MAGNOLIA, Ark. – A big weekend on the courts awaits the Southern Arkansas Men's Tennis team as Greg Owen's early unbeaten squad puts its 2-0 mark on the line against Midwestern State, #24 Mississippi College and Texas-Permian Basin across three-consecutive days of action. The Muleriders travel to Arkadelphia on Friday to take on the Mustangs at 2 p.m., will host the Choctaws in its home opener from the Live Oak Tennis Courts at 2 p.m. on Saturday and ventures west to Dallas to battle the Falcons in an 11 a.m. start. Live streaming of the Muleriders' home match against the Choctaws is available at
www.youtube.com/@MuleriderSports.
The Muleriders (2-0) handled business in Arkadelphia over the first week of February beating Delta State 7-0 in the season opener, before topping Southwest Baptist 6-1. Since 2018-19, SAU holds a 7-4 record against non-conference opponents in Arkadelphia. The doubles competition against the Bearcats in match No. 2 is the lone defeat for SAU in the early going of the season. The Muleriders have dropped only two sets so far this season.
Ole Valkyser and
Tim Fischer both have wins at No. 1 for SAU, with
Mathys Pinoit,
Frode Neumann and
Pierre Copin all winning twice at lines three, four and five, respectively. In doubles action, Valkyser and
Matthew Tennant are unbeaten at 2-0 with wins at No. 1 and No. 2.
The competition on tap this weekend is somewhat familiar for Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders match up against Midwestern State for the third time since March of 2021. Both programs have a win against each other with SAU winning 4-0 in Magnolia the last time the two squared off two years ago. Friday's match will be MSU's first of the spring season. The Mustangs' Luis Diaz Argente was ranked No. 15 in DII at the conclusion of the fall semester.
It is also the third meeting between SAU and Mississippi College. SAU won 4-3 in Arkadelphia in 2020 and claimed a 4-2 result in Magnolia last February. MC enters Saturday's matchup unbeaten at 3-0 with 5-2 wins over Division I Jackson State, Harding and UT-Tyler. Alex Benichou Blanchard held the No. 28 singles ranking following action last fall. He is currently unbeaten this spring as the Choctaws' line one player. Joe Jarvis, Sergio Ramirez Ocana and Alvaro Saint Martin are all 3-0 with wins at multiple lines.
Southern Arkansas and UTPB meet for the third time since 2019. The Falcons won the first matchup 4-1 in Midlothian, Texas and SAU grabbed a 4-3 victory last March in Magnolia. Texas-Permian Basin enters the weekend 4-0 and will battle Southeastern Oklahoma and Harding before Sunday's showdown with Southern Arkansas. Vitaliy Horovoy closed out the fall ranked No. 21 nationally, while teammate Takumi Katsuda held the No. 43 ranking. Katsuda along with Jonas Krahofer ranked No. 8 in DII in doubles play. This season, Jonathan Vega and Angus Howard have both earned Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors.
Since 2018-19, the Muleriders are 24-6 at home with unbeaten seasons in 2019 (9-0) and 2022 (7-0).
