ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - A valiant effort by the Southern Arkansas Men’s Tennis team came up short on Tuesday afternoon from inside Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida, as the 16th-seeded Muleriders fell 4-0 to top-seeded Barry in the Round of 16 at the NCAA National Championship Tournament. The loss ends a spectacular campaign by the program which was in its first year of NCAA competition and its first year of overall competition since 1992-93.
With temperatures rising into the low 90s during the peak of Tuesday’s match, SAU battled the nationally-prominent Buccaneers, which finished the past two seasons as the national runner-up, throughout the afternoon. Barry (23-1), which is based in Miami, entered the Round of 16 unbeaten in Division II play this season while also having only surrendered 14 total points to its opponents all year.
In doubles play, the Mulerider duo of Marko Nikoliuk and Yuri Gondouin nearly claimed the point before the Bucs’ two line pulled away to clinch. SAU’s singles lineup faced a Buccaneer six that boasted four nationally-ranked players in the Oracle/ITA Top 50.
ITA Central Region “Player to Watch” and No. 44 Stuart Rehfuss went toe-to-toe with the Bucs’ line one player and No. 7 ranked Pierre Montrieul and led 4-3 in set two before it went unfinished. In line six, Raymond Marin claimed a 6-4 victory in set one over Barry’s Ignasi Forcano.
Number 30 Southern Arkansas’ historic run ends at 20-6 overall with a regular season Great American Conference Championship and the Central Region Preliminary Round II Title.