KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA-GAC Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll was announced on Thursday afternoon and claiming the top spot in the league's South Division is fourth-year head coach Greg Owen's Southern Arkansas Muleriders who earned 29 total points and eight of the possible nine first place votes. SAU, which is ranked #22 nationally in the Division II Men's ITA Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll, begins league play against South Division competition on April 7 at Ouachita in the first of three conference matches to close out the regular season. The Muleriders host Harding on April 11 and travel to Southeastern Oklahoma on April 22.
 
2022 MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll
NORTH DIVISION
1. Northwest Missouri (8) – 36
2. Washburn (1) – 29
3. Newman – 21
T4. Augustana – 12
T4. Emporia State – 12
 
SOUTH DIVISION
1. Southern Arkansas (8) – 29
2. Ouachita Baptist (1) – 20
3. Harding – 13
4. Southeastern Oklahoma State – 12
 
(First place votes)
Coaches Are Not Allowed to Vote for Their Own Team
 
The Muleriders are coming off of a 13-6 campaign a season ago that ended with a loss to 2022 MIAA-GAC North Division favorite Northwest Missouri in the Central Region title match. SAU posted a 3-1 mark in league play with a 2-1 record at home. Since the spring of 2019, Owen's Muleriders own a 14-1 mark at home inside the friendly confines of the Live Oak Tennis Courts.
 
This season, SAU fans will be able to support the Muleriders at home on six different dates spanning seven different opponents beginning first with the program's home opener on Friday, February 25 against Tyler Junior College and Texas-Permian Basin.
 
The Muleriders return all key contributors from last spring's squad and an already impressive roster has been bolstered by the return of Stuart Rehfuss, the No. 1 line player for the Muleriders in their first two seasons under Owen who helped lead the team to the 2019 NCAA National Tournament. In his first stint in Magnolia, Rehfuss was named a unanimous All-GAC First Team performer in 2019, the 2019 ITA Central Region Player to Watch and the 2020 Central Region Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship award winner in addition to several academic honors including a 2020 CoSIDA DII Academic All-District 7 First Team honor.
 
A native of Germany, Rehfuss will be joined by a talented group of returners that includes four All-Americans, two nationally ranked singles players and a national ranked doubles team. Last season, Sander Jans and Sofiane Bah were named ITA All-Americans as a doubles team, while Jans also earned All-America status as a singles player making him the first in the program's NCAA Era to capture both honors.
 
Two seasons ago, Marko Nikoliuk, the 2021 ITA Central Region Singles Champ and the 2020 ITA Central Region Player to Watch, was named an ITA All-American for his singles play, while Yuri Gondouin was awarded All-America plaudits for his doubles play after teaming up with since-departed partner Aleksandr Pokusaev.

Additionally, SAU returns Ole Valkyser who was named a MIAA-GAC First Team honoree at No. 4 last spring, while Gabriel Breitenmoser joined him as the pair was named a first team selection at No. 3 doubles.
 
This season, Nikoliuk enters the spring ranked No. 14 nationally in Division II singles which stands as the No. 2 ranking in the Central Region, while Jans' '22 season starts with him holding the No. 23 singles ranking nationally. In doubles play, Valkyser and Nikoliuk hold the No. 25 ranking nationally; the fourth-highest among Central Region foes.
 
Southern Arkansas opens its season this weekend in Arkadelphia with a pair of matches against nationally-ranked opposition. The Muleriders begin play on Saturday, February 5 against #11 Delta State at noon inside Ouachita's Ward Tennis Center. SAU returns to Arkadelphia on Monday, February 7 for an 11 a.m. first serve with #19 Southwest Baptist.
 
Saturday's matchup with the Statesmen will be the third since the Muleriders' revival as a program in the fall of 2018. DSU won the first two meetings against SAU, both of which took place in Arkadelphia, and is coming off of a 2021 season that resulted in a 15-5 record overall.
 
Monday's meeting with the Bearcats will be the fourth between the two programs since 2018. SAU won the previous three matchups, including two last spring. SBU went 18-9 a year ago and advanced to the championship match of the Midwest Regional.