SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- No. 9 Washburn will play for a third straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship after defeating No. 21 Harding 4-1 on Thursday afternoon in the semifinals. The Ichabods will face No. 36 Ouachita Baptist at 9 a.m. on Friday.
It was the Bisons (15-6) who took an advantage early in doubles with Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle falling in a ranked dual with No. 17 ranked Cas de Ruiter and Adrian Solorzano, 6-2. Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider were able to even up the opening stage, working a quick 6-1 win on court two. Pavlos Parson and Moritz Pieper closed out the first point for Washburn (18-3), with a 6-3 win at No. 3 to take a 1-0 lead.
Singles competition was led off by Matthew Earle on court six as he won a pair of 6-2 sets in just over an hour. Tim Hammes fell behind in a top-10 battle with No. 10 Cas de Ruiter with a 6-3 decision in the first set. He battled back to win 6-1 in the second before falling 6-1 in the third as Harding got on the board on court one.
Pavlos Parson worked a quick 6-2 win in his opening set at No. 4 before setting up match point with a 6-3 victory in the second. Vasek Schneider blanked No. 22 Adrian Solorzano 6-0 in the first set at No. 2. The dual went into a third set after Solorzano bounced back to win 6-2 in the second. Schneider returned to first-set form with another 6-0 sweep in the third set to clinch a semifinal victory.
Tommy Cecchetti came away with a 7-6(4) tiebreaking victory in his first set at No. 4 and led 5-1 in the second when the match was decided. Zino Nahirniak led deep in the first set, 6-6 (4-2) in a tiebreaker at No. 5 at the conclusion of the match.
Doubles competition:
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Solorzano, Adrian/de Ruiter, Cas (HU) def. Earle, Matthew/Hammes, Tim (WU) 6-2
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Cecchetti, Tommy/Schneider, Vasek (WU) def. Mikkelsen, Cian/Gayme, Florian (HU_ 6-1
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Pieper, Moritz/Parson, Pavlos (WU) def. Agullo diaz munio, Luis/Demunbrun, Hunter (HU) 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles competition:
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De Ruiter, Cas (HU) def. Hammes, Tim (WU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
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Schneider, Vasek (WU) def. Solorzano, Adrian (HU) 6-0, 2-6, 6-0
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Parson, Pavlos (WU) def. Mikkelsen, Cian (HU) 6-2, 6-3
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Cecchetti, Tommy (WU) vs. Folse, Caleb (HU) 7-6(4), 5-1 UF
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Nahirniak, Zino (WU) vs. Agullo diaz munio, Luis (HU) 6-6 (4-2) UF
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Earle, Matthew (WU) def. Gayme, Florian (HU_ 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 2
