MAGNOLIA, Ark. – A big weekend awaits the Southern Arkansas Men's and Women's Tennis teams in north Texas on Saturday and Sunday. The Mulerider Men are coming off back-to-back victories over ITA Top 20 ranked teams and will meet Jacksonville College on Saturday in Midlothian before battling (RV) Cameron in the second contest of the day. The SAU Women will open their 2022 season on Saturday against Cameron in Midlothian. Both programs will conclude the weekend at Division I Texas-Arlington on Sunday at 10 a.m. Results and recaps of the contests will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.  
 
The Southern Arkansas Men (2-0), ranked #22 in the country, edged #11 Delta State 4-3 in its season opener last weekend in Arkadelphia and two days later topped #19 Southwest Baptist 5-2. In both matches, the Muleriders claimed the doubles point and have yet to lose a match in six efforts through the early going of the season. Against DSU, SAU used singles victories by Sander Jans (No. 1), Stuart Rehfuss (No. 2) and Sofiane Bah (No. 6) to put away the Statesmen, while the victory over SBU saw lines 1 through 4 earn wins as nationally-ranked No. 14 Marko Nikoliuk moved into the win column for the first time this season and 2021 All-MIAA/GAC First Team performer Ole Valkyser won at No. 4.
 
A nominee for MIAA-GAC South Division Player of the Week, Rehfuss saw his first collegiate action since 2020. In his return to the Muleriders, he operated at No. 2 and rallied to defeat the Statesmen's Hugo Stroppiana in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 before teaming up with Bah at No. 2 doubles as the pair beat DSU's Come Bracaval and Hugo Stroppiana 6-4.
 
Two days later, he again joined Bah and the pair edged the Bearcats' Alvaro Nunez and David Szeri 7-6 (7-4). In singles action, Rehfuss dismissed Nunez at No. 2 by a score of 6-1, 6-1.
 
SAU's first opponent this weekend, Jacksonville College, holds the No. 11 ranking in the ITA NJCAA Top 25 and is the third ranked team in the ITA NJCAA Region II rankings. The Jaguars' roster includes four players ranked in the NJCAA Top 50 which was last updated in early December. Emil Mikkelsen holds the No. 25 ranking, Gabriel Torres Arevalo is also in the top 30 at No. 29 nationally. At No. 36 is Juan Agudelo and ranked No. 4 is JC's Willem Cilliers. Mikkelsen and Cilliers are currently the No. 16 rated doubles team in the country.
 
(RV) Cameron enters the weekend 1-1 on the season. CU topped NJCAA No. 5 Collin County CC 6-1 before suffering a 5-2 loss to NJCAA No. 1 Tyler JC. The Aggies' Baptiste Mercier is the No. 48 ranked singles player in NCAA DII. Last season, the Muleriders bested Cameron 4-2 in early March in Wichita Falls.
 
The UTA Men, members of the Sun Belt Conference, are 3-1 this season with 7-0 victories over Dallas Baptist, Prairie View and Texas-Permian Basin and a 6-1 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Southern Arkansas Women prepare for action for the first time this season. The Muleriders, picked No. 4 in the GAC Preseason Coaches Poll, face Cameron for the second time since the former's revival in 2019. CU topped SAU 4-3 last spring in Wichita Falls. Cameron is currently 1-1 with a 7-0 win over NJCAA No. 8 Collin County CC and a 6-1 loss to NJCAA No. 1 Tyler JC.
 
SAU meets UTA for the first time. Sunday's matchup will be the third for the SAU Women against a Division I foe since 2019. The Muleriders faced Central Arkansas last spring and battled Austin Peay in 2020. The Mavericks are an unbeaten 5-0 this season with wins coming against Dallas Baptist (7-0), Prairie View (5-2), New Mexico State (5-2), Weatherford (5-2) and Texas-Permian Basin (7-0).
 
Southern Arkansas' lineup will include three individual flight champions from the league's individual title competition last fall and four All-GAC performers. Junior Lena Milosevic, a two-time all-league honoree, claimed a flight title for the second time in her career, while sophomores Sarah Roy and Honoka Yoshimura each earned flight championships as well, while also being named All-GAC performers a season ago. Milosevic, along with experienced classmates Serena Gill, 2019 All-GAC performer Simone Simas and Brenda Teixeira lead a young, but tested squad that includes seven sophomores and a freshman.
 
Making the trip to Texas…
 
SAU MEN
Sofiane Bah
Gabriel Breitenmoser
Jonathan Gilmore
Yuri Gondouin
Sander Jans
Marko Nikoliuk
Stuart Rehfuss
Matthew Tennant
Ole Valkyser
 
SAU WOMEN
Serena Gill
Lena Milosevic
Sarah Roy
Inna Serukhova
Simone Simas
Kalley Smith
Greta Wallin
Honoka Yoshimura