MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas Men's and Women's Tennis teams march through the 2024 season with both nationally-ranked programs set for two matches this weekend in Henryetta, Oklahoma. Sixth-year head coach Greg Owen's Muleriders take on Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday and Newman on Sunday.

The SAU Men (6-4) enter having won their past two matches and are currently the No. 25 team in the country and the third-highest rated team in the Central Region behind No. 11 Ouachita and No. 13 Washburn. The Muleriders meet Arkansas-Fort Smith (1-2) for just the second time after edging the Lions 4-3 last spring on the road. SAU and Newman (5-4) meet for the fourth time since 2019 and for the first time since matching up twice in 2022. The Muleriders won the first three matchups 4-1, 6-1 and 4-0.

No. 54 Ole Valkyser carries a 7-3 singles record highlighted by a perfect 4-0 effort at line one with three straight singles victories. No. 64 Tim Fischer is 5-3 in singles action with five starts at line one. Mathys Pinoit has picked up four wins in singles play this season and Lluc Pasqual is unbeaten at 3-0. SAU has proven steady at the bookends with a 7-2 line one record and a 5-1 line six record.

SAU has received five doubles wins each from the pairs of Valkyser and Matthew Tennant and Fischer and Pierre Copin. The latter has won four straight, while Pasqual and Adrian Gheorghe are 4-1 overall and winners of their last three doubles matches.

Newman's Kurt Suarez Bruckner (5-3) rates as the No. 41 singles player in DII, while Arkansas-Fort Smith's pair of Killian Darneaux and Anis Ramchane (3-2) are ranked No. 28.

The SAU Women (8-1) are off to their best start in the program's NCAA Era. Southern Arkansas continues its historic climb up the ITA rankings and enters weekend play at a program-best No. 15 nationally. It places the Muleriders as the second-highest rated team from the Central Region behind No. 5 Washburn. The two squads are set to meet in the regular season finale on April 21 in Edmond, Oklahoma. SAU shutout UAFS (1-5) 5-0 last spring in Fort Smith. Its matchup with Newman (6-3) will be the fourth meeting all-time and first away from Magnolia. The Muleriders claimed the most recent action 4-3 in 2022.

The Muleriders' Annika Berrendorf and Greta Wallin debut at No. 10 in DII doubles following a 6-2 start which includes a five-match winning streak entering the weekend. Josei Holderbach and Amelie Gindl are 4-0 in doubles play this spring with Gindl also having won three times with Lisa Lochter. Berrendorf has won seven singles matches this spring as has Gindl who is on a seven-match winning streak. Holderbach is unbeaten at 6-0 and Lochter has won five times and is looking to snap a two-match skid.

UAFS's Taylor Conway and Camila Romero (4-3) are ranked No. 42 in doubles play, while Newman's Dana Issabayeva is the 54^th ranked singles player in DII.