TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 8 Washburn men's tennis stays busy heading to Oklahoma for three straight days of matches beginning Friday, March 13 in Edmond taking on Southeastern Oklahoma State, Harding and Lubbock Christian. 
 

First Serve

• No. 8 Washburn begins another busy week on the road taking on Southeastern Oklahoma State, No. 36 Harding and No. 3 Lubbock Christian in three straight days of matches.
• The Ichabods will face the Savage Storm at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 13. They take on the Bisons at 10 a.m. on Saturday and wrap up the weekend facing the Chaps on Sunday, also at 10 a.m. All three matches will take place in Edmond, Okla.
• Washburn fell to 5-5 on the year and is 1-0 inside the MIAA/GAC after a 6-1 loss to No. 5 Flagler last time out on March 7.

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. 8 in the latest ITA national rankings.
• 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 3-0 in home matches, 2-2 in neutral court meetings and 0-3 on the road. 
• After going 14-4 against ranked opponents last season the Ichabods are 2-4 against ranked competition this season.

AROUND THE RANKINGS

• Four players are ranked by the ITA in singles for the Ichabods in the most recent rankings. 
• Pavlos Parson has the highest ranking on the team at No. 11. Kilian Martinez joined the rankings No. 23 in the nation, as did Tommy Cecchetti at No. 31. Yuto Miyagawa rose to No. 33. 
• In doubles, Tommy Cecchetti and Kilian Martinez moved into the rankings at No. 42 in the nation.

SINGLES SETUP

• For the season Washburn has gone 100-61 (62.1%) in singles competition. 
• After winning the ITA Central Region Championship Pavlos Parson has a 14-10 record on the year and is 2-7 in duals playing at No. 1 and No. 2. 
• Kilian Martinez is 9-1 on the year in singles play, all in duals at No. 3. He is 3-1 against ranked opponents.
• Benjamin Fock has posted a 15-7 mark during his freshman season. He has gone 3-6 in duals overall and is 1-3 from No. 6. 
• Yuto Miyagawa has a team-high 17 victories going 17-5 on the year. He is 5-3 on the year in duals with a 4-0 mark at No. 6.
• Zino Nahirniak has gone 14-4 on the year in singles action and is 7-0 in duals playing at No. 4 and No. 5.
• Tommy Cecchetti is 7-9 so far on the new year while going 4-5 in duals at No. 1 and No. 2.
• 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 the last five duals. 
• Petr Leipner has started his freshman season 4-5. 

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD

• On the year Washburn has gone 33-35 (48.5%) 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 4-4 playing together at No. 1, they are 1-1 against ranked opponents.
• Pavlos Parson and Benjamin Fock are 4-4 together overall playing from No. 2 and No. 3 positions. 
• Yuto Miyagawa and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji are 3-5 together playing at No. 2 and No. 3. 
• Yuto Miyagawa, Benjamin Fock and Pavlos Parson are all tied for a team-high ten doubles victories.

LAST TIME OUT

Flagler 6, Washburn 1 (March 7, 2026)

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- No. 8 Washburn took on No. 5 Flagler for the second time in less than a month, this time on the road falling 6-1 to wrap up a four-match trip to Florida. The Ichabods return to action on Friday, March 13 taking on Southeastern Oklahoma State on Edmond, Okla.  

Doubles competition began on court two with Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Tommy Cecchetti falling 6-1. The Saints (7-1) took the first point of the match as Kilian Martinez and Yuto Miyagawa dropped a 6-2 decision at No. 3. Zino Nahirniak and Benjamin Fock were tied 4-4 on the top court for Washburn (5-5) when the point was decided.  

Flagler put up another point with No. 36 Raphael Rousson defeating Benjamin Fock in two sets, both 6-1, at No. 6. No. 11 Pavlos Parson was defeated in two sets, 6-4 and 6-0 from the top court by No. 52 Aniss Rafiq to bring up match point. No. 31 Tommy Cecchetti battled with No. 32 Simon Malis in the first set but fell 7-5 on court two. In the second Malis took an early lead and went on to win 6-1 clinching the match. 

No. 23 Kilian Martinez went into a third set, falling 10-6 in the supertiebreaker to No. 19 Ilian Borlee at No. 3. No. 33 Yuto Miyagawa did the same, coming up just short at 10-8 from court five. Zino Nahirniak was in his third set when the match was decided and went on to win a 7-6(6) tiebreaker to finish out the match.  

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 186-67 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 SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE SAVAGE STORM

• Southeastern Oklahoma State is 0-5 on the year after falling 6-1 to Emporia State last time out on March 3.
• Last season the Savage Storm went 10-5 overall, missing out on the MIAA/GAC Tournament.
• On the year they are 0-1 at home in Durant, 0-1 on the road and 0-3 in neutral court meetings.

SAVAGE STORM COACHING STAFF

• Cari Groce is in her first season as the head tennis coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
• She returns to the collegiate sidelines after a stint at the high school level where she worked with Guthrie High School since August of 2022.
• She started her head coaching career at the University of Tulsa after a pair of assistant coaching stops at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
• She played her collegiate tennis at Nebraska where she was the program's first tennis All-American in 1986 before going on to play professionally on the European Circuit.

HISTORY WITH SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE

• Washburn leads the all-time series between the two teams 7-4.
• The series began on March 4, 2002 with a 5-0 win for Southeastern Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City.
• The last meeting came on April 20, 2024 and was a 4-3 win for the Ichabods in Edmond.

ABOUT THE HARDING BISONS

• Harding is 8-2 on the year after defeating William Jewell 7-0 last time out on March 8.
• They are ranked No. 36 in the latest ITA rankings.
• Last season the Bisons went 15-7 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA/GAC, they advanced to the MIAA/GAC Tournament semifinals before falling to Washburn. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
• On the year they are 1-0 at home in Searcy, Ark., 5-1 on the road and 2-1 in neutral court matches.
• Adrian Solorzano is ranked No. 35 in the country in singles, Sebastian se las Salas is slotted at No. 71 and Cian Mikkelsen is ranked No. 74 by the ITA. 
• Harding has gone 70-37 (65.4%) on the year in singles play.
• Cian Mikkelsen and Adrian Solorzano are ranked No. 2 in the nation in doubles. Sebastian de las Salas and Edoadro D'Arrigo are ranked No. 35 by the ITA. 
• The Bisons have gone 40-20 (66.7%) on the year in doubles play as a team.

BISONS COACHING STAFF

• Craig Kirchgessner is in his first season as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Harding.
• Kirchgessner came to Harding after serving as the Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at Hendrix College since August 2019
• Prior to his time at Hendrix, Kirchgessner served as the Assistant Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at Centre College from January 2016 to 2019
• Graduate assistants Amir Sanaei and Zach Fowler round out the coaching staff.

HISTORY WITH HARDING

• Washburn has a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams. 
• The series began on April 4, 2015 with a 5-4 win for the Ichabods in Springfield, Mo.
• The last meeting came on May 1 last season and was a 4-1 win for the Ichabods.

ABOUT THE LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN CHAPS

• Lubbock Christian moved to 9-4 on the year after defeating Colorado Mesa 7-0 last time out on March 7.
• They are ranked No. 3 in the latest ITA rankings.
• Last season the Chaps went 25-3 overall and 7-1 in the LSC. They advanced to the NCAA National Semifinals before losing 4-0 to Valdosta State.
• On the year they are 3-0 playing at home in Lubbock, 0-2 on the road and are 6-2 in neutral court meetings.
• Kelly Giese is ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles play. Andres Kolejewska is No. 13, followed by Pablo Segura at No. 17. Mattia Ghedin is ranked No. 54 by the ITA and Marco Seccia is slotted at No. 70.
• Lubbock Christian is 99-68 (59.3%) in singles play this season.
• In doubles play Mattia Ghedin and Kelly Giese are ranked No. 33 in the nation by the ITA.
• The Chaps have a 44-27 (62.0%) record in doubles matches.

CHAPS COACHING STAFF

• Hutton Jones is in his first season as the head coach at Lubbock Christian. 
• He had a 23-year tenure as head coach of both men's and women's tennis at Abilene Christian University, where he amassed a combined record of 940–369.
• He began his coaching career at his alma mater, ACU, serving as an assistant coach in the mid-1980s before being named head tennis professional at Ponca City Country Club (Ponca City, Okla.).
• Jones spent the 2023–24 season coaching at The Brook Hill School in Bullard, Texas, and served as a tennis professional at Cascades Country Club in Tyler.

HISTORY WITH LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN

• Washburn won the first and only meeting between the two teams earlier this season on Feb. 13 with a 4-3 win for the Ichabods at the ITA Indoor National Championships.

MILESTONE MARKERS

• Tommy Cecchetti needs one doubles victory to reach 40 for his career.
• Zino Nahirniak is one singles victory away from reaching 30 with Washburn.
• Pavlos Parson is at 38 career doubles wins, two away from 40 in his Ichabod career.

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD

• The Ichabods head out on another road trip to Arkansas beginning by taking on Ouachita Baptist on Thursday, March 19.
• Senior day for Washburn takes plan 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.