RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference released its 2019 Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday afternoon and the league's newest program, the Southern Arkansas Muleriders under the direction of first-year head coach Greg Owen, have been tabbed to a fourth-place ranking after receiving seven total points.
 
Topping the five-team poll is defending conference champion Southeastern Oklahoma State with 16 total points and four first-place votes. Harding follows with a dozen points and the remaining first-place vote with Ouachita entering at third; two points ahead of the Muleriders. A single point behind SAU in fifth place is Oklahoma Baptist.
 
In less than ten days, the SAU Men will open spring competition for the first time in 26 years as well as for the first time as a Division II program following a lengthy campus hiatus that began following the 1992-93 season; one of the last seasons of competition in the now-defunct Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference.
 
SAU opens the season on February 8 and 9 in Memphis, Tennessee, with matches scheduled against Spring Hill College, Christian Brothers and Rhodes College. Southern Arkansas opens its home schedule, the first collegiate action on the renovated Live Oaks Tennis Courts, on February 22 at 10 a.m. against Missouri – St. Louis.
 
A full season preview of the SAU Men's Tennis squad will be available on www.MuleriderAthletics.com in the coming days.