TOPEKA, Kan. -- The run continues for No. 8 Washburn men's tennis into the semifinals of the ITA Division II National Indoor Championships as they face Rollins College at 10 a.m. on Saturday.  

FIRST SERVE

• The No. 8 seeded Washburn will take on the No. 5 seed and No. 7 nationally ranked Rollins College in the semifinals.  

• The Ichabods will face the Tars at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 14 in Indianapolis, In.  

• Washburn is 4-0 on the year after coming from behind by three points to defeat No. 3 Saint Leo in the opening round.  

• The Ichabods enter the spring ranked No. 8 in the ITA Preseason poll. 

• The Tars are 3-0 on the year after defeating No. 5 Columbus State 4-2 in the quarterfinal round on Friday morning.  

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.  

• With a win in the first round the Ichabods would play at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the championship. With a loss they would play at 4:30 that day for third place.  

• 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 1-0 in neutral court contests.  

• 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 97-47 (67.4%) in singles duals overall.  

• Vasek Schneider leads the team with 15 victories on the year, he has posted a 15-4 overall record and has a team-high streak of eight straight victories. He is 4-0 from No. 4.  

• Tim Hammes has 14 wins, second most on the squad, he has gone 14-2 on the year with a 3-1 record in duals all at No. 1.  

• Tommy Cecchetti has posed a 9-5 record in singles action and has a 4-0 record in duals from No. 4 and No. 5. He has won his last four outings.  

• Matthew Earle is 7-7 on the year in singles competition and has gone 3-1 in duals from three different positions. 

• Pavlos Parson is 9-4 on the year in singles, going 2-0 at No. 3 in duals.  

• Zino Nahirniak is 4-0 on the year, all coming at No. 6 in duals.  

• 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 40-28 (58.8%) across their doubles matches this season.  

• After winning the ITA Cup Doubles National Championship, Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle are 13-1 together on the year and 3-0 from No. 1.  

• Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider have posted a 10-5 mark in doubles action together. They have gone 3-1 at No. 2.  

• Zino Nahirniak and Pavlos Parson are 1-2 together in doubles play, all coming at No. 3.  

• Graham Faris and Daniel Harkin went 4-2 playing together at fall tournaments.  

• Matthew Earle leads the way with 15 doubles victories as he carries a 15-4 record into the spring.  

• Tim Hammes is second on the team with a 13-1 doubles mark for the year.  

Last Time Out 

Washburn 4, Saint Leo 3 (February 14, 2025) 

INDIANAPOLIS, In. -- No. 8 Washburn won its first ever match in the ITA National Indoor Championships in comeback fashion as they knocked off No. 3 ranked and the No. 1 seed in the tournament Saint Leo 4-3 on Friday afternoon. The Ichabods will face Rollins College in the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m.   

Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle gave Washburn (4-0) the advantage early in doubles, winning 6-3 at No. 1 over Taiyo Hirano and Vincent Thiel of Saint Leo (2-1). The Lions evened doubles play up with a 6-4 win at No. 3 over Zino Nahirniak and Pavlos Parson. Playing at No. 2, Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider went into a tiebreaker but fell just short, losing 7-6(4) as Saint Leo claimed the first point of the match.   

The score moved to 2-0 as Matthew Earle fell in two sets, both 6-2 from No. 5. The Lions added another point with Tim Hammes losing 6-1 in his first set at No. 1 and 7-5 in the second. The Ichabods got on the board with Vasek Schneider winning 7-5 in the first set and 6-2 in the second to claim the point at No. 2.   

Tommy Cecchetti followed closely behind at No. 4. He bounced back from losing 6-1 in the first set to win 6-4 in the second and 6-0 in the third. Pavlos Parson also fell in the opening set, 6-2. He won the second set 6-2 and was able to tie the match with a 6-3 win in the third at No. 3. The comebacks continued on court six, with Zino Nahirniak bouncing back from a 6-3 opening set loss to win 6-3 and 6-2 in the final two sets to close out the match for Washburn.   

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 142-53 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 ROLLINS COLLEGE TARS 

• Rollins College enters the semifinal round with a 3-0 record after defeating No. 5 Columbus State 4-2 in the opening round.  

• Last season the Tars went 20-3 overall and 6-1 inside the SSC. They lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament and fell in the finals of the NCAA South Region Championships.  

• They are ranked No. 7 in the first ITA poll of the spring.  

• Heading into the tournament Rollins was 11-1 (91.7%) in singles duals on the year.  

• Fabian Gusic is 2-0 at No. 2 while Nica de Giacomo is 2-0 from No. 3.  

• In the doubles side of the ITA rankings Fabian Gusic and Nicolas de Giacomo are ranked No. 21.  

• The Tars are a perfect 6-0 (100.0%) in doubles on the year.  

• Luke Quaynor and Richard Stoiberer are 2-0 from No. 1.  

TARS STAFF 

• Jay Friedman is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Rollins College men's tennis program.  

• He joined the Tars after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Brown University.  

• He earned his Bachelor's Degree from George Mason, where he was a four-year member of the Patriots' tennis team.  

HISTORY WITH ROLLINS COLLEGE 

• Rollins leads the all-time series over Washburn 3-0.  

• The series began on March 19, 2008 with a 6-3 win for the Tars in Orlando, Fla.  

• The last meeting came two seasons ago, on March 16, 2023 and was a 7-0 win for Rollins College.  

MILESTONE MARKERS 

• Tim Hammes is one win in singles away from reaching 70 for his career.  

• Pavlos Parson needs one more win in singles to reach 30 career victories.  

• Matthew Earle needs four more doubles victories to reach 50 in his career.  

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD 

• Washburn will play a match on Sunday regardles of the outcome of Saturday's contest.  

• 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.