TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn men's tennis opens the new season with a two-day tournament in Kansas City, Mo. at the Rockhurst Invite beginning Friday, Sept. 5. 

First Serve

• Washburn men's tennis opens the 2025-26 season at the Rockhurst Invite in Kansas City, Mo. on September 5-6 at the Plaza Tennis Courts. 
• The Ichabods are coming off a 2024-25 season that saw a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and and an appearance in the National Championship match. 
• Last season Washburn also won a program record 23 matches, going 23-4 and won a third straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship. 
• Washburn's 2025-26 roster features 10 players with five seniors, two juniors and three freshmen. 
• Tournament play at the Rockhurst Invite will begin with doubles to begin the day followed by singles play. 
• All ten players will compete in both the singles and doubles side of the tournament. 
• Next up, the Ichabods will return to Topeka on September 12-13 for the Washburn Invite at the Kossover Tennis Center. 

Welcome Back - Returners

• Washburn returns seven players from the 2024-25 squad with the returning crew featuring five seniors and a pair of juniors. 
• Tommy Cecchetti leads the group of returners for the Ichabods as a junior after posting a 22-7 singles record and a 30-9 mark in doubles a season ago. He went 11-1 at No. 4 in singles and 22-3 at No. 2 doubles. He earned All-MIAA/GAC first team honors in doubles and was an honorable mention in singles. 
• Pavlos Parson will be a senior for Washburn in 2025-26. He went 24-9 in singles competition a year ago while posting a 12-13 record in doubles. He was an All-MIAA/GAC second team selection in singles and was 14-5 at No. 3. 
• Zino Nahirniak returns for a senior season after joining the Ichabods for the spring last year and going 15-2 in singles and 9-6 in doubles. He was 6-1 at No. 5 singles and earned All-MIAA/GAC honorable mention honors in singles. 
• Moritz Pieper will be a senior in 2025-26, last season he went 7-6 in singles and 14-14 in doubles, including 12-7 in duals. 
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji enters year five with Washburn as a senior. Last season he went 7-1 in singles and 6-3 in doubles play. 
• Graham Faris will be a junior in 2025-26 after going 8-4 in doubles and 3-6 in singles as a sophomore. 
• Mason Fair will be a senior for the Ichabods, he did not play in 2024-25. 
• Last year the Ichabods went 181-75 (70.7%) in singles action and posted a record of 84-47 (64.1%) in doubles. 

New to Blue 

• Two new faces will join the Ichabods for the 2025-26 season to complete the roster. 
• Benjamin Fock (Pfullingen, Germany), Petr Leipner (Prague, Czechia) and Yuto Miyagawa (Saitama, Japan) all begin their collegiate careers with the Ichabods. 

LAST TIME OUT

Valdosta State 4, Washburn 2 (May 24, 2025)

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Three separate rain or lightning delays and nearly six hours after the match began No. 9 Washburn's season came to an end with a 4-2 National Championship loss to No. 1 Valdosta State on Saturday evening. The Ichabods end the historic season for the program with a 23-4 record.  

The top-seeded Blazers (26-0) jumped ahead in doubles play at No. 3, defeating Pavlos Parson and Moritz Pieper 6-2 to take the advantage. Playing on the top court Matthew Earle and Tim Hammes fought in a top-five battle with No. 5 Takeshi Taco and Saveam Van Wijk. After the dual was tied 4-4 the final two games went to Valdosta State to take the doubles point. Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider led 5-4 on court two for Washburn over No. 8 Edgar Destouet and Arthur Bord and were leading 30-15 in the game when the point was decided. 

In singles play the first court featured a top-five battle between No. 4 Tim Hammes and No. 2 Takeshi Taco. Hammes fell in the first set 6-1 before bouncing back to reverse the score in the second and force a third set. In the third he fell behind early and was unable to make up the ground, losing 6-1. Finishing just behind him was Zino Nahirniak on court five who put the Ichabods on the board with a pair of 6-3 victories.  

Court two also had a meeting of top-10 opponents with No. 8 Vasek Schneider taking on No. 3 Boruch Skierkier. Schneider fell behind 4-0 early in the first set but was able to battle back, winning six straight games for a 6-4 win in the first set. The second set went back-and-forth with ties at 2-2, 3-3- and 4-4 before Schneider claimed two straight games to win 6-4 and tie the match at two.  

Pavlos Parson dropped a first set at No. 3, 6-2. In the second set he bounced back with an early lead to win 6-3 and force a third set. In the third No. 20 Edgar Destouet went in front 4-1 over Parson before winning 6-2. Playing at No. 6, Matthew Earle built an early lead and was able to work a 6-4 victory in his first set of play. In the second set the score went in the other direction 6-3. He fell behind early in the third set, and trailed 5-2 when the final delay of the match for lightning was called, lasting over two hours. After play resumed the final game went to Valdosta State as they clinched the set 6-2 and the match 4-2.  

After falling in his first set at No. 4, 6-4, Tommy Cecchetti battled back for a 6-3 win in the second set and was tied 1-1 in the third when the point and match were decided.  

Head Coach Kirby Ronning

• Ronning is in year six 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 176-60 combined record with Washburn.
• Has been named the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year four times and the MIAA Coach of the Year twice. 
• 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

• Kurt Reid enters year seven as a volunteer assistant coach for the Ichabods. 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. 
• Graduate assistant Santiago Renton is entering his 2nd season as part of the Washburn coaching staff.  
• He moved 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. 
• Vasek Schneider joins the Washburn coaching staff as a graduate assistant for 2025-26 after finishing his playing career with the Ichabods in 2024-25. 
• Schneider was an All-American in singles and set a program record with 32 singles victories in his lone season in Topeka going 32-7 overall. 

FALLING FORWARD

• Next up the Ichabods will return to Topeka for the Washburn Invite taking place on September 12-13 at the Kossover Tennis Center. 
• The ITA Central Region Championships will also take place in Topeka at Kossover beginning September 26 and running through the 28th.