Topeka Sun

No. 17 Ichabods finish road swing against Vikings on Sunday

No. 17 Washburn women's tennis heads north to take on Augustana in the final game of its three match road swing on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 10:00 a.m. 

Ichabod Breakdown 

•    Washburn finishes off a three match swing away from home with a road contest against Augustana on Sunday at 10 a.m. 

•    The Ichabods are coming off a 5-2 road win over Illinois Springfield last Saturday

•    Washburn leads the all-time series against the Vikings 3-2, including a 4-3 win over them in the NCAA Central Region Championships last season 

•    The Ichabods return six players from last season's roster and add two transfers and one freshman. 

•    Washburn is ranked 17th nationally in the latest ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings

•    The Ichabods are looking to win back-to-back matches for the first time this season.

•    Washburn is coming off a 16-12 season in 2021-22 and the second appearance in the NCAA National Championships in program history.

•    The Ichabods were picked first in the MIAA Preseason Coaches poll.

Washburn who's who

•    Sonia Smagina enters the spring ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles after transferring from Kansas

•    Smagina is joined by Lara Schmid and the pair are ranked No. 9 by the country in doubles

•   Maja Jung is ranked No. 43 in the ITA singles rankings

•    Smagina leads the Ichabods in singles, going 12-1 on the year and 3-0 in duals all at No. 1

•    Jung has gone 9-3 in singles including 4-1 in duals and is 2-0 at No. 2 

•    Marta Torres has gone 4-1 in duals including 3-0 at No. 2, she has also won her last three matches

•    Casie Curry has five singles wins this season and is 2-0 from No. 3

•    Washburn has won 62.3% of its singles matches this season, going 43-26

•    The Ichabods are a combined 13-2 at No. 1-3 in duals 

•    Schmid and Smagina each lead the Ichabods with 9-2 records in doubles 

•    Schmid is 3-0 in duals at No. 1 and No. 2 while Smagina is also 3-0, all from No. 1 

•    Maja Jung is 8-1 in doubles action, going 5-0 in duals and is 4-0 at No. 1 

•    Torres and Casie Curry are each 7-2 in doubles play, Torres has gone 4-2 at No. 2

•    Isabella Martensson is 5-2 in doubles, all with Torres and is 2-1 at No. 2 

•    Casie Curry and Maja Jung have a four match winning streak together in doubles, the longest on the team

•    Washburn has a 76.5% winning percentage in doubles this season, going 26-8

•    The Ichabods are 5-0 at No. 1 doubles this season

Last time on the court

•    Washburn took a 5-2 loss to No. 8 Indianapolis and won 5-2 over Illinois Springfield last Friday and Saturday 

•    Sonia Smagina and Maja Jung went 2-0 at No. 1 doubles, including a win over the No. 8 ranked doubles pair nationally 

•    Smagina went 2-0 at No. 1 singles, with a win over the No. 18 ranked singles opponent

•    Marta Torres knocked off the No. 10 ranked singles player against Illinois Springfield

•    Isabella Martensson picked up a singles and doubles win against the Prairie Stars 

Milestone markers

•    Maja Jung is four wins away from 50 career singles victories and five away from 40 career in doubles

•    Marta Torres is seven wins away from 40 career singles wins

•    Isabella Martensson is two wins away from 25 career doubles wins

Head coach Kirby Ronning

•    Ronning is in his third year as head coach of the Ichabod men's and women's tennis teams

•    He has led both teams to the NCAA tournament in both seasons at the helm

•    Ronning has a combined record of 68-29 in his two plus seasons at Washburn

•    Prior to joining the Ichabods, Ronning spent four seasons as the assistant coach at Azusa Pacific from 2016-2022

•    Ronning played for Bethel University (Minn.) for four seasons and was honored with the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Sportsmanship award two times.

The assistants 

•    Volunteer assistant Kurt Reid and graduate assistant Miller Zeiders round out the men's coaching staff

•    Reid enters his fourth season as an assistant with the Ichabods.

•    He started his collegiate tennis career at Tulsa (1977-78) before transferring to Washburn for the 1978-79 season. He wrapped up his career at Kansas State where he graduated with his bachelor's of science degree in 1981.

•    Zeiders joins the Ichabods after a four-year career at Washburn from 2018-22

•    He finished his career with a 11-3 singles record and was 9-6 in doubles action

Opponent Quick Scout

Match #6 - at Augustana

All about Augustana

•    Augustana enters the week 4-0 after a 4-2 win over Nebraska at Kearney last Sunday

•    The Vikings will play against Sioux Falls on Saturday morning before taking on the Ichabods 

•    Last season Augustana went 21-2 including 11-0 in the NSIC and 11-1 at home, the only loss coming to Washburn in the second round of the NCAA Central Regional 

•    Florentila Hadjigeorgiou, Gabriela Jancikova and Senem Ocal lead the Vikings in singles play, each going 3-0 so far on the year from the No. 1, No. 6 and No. 2 spots respectively 

•    As a team Augustana is 17-3 in singles play, an 85% win percentage

•    The doubles pairing of Gabriela Jancikova and Aleksandra Kistanova are 3-0 this season at No. 2 

•    Florentia Hadjigeorgiou and Senem Ocal are ranked the No. 11 doubles pair nationally

•    The Vikings are unbeaten this season at No. 2 doubles and No. 1 singles

•    Augustana has won 72.7% of its doubles matches, going 8-3

Vikings Staff 

•    Marc Kurtz leads Augustana in his 19th season with the Vikings  

•    Kurtz has compiled a 273-51 record on the women's side and a 94-157 on the men's side 

•    The Viking women have gone undefeated in each of the past 12 NSIC regular seasons, including 11-straight NSIC Tournament Championships and 12 NSIC regular season championships 

•    Jared Hofer and Mitch Barr round out the coaching staff  

History with Augustana

•    The two teams played twice last season, splitting the matches 1-1

•    The Ichabods defeated Augustana 4-3 in the second round of the NCAA Central Region Championships to advance to the NCAA Championships

•    The first match was a 7-2 loss for Washburn on April 5, 2014 in Topeka

•    The Ichabods are 1-0 all-time on the road against Augustana

Schedule spring forward

•    Sunday's match against Augustana will be the final of a three match road swing for Washburn, they will return home to take on Rockhurst next on Feb. 25

•    The Ichabods will travel to Florida in March to play three matches in six days 

•    Washburn has eight MIAA matches on the slate in the spring.

•    The longest home stretch of the season comes from March 23 to March 31 with five matches in that time  

•    The match on March 31 against Newman will be senior day for the Ichabods.  

•    Washburn wraps up the regular season with two matches in Arkansas, the final regular season game comes on April 15 against Southern Arkansas University

•    The Women's MIAA Tournament will take place from April 21-23

Original source can be found here.