MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Multiple early season tests await the Southern Arkansas Men's & Women's Tennis teams this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as both squads prepare for their respective nationally-ranked foes of Southwest Baptist and Seward County Community College on Saturday. On Sunday, the Mulerider Women will take on Northeastern State; the No. 8 ranked team in the Central Region. Results of all of the action will be made available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
 
The SAU Women (2-0), who are receiving votes in the latest ITA Division II Top 25, enter the weekend with wins over UT-Tyler (7-0) and Arkansas Tech (6-1) in nonconference play, but face their toughest opponent yet in the early going of the season as the Southwest Baptist Women are currently tied for No. 19 in the country and are ranked No. 2 in the Midwest Region. The Bearcats are 1-1 this season with a 7-0 win over Lewis and 4-0 loss to No.4 Indianapolis; the Midwest Region's top ranked team.
 
A pair of top 40 ranked individuals will be in play on Saturday as Southwest Baptist's Jill Van den Dungen currently holds the No. 30 ranking nationally, while Southern Arkansas counters with No. 39 Joanna Nowakowska. Nowakowska defeated Van den Dungen 6-4, 7-5 at #1 in last season's Central Region I Preliminary Round that saw SAU top SBU 4-3 to advance to the regional final.
 
Van den Dungen entered the spring ranked No. 4 in the Midwest Region, while Nowakowska holds the No. 4 distinction in the Central Region. SBU placed three other athletes in the Midwest Region Top 20 as Constansa Crespo (No. 12), Catarina Zheng (No. 17), and Diana Cabrera (No. 20) all appeared in the final fall individual rankings. SAU's Angela Vargas, the reigning GAC Player of the Week, ranks No. 11 in the Central Region.
 
The duo of Nowakowska and Vargas hold the No. 6 place in the Central Region doubles rankings, while the Bearcats have a pair of teams ranked in the Division II Top 25. Van Den Dungen and Zheng rank sixth nationally, while Cabrera and Crespo rank 24^th.
 
Previous meeting vs. Southwest Baptist (5-13-19)
 
On Sunday, the Muleriders and Riverhawks collide in an early season battle of Central Region Top 10 teams. The previous meeting between the two regional foes resulted in SAU claiming a 4-3 win over the No. 17 ranked team in the country. NSU enters the matchup at 3-1 overall with wins over Ouachita (7-0), Southeastern Oklahoma (4-1) and Cameron (5-2) which all came following a season-opening loss to Tarleton State (4-3).
 
The Riverhawks' top player, Tatjana Stoll, is ranked No. 2 in the Central Region just ahead of Nowakowska at No. 3. Stoll won at #1 singles and doubles in the team's meeting last March.
 
Previous meeting vs. Northeastern State (3-4-19)
 
For the Southern Arkansas Men, who enter the weekend at 2-1 overall with wins over UT-Tyler (5-2) and Mississippi College (4-3) and a loss to Delta State (5-2), the weekend competition is just as stiff.
 
Southwest Baptist, the No. 13 ranked team in Division II and No. 2 in the Midwest Region, is 1-1 on the season which includes a 5-2 victory over Lewis and 5-4 defeat to Washington (St. Louis). The Bearcats are led by No. 19 Adham Gaber who is ranked No. 5 in the Midwest Region and David Szeri the No. 8 ranked Midwest Region player. Gaber teams up with Alvaro Nunez Serrano to form the Midwest Region's No. 8 ranked doubles team.
 
The Muleriders, who are ranked No. 2 in the Central Region, have three players that hold top 20 individual rankings in the Central Region. Marko Nikoliuk, the 15^th ranked player in Division II, ranks second in the region, while Stuart Rehfuss follows at No. 8 with Yuri Gondouin ranking No. 20. Rehfuss and Nikoliuk rank No. 7 in doubles play, while Sofiane Bah and Alexandre Machaj rank No. 9.
 
After a 64-22 record and three NJCAA Region VI Championships combined between both programs and multiple ranked individual and doubles teams among several other accomplishments, second year head coach Greg Owen matches up with his former program, Seward County Community College, for the first time since being hired to lead the Muleriders in December of 2017.
 
Owen helped the program reach new heights and the Saints have definitely hung around at the top. The SCCC Men rank No. 3 nationally and are the top team in NJCAA Region III. The SCCC Women hold the No. 9 ranking and are currently No. 2 in NJCAA Region III.
 
SCCC's Maria Garcia ranks No. 18 nationally, while teammates Lucia Popluharova (No. 32) and Liz Aristizabal (N0. 41) hold top 50 rankings. Garcia and Popluharova rank No. 15 nationally in doubles. For the SCCC Men, Gabriel Ortiz and Sanders Jan are the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players in the country, while Karl Wurth (No. 28), Fabian Van Huffel (No. 34), Raul Centeno (No. 40) and Francisco Vargas (No. 42) all rank in the top 50 of the NJCAA. Jan and Wurth (No. 2) and Centeno and Ortiz (No. 9) rank in the top of the national doubles rankings.