TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 8 Washburn men's tennis plays its first regular season dual in Topeka this weekend as they host No. 19 Midwestern State on Saturday at noon inside the Genesis Tennis Center. 
 

First Serve

• No. 8 Washburn men's tennis opens up its home schedule against No. 19 Midwestern State. 
• The Ichabods will face the Mustangs at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8 inside Genesis Tennis Center. 
• Washburn is 2-0 on the year after defeating No. 24 McKendree 6-1 last time out on Feb. 2. 
• The Ichabods enter the spring ranked No. 8 in the ITA Preseason poll.
• The Mustangs enter the weekend 0-0 and will face Rockhurst on Friday before taking on the Ichabods. 

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 2-0 in road matches and has not played a neutral site match or home match. 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 87-45 (65.9%) in singles duals overall. 
• Tim Hammes has 13 wins, tied for the most on the squad, he has gone 13-1 on the year and has won his last three times out. He is 2-0 from No. 1. 
• Vasek Schneider also has 13 victories on the singles side, posting an 13-4 record in his first season in Topeka. He has a team-high streak of six straight victories and is 2-0 from No. 2. 
• Matthew Earle is 6-6 on the year in singles competition and has a perfect 2-0 record from No. 3. 
• Tommy Cecchetti posed a 7-5 record in singles action and has gone 1-0 at both No. 4 and No. 5. 
• 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. 
• Pavlos Parson went 7-4 on the singles side in the fall. 
• Zino Nahirniak is 2-0 on the year both coming from No. 6. 
• 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 37-25 (59.7%) across their doubles matches this season. 
• After winning the ITA Cup Doubles National Championship, Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle are 11-1 together on the year and 1-0 from No. 1. 
• Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider have posted a 9-4 mark in doubles action together. They have gone 2-0 at No. 2. 
• Graham Faris and Daniel Harkin went 4-2 playing together at fall tournaments. 
• Zino Nahirniak is 2-0 in doubles action both at No. 3. He has played once each with Pavlos Parson and Moritz Pieper. 
• Matthew Earle leads the way with 13 doubles victories as he carries a 13-4 record into the spring. 
• Tim Hammes is second on the team with a 11-1 doubles mark for the year. 

Last Time Out

Washburn 6, McKendree 1 (February 2, 2025)

O'FALLON, Il. -- No. 8 Washburn men's tennis wrapped up its opening weekend with a 6-1 ranked win over No. 24 McKendree on Sunday morning. The Ichabods will play their home-opener next Saturday, Feb. 8 against Midwestern State at 12 p.m. inside of Genesis Tennis Center.  

Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider led off doubles competition for Washburn (2-0) with a 6-1 win on court two. Zino Nahirniak and Moritz Pieper followed with a 6-1 win of their own at No. 3 to clinch the doubles point. Matthew Earle and Tim Hammes led 4-2 over the No. 1 pair for the Bearcats (0-2) with the dual left unfinished.  

Schneider continued to work quickly in singles action, winning 6-1 in his first set and 6-3 in the second. Hammes also won a quick two-set match by scores of 6-0 and 6-2. Earle split his opening sets winning 6-3 and falling 6-4 from No. 3. He provided the clinching point of the match with a 6-3 win in the third set.  

Playing at No. 5, Cecchetti won a pair of 6-1 sets to add another point on the board. McKendree got on the board as Tobias Berning fell 6-4, 6-3 in two sets from No. 4. Nahirniak breezed to a 6-1 opening-set win at No. 1 before coming up short 7-6(1) in the second set. In the third-set super tiebreaker he pulled away early for a 10-3 win to close out 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 140-52 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 MIDWSTERN STATE MUSTANGS

• Midwestern State enters the spring 0-0 after competing in fall tournaments and two exhibitions in the spring. They will face Rockhurst on Friday before taking on the Ichabods. 
• Last season the Mustangs went 14-10 overall and 7-1 inside the LSC. They advanced to the Championship of the LSC Tournament and the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional. 
• They are ranked No. 19 in the first ITA poll of the spring. 
• There are a pair of Mustangs ranked on the singles side of the ITA rankings with Bruno Sanchez checking in at No. 16 and Juan David Duque at No. 29. 
• In the doubles rankings Stephen Slocombe and Germano Setti are ranked No. 13 in the nation. 

MUSTANGS STAFF

• Scott Linn is entering his 15th season as the head men's and women's tennis coach. 
• Has guided the programs to 20+ NCAA Tournament appearances since taking over in Wichita Falls. 
• A 1995 graduate of East Central, Linn was a four-year letterwinner and two-year captain for the Tigers. He received his bachelor's degree in Mass Communications and then earned his master's degree in Human Resource Administration in 1997 from ECU.

HISTORY WITH MIDWESTERN STATE

• Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Washburn 7-4. 
• The series began on March 23, 2001 with an 8-1 victory for the Mustangs in Wichita Falls, Texas. 
• The last meeting came a season ago, on March 9, 2024, and was a 4-3 win for the Ichabods on the road. 
• Washburn is 1-3 against the Mustangs in Topeka. 

MILESTONE MARKERS

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

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD

• Washburn will head to Indianapolis, In. for the ITA Indoor Championships beginning against Saint Leo University on Feb. 14 at 10 a.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.