ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- No. 9 Washburn men's tennis is advancing to its second ever NCAA National Quarterfinals after defeating No. 13 Concordia University Irvine 4-2 in the opening round of the NCAA National Championships on Tuesday afternoon. The Ichabods will take on the No. 2 seed and No. 3 nationally ranked Barry at 2 p.m. CST on Wednesday.  

It was the Golden Eagles (20-4) who led off the match with the No. 7 ranked duo of Max Mueller and Felix Veyhle winning 6-2 over Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle on the top court in doubles. Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider evened doubles up for Washburn (21-3), winning 6-4 at No. 2. The first point was closed out from No. 3 for Concordia University Irvine with Moritz Pieper and Pavlos Parson falling 6-3.  

Tim Hammes led off singles play tying the match up with 6-1 and 6-2 set victories at No. 1 in under an hour. After pulling away late in the first set, Tommy Cecchetti won 6-3 at No. 4. He carried the momentum into a 5-0 lead in the second set before his opponent retired, giving the Ichabods a lead. Matthew Earle was steady throughout his dual on court six, winning a pair of 6-3 sets to bring up match point.  

Pavlos Parson took his first set into an extra game but came up just short, falling 7-5 at No. 3. He lost 6-0 in the second set as the Golden Eagles got on the board in singles action. Vasek Schneider played the longest first set of all six duals, coming away with a 7-6(6) tiebreaking win at No. 2. He started out the second set with a 3-0 lead before closing out the set and match with a 6-2 win, sending the Ichabods into the National Semifinals. Zino Nahirniak was tied 2-2 in his third set at No. 5 after splitting the first two sets 6-3 each way. 

Washburn will make its first appearance in the NCAA National Quarterfinals since the 2017-18 squad finished its season in the final eight.  

Doubles competition:  

1. Mueller, Max/Veyhle, Felix (CUI) def. Earle, Matthew/Hammes, Tim (WU) 6-2 

2. Cecchetti, Tommy/Schneider, Vasek (WU) def. Cinco, Spencer/Kartzinel, Adam (CUI) 6-4 

3. Large, Adam/Renz, Maximilian (CUI) def. Pieper, Moritz/Parson, Pavlos (WU) 6-3 

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3 

Singles competition:  

1. Hammes, Tim (WU) def. Cinco, Spencer (CUI) 6-1, 6-2 

2. Schneider, Vasek (WU) def. Veyhle, Felix (CUI) 7-6(6), 6-2 

3. Large, Adam (CUI) def. Parson, Pavlos (WU) 7-5, 6-0 

4. Cecchetti, Tommy (WU) def. Renz, Maximilian (CUI) 6-3, 5-0 ret.  

5. Nahirniak, Zino (WU) vs. Mueller, Max (CUI) 6-3, 3-6, 2-2 UF  

6. Earle, Matthew (WU) def. Kolesnychenko, Oleksandr (CUI) 6-3, 6-3 

Order of finish: 1, 4, 6, 3, 2