The No. 38-ranked Washburn Ichabod tennis team rallied from a 2-1 deficit after doubles to top No. 49-ranked Nebraska-Kearney 5-2 in the MIAA Tournament third place match in Springfield, Mo. The Ichabods, who entered the conference tournament ranked third in the NCAA Central Region, will discover their NCAA fate later this week.
The Ichabods' No. 1 team of Arek Kozaczuk and Steven Fletcher topped Yeswanth Nadella and John Steinke 8-3 in doubles for Washburn's only point to open the match. The No. 2 squad of Thilo Schlenker and Pascal Laucht and the No. 3 team of Bobby Florence and Chance Joost both fell by 8-4 scores.
In singles it was all Washburn as the Ichabods picked up four singles wins to clinch the match. Florence started it off at No. 5 singles with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jack Nicholson then Joost dispatched Daniel Faria 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6 singles. Fletcher defeated Arin Enge 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4 singles and then at No. 2 singles Schlenker wrapped up the victory for Washburn with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Steinke.
The Ichabods, who improved to 13-7 on the season, were ranked behind the Great American Conference's Ouachita Baptist and Northwest Missouri who were second. Southwest Baptist was ranked fourth in the latest regional rankings behind the Ichabods. Southwest Baptist and Washburn split their two meetings this season which were both played in the last week. Northwest Missouri topped Southwest Baptist in the MIAA Tournament finals.
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