MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The weekend is off to a hot start for the Southern Arkansas Men's & Women's Tennis teams after both took care of business on Friday morning against Montevallo to kick start a three-day home stretch that will now see both programs host Midwestern State (Saturday) and Newman (Sunday). The Mulerider Women moved into the win column for the first time in the 2022 season with a 4-3 win over the visiting Gulf South Conference foe, while the #11 SAU Men landed the Falcons 7-0 for their seventh win of the campaign.
The Southern Arkansas Women (1-4) used the doubles point highlighted by highly-competitive wins from No. 1 Inna Serukhova and
Greta Wallin over UM's Mireia Turro and Eva Dirr 6-4 and No. 2
Lena Milosevic and
Simone Simas over the Falcons' Emily Hafner and Lieselotte Hartlöhner 6-4. In singles action, Milosevic dismissed Turro at No. 1 6-3, 6-1 and
Sarah Roy topped Montevallo's No. 2 Hafner 6-1, 6-2. It came down to Simas winning at No. 4 as she put away Dirr in three sets by a final score of 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
The victory snapped a four-match losing streak and runs the SAU Women's all-time home record at the Live Oak Tennis Courts to 17-3. SAU will welcome in #23 Midwestern State on Saturday at 2 p.m. with a match against #30 Newman scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The Mulerider Men (7-1) cruised from the outset as the doubles action saw all three pairs win with
Sander Jans and
Marko Nikoliuk beating UM's Dylan Valentine and Philippe Zehender 6-2.
Stuart Rehfuss and
Sofiane Bah topped Dylan Kamel and Alexandre Laplante 6-1, while
Ole Valkyser and
Yuri Gondouin won 6-3 over the Falcons' Gavin Salton and Sergi Martinez.
It was much of the same for SAU in singles play as the Muleriders did not need a third set in any of its six individual efforts. Jans moved by Valentine 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1. Rehfuss topped Zehender 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 and Nikoliuk won at No. 3 with a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Martinez. At No. 4 it was Valkyser edging Salton in set one 7-5 and winning 6-3 in set two. Gondouin won 6-4, 6-2 over Jules Dugue at No. 5. Mathew Tennant finished off the action at No. 6 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Laplante.
SAU's men are 17-1 all-time at the Live Oak Tennis Courts. The Mulerider Men's record through eight games is its best such start to a campaign in the program's young NCAA Era.
Southern Arkansas hosts #44 Midwestern State on Saturday at 2 p.m. and battles MIAA-GAC foe Newman on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Fans can follow a four-court stream of the action on both days at
www.youtube.com/MuleriderSports.
