By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The No. 18-ranked Washburn University men's tennis team will begin its NCAA postseason bid at home Saturday with a 1 p.m. match against No. 24 Ouachita Baptist in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Championship.
Washburn will open NCAA tournament play at 1 p.m. Saturday at WU after winning the MIAA/GAC Conference championship. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The winner will advance to the NCAA National Championships in Orlando, Fla. on May 11.
The Ichabods qualified for the NCAA tournament for the 17th time in program history after winning their fourth MIAA/GAC Championship with a 4-0 win over Northwest Missouri State.
Washburn enters the tournament at 16-7 overall, winning its last six matches while Ouachita Baptist is 12-10 on the year
Washburn had seven players named to All-MIAA/GAC conference team last week.Washburn enters the tournament with a 16-7 record after winning the conference championship tournament
The Ichabods are the No. 2 seed in the Central Region and will host the first round of postseason play. The Ichabods are 6-1 at home this season
In singles, Tim Hammes is ranked No. 15 in the nation with a 14-7 record at No. 1 in duals
Sebastian Pjontek moved up to No. 37 this season and is 13-6 overall and 10-5 at No. 2 singles.
Santiago Rendon leads Washburn with a 21-8 singles record while Daniel Bird has a 19-7 singles record and has gone 9-2 in the No. 4 spot.
Pjontek and Miquel Perez are ranked No. 7 nationally in doubles. They are 8-3 together this season at No. 1 and are 4-1 against ranked opponents
Washburn has won 65.1 percent of its doubles matches, going 56-30 this season.
Kirby Ronning is in his third year as head coach of the Ichabod men's and women's tennis team and has led both teams to the NCAA tournament in both seasons at the helm.
Ouachita Baptist is coming off a 4-2 loss to Northwest Missouri State in the MIAA/GAC Tournament semifinals
The Tigers are the No. 3 seed in the Central Region.
Phil Exner is ranked No. 3 nationally or the Tigers in singles with a 25-5 overall this season and 13-2 at No. 2.
Alex Blanchar is ranked No. 16 in singles. He is 19-7 on the year with a 12-3 mark at No. 1.
WU women to host Tuesday regional match
The No. 25-ranked Washburn women's tennis team was selected as the second seed for the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
The Ichabods (16-6) will face off against the winner of No. 3 Augustana (20-3) and No. 6 Southeastern Oklahoma State (9-19) at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
It is the fourth straight tournament appearance for Washburn, and as the second highest seed in the Central Region the match will be held in Topeka.
The two teams faced off last season in the second round of the Central Region Championships and the Ichabods came out on top to advance to the National Championships.
The winning team of the second round match will advance to the NCAA National Championships in Orlando, Fla. beginning on May 11.
