KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced on Wednesday morning the 2020-21 MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis Postseason Awards and All-MIAA/GAC Teams. Highlighting the honors for third-year head coach Greg Owen's squad was sophomore Yuri Gondouin who earned the league's Sportsmanship Award, while freshman Ole Valkyser and sophomore Sofiane Bah were named All-MIAA/GAC First Team honorees as singles players at their respective lines and as a part of each's respective doubles pairing.
 
Southern Arkansas' entire singles lineup and all three doubles teams earned all-league recognition following the Muleriders' first season as a south division member of MIAA-GAC Men's Tennis. The regular season efforts of the entire team earned the Muleriders a second place finish in the GAC South Division and a rematch with North Division No. 1 Washburn on May 1 in the MIAA/GAC Championship in Edmond, Oklahoma. The Muleriders finished the regular season at 12-4 overall with a 3-1 mark against south division foes and an unbeaten 3-0 record against north division opposition.
 
The awards were nominated and voted on by all nine league head coaches. Below are the Muleriders' All-MIAA/GAC selections.
 
MIAA/GAC Sportsmanship Award
Yuri Gondouin
 
MIAA/GAC First Team
No. 4 Singles – Ole Valkyser
No. 6 Singles – Sofiane Bah
No. 1 Doubles – Sofiane Bah & Sander Jans
No. 3 Doubles – Ole Valkyser & Gabriel Breitenmoser
 
MIAA/GAC Second Team
No. 2 Singles – Yuri Gondouin
No. 3 Singles – Marko Nikoliuk
No. 2 Doubles – Yuri Gondouin & Marko Nikoliuk
 
MIAA/GAC Honorable Mentions
No. 1 Singles – Sander Jans
No. 5 Singles – Gabriel Breitenmoser
 
A collegiate rookie from Monchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Valkyser earned first team plaudits after owning a regular season ledger that included a dozen wins, which is tied for the team-lead, and included seven victories against MIAA/GAC foes. In his last seven singles matches, Valkyser has won five with two going unfinished. Additionally, Valkyser was one of three Muleriders this season to be named MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis South Division Player of the Week. Along with classmate Gabriel Breitenmoser, the pair earned All-MIAA/GAC First Team honors in doubles play as the pair has picked up ten wins this spring with six against league competition from the No. 3 doubles position.
 
Much like Valkyser and Jans, Bah reached the double-digit wins mark in singles play. This spring, the Évry, France, native has won ten times at line six, including four of his past five; all of which have come against league opponents. He won three of his first four matches to open the season and after seeing three consecutive plays left unfinished, he closed out the regular season campaign with six wins in his last nine trips to the court. 
 
The play of Bah and Jans has been special in singles play, but as a doubles pairing, the two have been extremely solid at No. 1 this season rising up to claim the No. 21 ranking nationally. They have picked up eight wins this spring with six against MIAA/GAC teams. Of the nine, two have come against nationally ranked squads: 6-2 over #17 Alex Martinez Roca/Alexandre Crepy of Midwestern State and 6-2 over #12 Bradley Eidenmueller/Sebastian Pjontek of Washburn. Three additional matches against top 20 foes were left unfinished.
 
Gondouin, a team leader for Owen's squad, won five singles matches this season, including three against MIAA/GAC opposition and a win over #42 Jan Lucca Marquadt of UT-Tyler (6-2, 4-6, 7-5). This season, Gondouin matched up against seven Top 50 ranked opponents including three ranked in the top 10 nationally. He claimed second team honors as he primarily operated from the No. 2 position in the SAU lineup. Additionally, the Saint-Germain-En-Laye, France, native was named the MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis South Division Player of the Week on March 15.
 
Joining Gondouin on the second team was Nikoliuk who won nine singles matches during the regular season competing from the No. 3 position in the SAU order. Against league opponents, Nikoliuk has posted five victories. In early March he defeated Southwest Baptist's Alvaro Nunez, who holds the #50 ranking nationally, in three sets (6-7(4), 6-2, 6-2) and on April 10 The Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, native knocked off Washburn's Paul Haase 6-3, 6-4.
 
As a doubles paring, Gondouin and Nikoliuk have been phenomenal on the court together posting a 13-1 mark overall which includes a pair of six-consecutive doubles victories as well as an 8-0 record against MIAA/GAC opposition. In just two matches this season, the action was left unfinished: 4-4 against Midwestern State and 5-5 against Washburn.
 
Jans, the Muleriders' top line player, has nestled in nicely at the No. 1 spot. Like Valkyser, he has collected a team-leading 12 singles wins, and Jans carries the No. 34 ranking nationally, while twice being named the MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis South Division Player of the Week.
 
In action against nationally-ranked opponents, Jans has utterly dominated compiling a 6-1 mark overall, while going 3-0 in the regular season's final week against No. 10 Francisco Oliveira of Ouachita, No. 15 Juan Scoppetta of Southeastern Oklahoma State and No. 24 Raul Dicu of Washburn. Jans' match against No. 6 Andrea Zamurri, the league's Player of the Year from Northwest Missouri State, was left unfinished as it was headed to a decisive third set. A native of Roden, Netherlands, Jans, prior to taking over the No. 1 spot, finished out his time at the No. 2 slot winning his final six matches.
 
Breitenmoser owns six wins in singles play during his first season as a Mulerider. An All-MIAA/GAC honoree at No. 5 where he earned four of his wins, the Oberriet, Switzerland, native also collected two victories playing at No. 4 for SAU: a 6-1, 6-3 win over SBU's Youssef Nabil and a 6-2, 6-3 decision against Emporia State's Harrison Brown. Two of his victories at No. 5 came in three sets as he outlasted Harding's Milosh Petrovic (6-2, 3-6, 7-6) and SBU's Fabian Neff (6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3).