EDMOND, Okla. – Top-seeded Southern Arkansas Men's Tennis overpowered fourth-seeded Harding on Friday to punch the program's ticket to the Central Region Championship where the Muleriders will matchup with second-seeded Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner advances to the NCAA National Championship Tournament in Surprise, Arizona on May 18-20.
 
Saturday's match will be the first regional championship appearance for the #19 Muleriders (13-5) in the program's young NCAA history. SAU will face the Bearcats for the second time this season after topping Northwest Missouri 4-0 on April 11 in Topeka, Kansas. The #23 Bearcats rallied to defeat (3) Washburn on Friday to advance to the title match.
 
Southern Arkansas overcame a defeat at No. 2 doubles to win 6-2 at No. 1 as the nationally-ranked pair of Sander Jans and Sofiane Bah topped HU's Morgan Salvan and Alvaro de Lorenzo. At No. 3, Ole Valkyser and Gabriel Breitenmoser edged the Bisons' Diego Pierola and Luis Tirado 7-5 to claim the match's first point.
 
In singles action, the Muleriders punched their ticket to the championship by way of wins at No. 6 (Breitenmoser over Bryce Walker 6-3, 6-3), No. 4 (Valkyser over Salvan 6-4, 7-5) and at No. 1 (Jans over Ortiz 6-2, 4-6, 6-3). The three remaining singles matches were in a third set with SAU leading in two of those matches.
 
The Muleriders' all-time postseason record improves to 2-3 and remains perfect in NCAA regional action as Friday's victory was the second for the program after topping Southeastern Oklahoma State 4-1 in the 2019 Central Region II Preliminary Round.