matches on Saturday and Sunday regardless of win or loss. Match times will be determined by results of Friday's match.
• 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.