TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 6 Washburn men's tennis continues its journey through the ITA Indoor National Championships into the semifinal round where they will face the top-seed Barry at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14 in Indianapolis, In. 
  

First Serve 

• No. 6 Washburn enters the semifinal round of the ITA Indoor National Championship facing the No. 1 ranked top-seeded Barry.  

• The Ichabods will take on the Bucs in the semifinal match at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 14 inside Farmers Bank Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, In. 

• Washburn advanced into the semifinals with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Lubbock Christian on Friday in the quarterfinals, moving them to 3-0 on the year.  

• Barry moved to 3-0 with a 4-0 win over the host Indianapolis in the quarterfinals. 

• With a win the Ichabods would face the winner of the other semifinal match between West Florida and Flagler at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15 in the championship match. 

BODS AND BITS  

• Washburn's 2025-26 roster returns seven players from last season while adding four freshmen to complete the roster. 

• The Ichabods are ranked No. 6 in the first ITA rankings of the year.  

• Washburn was picked to finish first in the MIAA/GAC Preseason Coaches Poll.  

• The Ichabods are coming off a historic 2024-25 season where they went 23-4 and 5-0 in the MIAA/GAC North. They won a third straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA National Championship for the first time in program history. 

• On the year Washburn is 2-0 in home matches, 1-0 in neutral court meetings and have not played a true road match. 

• The Ichabods went 14-4 against ranked opponents last season, they are 1-0 this season after defeating the Chaps on Friday. 

AROUND THE RANKINGS 

• Three players for the Ichabods rank in the first ITA singles ranking of the season.  

• Pavlos Parson leads the group with a No. 8 national ranking. Benjamin Fock is slotted at No. 36 while Yuto Miyagawa rounds out the group at No. 40. 

SINGLES SETUP 

• For the season Washburn has gone 85-42 (66.9%) in singles competition.  

• After winning the ITA Central Region Championship Pavlos Parson has a 13-5 record on the year and is 1-2 playing at No. 1.  

• Benjamin Fock has posted a 14-2 during his freshman season. He is 2-1 in duals at No. 4 and No. 5. 

• Yuto Miyagawa leads the team with 15 victories going 15-2 on the year and 3-0 from No. 6.  

• Zino Nahirniak has gone 10-4 on the year in singles action and is 3-0 in duals playing at No. 4 and No. 5. 

• Tommy Cecchetti is 6-4 so far on the new year while going 3-0 playing at No. 2. 

• Kilian Martinez is off to a 3-0 start in singles at No. 3 after joining the Ichabods for the spring season.  

• Moritz Pieper has gone 10-5 so far in singles competition.  

• Graham Faris has played in two tournaments going an even 3-3 on the year.  

• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji is 4-6 so far in singles.  

• Mason Fair has gone 3-6 on the year and 3-2 in his last five duals.  

• Petr Leipner has started his freshman season 4-5.  

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD 

• On the year Washburn has gone 28-23 (54.9%) in doubles matches.  

• Yuto Miyagawa and Pavlos Parson have gone 6-2 together in doubles. They have the most victories of any duo this season. 

• Tommy Cecchetti and Kilian Martinez are 2-1 playing together at No. 1.  

• Pavlos Parson and Benjamin Fock are 2-1 together overall playing from No. 2 and No. 3 positions.  

• Yuto Miyagawa and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji are 2-1 together playing at No. 2 and No. 3.  

• Yuto Miyagawa leads the team with nine doubles victories. Pavlos Parson and Benjamin Fock each have eight. 

LAST TIME OUT 

Washburn 4, Lubbock Christian 3 (February 13, 2026) 

INDIANAPOLIS, In. -- No. 6 Washburn was on the brink of suffering its first loss of the season but battled back multiple times to win 4-3 over No. 5 Lubbock Christian in the quarterfinal round of the ITA Indoor National Championships on Friday in a five-hour match. The Ichabods will face the winner of the top seed Barry and the host Indianapolis at 9 a.m. on Saturday.   

The Chaps (2-2) jumped out to a quick advantage in doubles play, as Pavlos Parson and Benjamin Fock fell 6-2 at No. 2. Washburn (3-0) was able to tie the first stage up with Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Yuto Miyagawa winning 6-3 at No. 3. Lubbock Christian was able to claim the first point of the match, winning 6-3 on the top court over Tommy Cecchetti and Kilian Martinez.   

Singles play opened with another point for the Chaps as No. 36 Benjamin Fock fell 6-3 and 6-2 in two sets on court four against No. 18 Pablo Segura. No. 8 Pavlos Parson split his opening two sets at No. 1 against No. 4 ranked Kelly Giese as he won 7-5 in the second after losing 6-3 in the first. He battled early before Giese pulled away late to win 6-3 and bring up match point.   

The Ichabods began the comeback at No. 5 with Zino Nahirniak winning quickly in two sets, 6-1 and 6-4. On court two, Tommy Cecchetti fell just short in a 7-6(5) first set tiebreaking loss. He bounced back to win 6-2 in the second and pulled away late in the third, playing an extra game to win 7-5 over No. 17 Andres de los Rios.   

On court three Kilian Martinez came out on top in a first set tiebreaker, winning 7-6(2). In the second No. 26 ranked Mattia Ghedin evened the dual up winning 6-4. Martinez fell behind 3-5 in the third set but rallied to win the final four games, tying the match at three with a 7-5 win. No. 40 Yuto Miyagawa fell behind early, losing 6-3 in the first set at No. 6. He took control early in the second set, pulling away to win 6-2. In the third he fell behind early but recovered to bring the dual to a tiebreaker. Miyagawa jumped in front in the tiebreaker, going on to win 7-6(4) and complete the comeback.   

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 181-60 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.  

OPPONENT QUICK SCOUT  

ABOUT THE BARRY BUCS 

• Barry is 3-0 on the year after defeating No. 17 Indianapolis 4-0 in the quarterfinal round on Friday.  

• Four players are ranked on the singles side of the ITA rankings. Yan Kodjoed has the top spot in the nation while Adam Lynch is ranked No. 11.  

• Barry has gone 12-3 (80.0%) in doubles play on the year. 

• Thomas Machade is 3-0 playing from No. 3 and No. 4.  

• Both Adam Lynch and Antonin Chapuis are 2-0 on the year.  

• The Bucs have gone 4-5 (44.4%) in doubles competition on the year. 

• Adam Lynch and Thomas Machado are 1-1 together playing from the No. 2 spot. 

BUCS COACHING STAFF 

• Avi Kigel is in his 2nd season coaching the men's team as director of tennis at Barry but has been with the program since 2009 as the women's head coach.  

• Entering the 2026 dual season, Kigel owns a 407-30 women's record with a school and NCAA-record nine NCAA Division II Championships. 

• Originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, he grew up playing tennis since age four. Kigel was ranked as high as sixth in Israel as a junior, and was a member of the Israeli Junior National Team. 

• Fred Bonal, Alejandro Palacios, Vincent Versier, Kern Pedersen and Gabriele Felline complete the coaching staff.  

HISTORY WITH BARRY 

• Washburn and Barry are tied 1-1 in the all-time series between the two teams. 

• The first meeting came on May 14, 2008 and was a 5-1 win for the Bucs in Houston.  

• The Ichabods defeated Barry 4-3 last season in the NCAA National Quarterfinals in Altamonte Springs, Fla.  

MILESTONE MARKERS 

• Pavlos Parson is four doubles victories away from having 40 career doubles victories. 

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD 

• With a win, the Ichabods would face the winner of the other semifinal match between Flagler and West Florida at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15. 

• Senior day for Washburn takes place on April 18 with a 10:30 a.m. match against Northwest Missouri.  

• The MIAA/GAC Championship Tournament takes place in Springfield, Mo. at the Cooper Tennis Complex from April 29-May 1.