TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 9 Washburn men's tennis plays at the Castillo Family Tennis Complex for the final time in the regular season taking on No. 50 Northwest Missouri for senior day on Saturday, April 18 beginning at rougly 3:30 p.m., one hour after the women's match concludes. 
 

First Serve

• No. 9 Washburn men's tennis plays its final regular season home match taking on No. 50 Northwest Missouri State for senior day.
• The Ichabods will face the Bearcats beginning an hour after the women's match on Saturday, April 18 at the Castillo Family Tennis Complex. An estimated first serve time is 3:30 p.m. 
• Washburn extended its winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1 road win over Emporia State last time out improving to 13-5 overall and 4-0 in conference play.

THANK YOU SENIORS! 

• Senior day ceremonies for the five Washburn seniors will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Castillo Family Tennis Complex. 
• The quintet of Ichabods, Yoshinobu Nakatsuji, Mason Fair, Moritz Pieper, Zino Nahirniak and Pavlos Parson have been with Washburn for a combined 18 seasons. In the last four seasons they have been apart of three MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship, three NCAA Tournament Appearances and a trip to the NCAA National Championship match. 
• Yoshinobu Nakatsuji has spent five seasons with Washburn compiling a 14-11 career record in singles with a 34-23 mark in doubles in his career.
• Moritz Pieper is a four-year member of the Ichabod tennis team going 39-26 in singles and 25-25 in doubles play during his career. 
• Pavlos Parson has spent three seasons with Washburn compiling a 44-26 mark in doubles for his career with a 63-28 record in singles. 
• Mason Fair has gone 5-5 in doubles with a 4-10 singles mark in his three seasons with the tennis program. 
• Zino Nahirniak has spent two seasons with Washburn going 34-6 in singles competition with a 20-11 mark in doubles during that time.

BODS AND BITS 

• Washburn's 2025-26 roster returns seven players from last season while adding four freshmen to complete the roster.
• The Ichabods moved up to No. 9 in the latest ITA 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 4-0 in home matches, 5-2 in neutral court meetings and 4-3 on the road. 
• After going 14-4 against ranked opponents last season the Ichabods are 7-4 against ranked competition this season.

AROUND THE RANKINGS

• Five players are ranked by the ITA in singles for the Ichabods in the most recent rankings. 
• Pavlos Parson leads the Ichabod squad with a No. 36 ranking, Tommy Cecchetti is just behind him at No. 40.
• Kilian Martinez slots in at No. 45 while Zino Nahirniak enters the rankings for the first time at No. 73 nationally. Yuto Miyagawa is just behind him at No. 74.
• In doubles, Zino Nahirniak and Benjamin Fock continue to rise, moving to No. 8. Tommy Cecchetti and Pavlos Parson are ranked No. 48 together. 

SINGLES SETUP

• For the season Washburn has gone 134-69 (66.0%) in singles competition. 
• After winning the ITA Central Region Championship Pavlos Parson has a 19-12 record on the year and is 7-9 in duals playing at No. 1 and No. 2. 
• Kilian Martinez is 11-2 on the year in singles play all in duals. He is 10-1 at No. 3 and is 4-1 against ranked opponents.
• Yuto Miyagawa has a team-high 23 victories going 23-6 on the year. He is 11-4 on the year in duals with a 4-0 mark at No. 6.
• Benjamin Fock has compiled a 21-7 mark during his freshman season. He has gone 9-6 in duals overall and is 4-3 from No. 6. 
• Zino Nahirniak has gone 19-4 on the year in singles action and is 12-0 in duals playing at No. 3-5.
• Tommy Cecchetti is 13-11 so far on the year while going 10-7 in duals on the top-three courts. He is 6-5 at No. 2 and is 2-4 against ranked opponents.
• Moritz Pieper has gone 14-7 so far in singles competition with a 4-2 record in duals going 3-1 at No. 6.
• 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 50-41 (54.9%) in doubles matches. 
• Benjamin Fock and Zino Nahirniak have 11 victories together this season, the most for any duo. They are 11-5 together with a 6-2 mark in duals, all at No. 1. They are 3-2 against ranked duos.
• Tommy Cecchetti and Pavlos Parson are 6-2 together playing at No. 2 in duals and are 1-1 against ranked opponents.
• Kilian Martinez and Yuto Miyagawa are 1-2 together playing only at No. 3 doubles. 
• Yuto Miyagawa and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji are 7-6 together playing at No. 2 and No. 3. 
• Pavlos Parson and Benjamin Fock are tied for a team-high with 16 doubles victories each. Yuto Miyagawa is just behind with 15.

LAST TIME OUT

Washburn 6, Emporia State 1 (April 11, 2026)

EMPORIA, Kan. -- No. 13 Washburn won an eighth straight match Saturday morning defeating Emporia State 6-1 on the road. The Ichabods are in action next on Saturday, April 18 beginning at 10:30 a.m.  

No. 50 Tommy Cecchetti and Pavlos Parson led off the match for Washburn (13-5, 4-0 MIAA) winning 6-2 at No. 2 doubles. No. 10 Benjamin Fock and Zino Nahirniak secured the doubles point with a late rally to defeat No. 33 Anton Sarunic and Luke West 7-5 on the top court. The Hornets (8-7, 2-1 MIAA) avoided being swept in doubles winning a 7-6(4) tiebreaker over Kilian Martinez and Yuto Miyagawa at No. 3 doubles.  

No. 66 Yuto Miyagawa led off singles play making quick work at No. 4 with 6-1 and 6-0 set victories. Emporia State got on the board at No. 2 with No. 46 Kilian Martinez losing 4-6 and 2-6 in two sets. No. 33 Tommy Cecchetti bounced back from a 1-6 first set loss on court three to win 6-1 in the second and 6-4 in the third.  

No. 38 Pavlos Parson went into an 0-1 hole losing 3-6 in his first set at No. 1. He flipped the scores to win 6-3 in the second and carried the momentum into a 6-4 third set win to clinch the match. Benjamin Fock won a pair of 6-2 sets on court five to add another point to the Ichabod tally. Moritz Pieper won 6-3 in his opening set at No. 6. and swept the second set 6-0 to wrap up 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 203-68 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 NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS

• Northwest Missouri improved to 10-7 overall and 2-1 in conference action after sweeping Newman last time out on April 11.
• They are ranked No. 50 in the latest ITA poll.
• Last season the Bearcats went 12-9 overall with a 7-2 MIAA/GAC record, falling in the first round of the MIAA/GAC Tournament.
• On the year they are 6-0 at home this season, 3-6 on the road and 1-1 in neutral court play.
• Northwest Missouri has a 71-51 (58.2%) record in singles competition on the year. 
• Pavlo Vysotin leads the team with a 14-4 record overall going 12-3 in duals at No. 2.
• Dominik Winjntjes and Gage Foltz are ranked No. 40 in the nation in doubles play.
• The Bearcats have a 28-30 (48.3%) record in doubles competition.
• Bernardo Henriques and Jules Subra have an 8-3 record together in doubles, all coming at No. 2.

BEARCATS COACHING STAFF

• Mark Rosewell has lead both Bearcat tennis programs since 1984. 
• Rosewell has led Northwest tennis teams to 30 MIAA regular season championships (16 men, 14 women), nine MIAA Tournament championships (8 men, 1 women) and 45 NCAA tournament appearances (23 men, 22 women) in his tenure.
• In all, Rosewell has a career record of 1,289-631, and holds the distinction of being just the second MIAA coach in any sport to reach 1,000 wins.
• Assistant coach Mason Meier and graduate assistant Carolina Oliveira round out the coaching staff.

HISTORY WITH NORTHWEST MISSOURI

• Northwest Missouri has a 50-18 lead in the all-time series between the two teams.
• The Ichabods are 8-22 against the Bearcats in Topeka.
• The series began on April 6, 1968 with a 5-4 win for Northwest Missouri State at home. 
• Washburn has won the last three meetings including a 5-2 road win in the only meeting between the two teams last season.

MILESTONE MARKERS

• Moritz Pieper needs one singles victory to reach 40 for his career.
• Tommy Cecchetti is five victories away from reaching 50 career doubles wins in his career. 
• Pavlos Parson needs six doubles victories to reach 50 in his career at Washburn.

SCHEDULE SPRING FORWARD

• The Ichabods head on the road for the final week of the regular season taking on Arkansas-Fort Smith on Friday, April 24 beginning at 10 a.m. 
• The MIAA/GAC Championship Tournament takes place in Springfield, Mo. at the Cooper Tennis Complex from April 29-May 1.