TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn men's tennis hits the road for the first time in the 2026-27 season at the Creighton Invite on Saturday, Sept. 26-27. 

First Serve 

• Washburn heads north for the second week of the new season to participate in the Creighton Invite. 

• The Ichabods are coming off a 20-6 season overall in 2025-26 while going 5-0 in the MIAA/GAC North Division. They won a fourth straight MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA National Quarterfinals. 

• Washburn's 2026-27 roster features eight players with one senior, four sophomores and three freshman. 

About the Creighton Invite 

• The tournament will feature Washburn and Northwest Missouri from the DII level along with the host Creighton, Oklahoma State and the University of Nebraska Omaha. 

• Play begins on Friday, Sept. 25 with the Ichabods set to begin on Saturday, Sept. 26.  

• Live stats will only be available for matches on Sunday while live streams will be available only for matches on Saturday inside the Hanscom Tennis Center. 

Singles Statistics 

• Washburn is 18-5 (78.3%) on the year in singles action after one tournament.  

• Nicolas Hurtado-Novoa, Keita Kuroda and Petr Leipner are all 3-0 on the year in singles play. 

• Benjamin Fock, Kilian Martinez and Gael Mourmant each have a 2-1 record. 

• Yuto Miyagawa is 2-0 on the year in singles action. 

• Graham Faris has a 1-2 mark in singles play one tournament into the year. 

Doubles Download 

• The Ichabods posted a 6-5 (54.5%) doubles record at the Washburn Invitational to open the season. 

• Kilian Martinez and Gael Mourmant went 3-0 to open the season together. 

• Benjamin Fock and Nicolas Hurtado-Novoa went 2-1 on the weekend. 

• Keita Kuroda and Yuto Miyagawa posted a 1-2 record as a duo. 

• Petr Leipner and Graham Faris went 0-2 to begin the season. 

Head Coach Kirby Ronning 

• Ronning is in year seven 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 216-71 combined record with Washburn. 

• Has been named the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year six times, MIAA Coach of the Year four times and was the ITA/Dunlop Women's Coach of the Year once in 2026.  

• 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 eight 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.  

• Assistant coach Santiago Rendon begins year three as a coach with the Ichabods and his first as a full-time assistant after being elevated from a graduate assistant before the 2026-27 season. 

• He moved from playing to the sidelines after wrapping up a three-season career with the Ichabods headlined by an ITA Cup Doubles National Championship in fall of 2023.  

Falling FOrward

• Next up the Ichabods return to Topeka for the Washburn Invite tournament hosted at Kossover Tennis Center on October 2-3. 

• The ITA Central Region Championships will begin the final leg of the fall season. They will be hosted in Edmond, Okla. at Edmond Center Court from Oct. 23-26.