Men’s season preview

2022-23 WASHBURN ICHABODS WASHBURN ICHABOD MEN’S TENNIS

Coming off a condensed season Washburn men’s tennis returned with a young roster in the 2021-22 season under second year head coach Kirby Ronning. The Ichabods put in a 17-6 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season while notching a perfect 7-0 record in home matches.

The 2022-23 team features eight returners from the previous season as well as two newcomers in the form of one transfer and one freshman.

Among the group of returners, seven earned all-MIAA/GAC honors in 2021-22. In addition to earning second team honors at No. 2 singles, sophomore Tim Hammes won freshman of the year in the conference after going 21-6 in singles play. Junior Santiago Rendon also earned second team honors, at No. 6 singles, finishing with a 6-1 record at No. 6. He was also an honorable mention at No. 3 doubles going 12-3.

Junior Sebastian Pjontek went 13-10 in singles and 15-10 in doubles, and was an honorable mention for both No. 4 singles and No. 1 doubles. He enters the season ranked No. 35 nationally in singles and is No. 12 in doubles along with Tim Hammes. Junior Miquel Perez was also an honorable mention at No. 3 singles and doubles. He finished the year going 14-9 in singles and 19-5 in doubles.

Junior Daniel Bird earned honorable mention honors for No. 5 singles after going 12-7 on the year. Sophomores Matthew Earle and Noah Neideck each were honorable mentions in doubles, Earle at No. 1 and Neideck at No. 2. Earle went 14-10 on the season while Neideck was 14-5. Freshman Yoshinobu Nakatsuji rounds out the returners after redshirting last season.

Seniors Raul-Alin Dicu and Miller Zeiders will join the tennis coaching staff this season after going a combined 28-16 last season. Dicu was an honorable mention in the MIAA/GAC at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles, going 12-10 in singles at 8-5 from the No. 2 spot in doubles. Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, including an exhibition against Drake University. The final game of the road trip will be Feb. 18 against Augustana which will be the first conference match of the season.

The Ichabods return home for three of the following four matches before heading down to Florida for four matches in three cities across five days. Once returning Washburn will have a four game homestand, its last and longest of the season. Three matches will be against MIAA/GAC foe, concluding against Newman on Mar. 31 for senior day.

The final four regular season matches are split between being played in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The finale of the regular season comes on April 15 against Southern Arkansas University.

The location of the MIAA tournament is still to be determined, however the tournament will run from April 21 to 23.

Santiago Rendon went 6-1 at No. 6 singles and had a 12-3 doubles record and was named to all MIAA/GAC second team No. 6 singles and was an honorable mention at No. 3 doubles.

After the tournament appearance Washburn was ranked No. 34 nationally in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Volunteer assistant coach Kurt Reid was also named the Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in his third year with both tennis teams.

Joining the team in 2022-23 are sophomore transfer Daniel Harkin and freshman Moritz Pieper. Harkin comes from Manhattan, Kansas after spending one season at Kansas Wesleyan. With the Coyotes Harkin went 12-8 in singles and 7-2 in doubles play while also competing in cross country. Pieper comes from Luedenscheid, Germany where his prep team was ranked No. 1 in the North Rhine-Westphalia in tennis and badminton. Pieper already has eight wins combined in the fall season, including going 5-2 in doubles.

The men’s team first action for the spring season begins Jan. 22 away at Wichita State for an exhibition. They will play William Woods at home on Jan. 28 for another exhibition before kicking off official play against William Jewell College on Feb. 4 in Topeka. Tim Hammes was named the MIAA/GAC freshman of the year and was a second team selection at No. 2 singles in 2021-22 after going 21-6 in singles.