TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 11 Washburn is set for an MIAA/GAC Tournament semifinal meeting with No. 49 Northwest Missouri State on Thursday, April 30 at 2 p.m. at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Mo. 
  

First Serve 

• No. 11 Washburn men's tennis, the No. 1 seed in the North Division of the MIAA/GAC Tournament will take on No. 49 Northwest Missouri, the No. 3 seed in the North Division. 

• The Ichabods will take on the Bearcats in the semifinal round at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 30 at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Mo. 

• Washburn carries an eleven-match winning streak into the semifinals after defeating Northeastern State 4-3 in the quarterfinals to improve to 16-5 overall and 5-0 in the MIAA/GAC North. 

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 to No. 11 in the latest ITA rankings. 

• They are ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA Central Region rankings released on April 29. 

• 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 5-0 in home matches, 6-2 in neutral court meetings and 5-3 on the road.  

• After going 14-4 against ranked opponents last season the Ichabods are 8-4 against ranked competition this season. 

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS 

• Five players were named All-MIAA/GAC honorees in addition to head coach Kirby Ronning being named the conference Coach of the Year for a third straight season. 

• Pavlos Parson was named the MIAA/GAC Player of the Year while also earning First-Team honors in singles. 

• Benjamin Fock and Zino Nahirniak earned First-Team honors in doubles together. 

• Pavlos Parson and Tommy Cecchetti were tabbed to the All-MIAA/GAC Second Team in doubles. 

• Both Tommy Cecchetti and Kilian Martinez were selected as Honorable Mentions in singles.  

TOURNAMENT TIME 

• With a win on Thursday the Ichabods would face the winner of the other semifinal match between the No. 1 seed from the South, Harding and the No. 2 seed in the North, Nebraska Kearney in the championship. 

• The championship is set for Friday, May 1 at 9 a.m. at the Cooper Tennis Complex. 

AROUND THE RANKINGS 

• Three players are ranked by the ITA in singles for the Ichabods in the most recent rankings.  

• Kilian Martinez leads the trio at No. 41. Pavlos Parson ranks No. 43 in the nation with Tommy Cecchetti just behind him at No. 44. 

• In doubles, Zino Nahirniak and Benjamin Fock remain inside the top-10 at No. 9 in the nation. Pavlos Parson and Tommy Cecchetti re-enter the rankings at No. 28. 

SINGLES SETUP 

• For the season Washburn has gone 148-73 (67.0%) in singles competition.  

• After winning the ITA Central Region Championship Pavlos Parson has a 21-13 record on the year and is 9-10 in duals playing at No. 1 and No. 2.  

• Kilian Martinez is 13-3 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 24 victories going 24-8 on the year. He is 12-6 on the year in duals with a 4-0 mark at No. 6. 

• Benjamin Fock has compiled a 23-7 mark during his freshman season. He has gone 11-6 in duals overall and is 5-0 from No. 5.  

• Zino Nahirniak has gone 20-4 on the year in singles action and is 13-0 in duals playing at No. 3-5. 

• Tommy Cecchetti is 16-11 so far on the year while going 13-7 in duals on the top-three courts. He is 6-1 at No. 3 and is 2-4 against ranked opponents. 

• Moritz Pieper has gone 16-7 so far in singles competition with a 6-2 record in duals going 5-1 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 gone 5-5 during his freshman season with a 1-0 mark in duals. 

DOUBLES DOWNLOAD 

• On the year Washburn has gone 58-41 (58.6%) in doubles matches.  

• Benjamin Fock and Zino Nahirniak have 13 victories together this season, the most for any duo. They are 13-5 together with a 8-2 mark in duals, all at No. 1. They are 4-2 against ranked duos. 

• Tommy Cecchetti and Pavlos Parson are 9-2 together overall all in duals. They have a 8-2 record playing at No. 2 and are 2-1 against ranked opponents. 

• Kilian Martinez and Yuto Miyagawa are 3-2 together playing only in duals. They are 2-2 playing at No. 3. 

• Yuto Miyagawa and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji are 7-6 together playing at No. 2 and No. 3.  

• Pavlos Parson has a team-high 19 victories in doubles overall. Benjamin Fock is just behind with 18 victories in doubles. 

LAST TIME OUT 

Washburn 4, Northeastern State 3 (April 29, 2026) 

TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 11 Washburn took a 3-0 lead early and held on to win 4-3 over Northeastern State in the quarterfinal round of the MIAA/GAC Tournament on Wednesday morning. The Ichabods will face the No. 3 seed from the North Division, Northwest Missouri on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the semifinals.  

Doubles play began with a swift 6-0 victory on court two for No. 28 Tommy Cecchetti and Pavlos Parson giving Washburn (16-5) the advantage early. No. 9 Benjamin Fock and Zino Nahirniak secured the first point of the match defeating No. 39 Mansur Khajimuradov and Alexander Edley at No. 1. Kilian Martinez and Yuto Miyagawa led 4-2 on No. 3 when the point was decided.  

Benjamin Fock led off singles play finishing in under an hour with two 6-1 wins on court six. Zino Nahirniak finished just behind him at No. 4, winning 6-1 in both sets as well to put the Ichabods up 3-0. The RiverHawks (6-11) got on the board as No. 41 Kilian Martinez fell 4-6 and 3-6 in two sets on court two.   

Northeastern State added another point after No. 43 Pavlos Parson lost a tiebreaker first set and fell 4-6 in the second on the top court. Playing on court five Yuto Miyagawa took his first set to a tiebreaker but came up on the wrong end, 7-6(3). In the second he lost 4-6 as Northeastern State tied the game. No. 44 Tommy Cecchetti opened his dual at No. 3 with a 7-5 win but fell 4-6 in the second set and trailed 0-2 to begin the third. He rallied to win six of the next seven games to win 6-3 and clinch 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 209-68 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 12-8 overall with a 4-3 win over Ouachita Baptist on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. 

• They are ranked No. 49 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, 4-7 on the road and -1 in neutral court play. 

• Northwest Missouri has a 81-59 (57.9%) record in singles competition on the year.  

• Pavlo Vysotin leads the team with a 16-5 record overall going 14-4 in duals at No. 2. 

• Dominik Winjntjes and Gage Foltz are ranked No. 40 in the nation in doubles play. 

• The Bearcats have a 30-36 (45.5%) record in doubles competition. 

• Bernardo Henriques and Jules Subra have an 8-5 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 50-19 lead in the all-time series between the two teams. 

• The series began on April 6, 1968 with a 5-4 win for Northwest Missouri State at home.  

• Washburn has won the last four meetings including a 6-1 win at home this season. 

MILESTONE MARKERS 

• Tommy Cecchetti is two victories away from reaching 50 career doubles wins in his career.  

• Pavlos Parson needs three doubles victories to reach 50 in his career at Washburn.