MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Great American Conference Regular Season Co-Champion Southern Arkansas is set to open postseason play on Saturday at the league tournament championship in Bentonville, Arkansas. The Muleriders, under fifth-year head coach
Greg Owen, carry the No. 2 seed into the weekend and will matchup against No. 3 Southeastern Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the tournament semifinals. The Savage Storm knocked off No. 6 Ouachita in the opening round on Friday. Live scoring is available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
Southern Arkansas (11-13, 4-1 GAC) is looking to make a return to the GAC Tournament Championship match for the first time since the 2019 season. That year, the program's first after several years away, the Muleriders won a pair of 4-3 matches over Arkansas Tech and Harding to claim the tournament title. In 2021, SAU lost its opening round game to Henderson State 4-0 and last spring, the Muleriders avenged the loss to the Reddies with a 4-0 win in the opener before falling to Harding 4-1 in the tournament semifinals. Overall, SAU is 3-2 in the GAC Tournament.
The Muleriders meet Southeastern Oklahoma for the second time in ten days and for the first time in the GAC Tournament. SAU edged the Savage Storm 4-3 at home on April 12 and the victory evened the series between the programs to 2-2 since 2018-19.
In the regular season meeting, the Muleriders claimed a pivotal doubles point as the pairs of
Greta Wallin and
Kalley Smith at No. 1 and
Annika Berrendorf and
Lena Milosevic at No. 2 gave SAU an early advantage.
Milosevic, Berrendorf and Wallin, all of which earned All-GAC honors, sealed the win for Southern Arkansas over SOSU as the trio recorded straight-sets wins at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
The Muleriders, ranked No. 8 in the latest NCAA Central Region rankings, have won four of their five matches in the month of April.
Sarah Roy enters the tournament as the No. 48-ranked tennis player in Division II with Milosevic carrying the No. 53 ranking.
Saturday afternoon's winner will advance to the tournament title match and will meet the semifinal winner between No. 1 Arkansas and No. 5 Henderson State. The Reddies beat No. 4 Harding 4-1 to advance.
