MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Sophomore Raymond Marin showcased a gutsy performance at line six on Tuesday afternoon as he outlasted Northwest Missouri's Martin Sanchez 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to claim the deciding point for the Muleriders who topped the Bearcats 4-3 in the MIAA-GAC Opener from the Live Oaks Tennis Courts. With the win, Southern Arkansas improves to 4-2 on the season with a 1-0 mark in conference play and to 11-0 at home dating back to the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
A back-and-forth final line of play capped off a wild afternoon that saw Southern Arkansas jump out to a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, which was highlighted by Stuart Rehfuss and Sofiane Bah taking down the region's top ranked doubles unit of Fabien Calloud and Andrea Zamurri. Singles victories by sophomore Alexandre Machaj at line four and Stuart Rehfuss at line one put SAU up 3-0. But the Bearcats used wins at lines two, three and five to force a winner-take-all with the relentless Marin and Sanchez at line six.
Following the fall slate, Northwest Missouri's Franco Oliva (No. 6) and Fabien Calloud (No. 7) held top ten individual region rankings, while the Muleriders' Marko Nikoliuk (No. 2), Stuart Rehfuss (No. 8), and Yuri Gondouin (No. 20) entered the spring slate ranked as well.
Southern Arkansas 4, Northwest Mo. St. 3
Singles competition (4,1,2,3,5,6)
1. Stuart Rehfuss (SAU) def. Zamurri, Andrea (NWMSU-M) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
2. Calloud, Fabien (NWMSU-M) def. Marko Nikoliuk (SAU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. Oliva, Franco (NWMSU-M) def. Yuri Gondouin (SAU) 7-6, 6-7, 7-5
4. Alexandre Machaj (SAU) def. Compas, Louis (NWMSU-M) 6-0, 6-2
5. Velasco, Agustin (NWMSU-M) def. Sofiane Bah (SAU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
6. Raymond Marin (SAU) def. Sanchez, Martin (NWMSU-M) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
Doubles competition (1,2,3)
1. Stuart Rehfuss/Sofiane Bah (SAU) def. Calloud, Fabien/Zamurri, Andrea (NWMSU-M) 6-3
2. Yuri Gondouin/Marko Nikoliuk (SAU) def. Oliva, Franco/Pontes, Pedro (NWMSU-M) 6-2
3. Iker Brull/Alexandre Machaj (SAU) def. Velasco, Agustin/Nickel, Sawyer (NWMSU-M) 6-3
The Muleriders return to play on Wednesday as they host Emporia State at 2 p.m. from the Live Oaks Tennis Courts.
