The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced the NCAA Division II All-Americans in both singles and doubles play and capping their respective dominant seasons on the court with All-America honors were junior Sander Jans and sophomore Sofiane Bah who earned the honor as one of the top 10 doubles groups in the country. Additionally, Jans garnered All-American honors in singles play which makes him the first Mulerider in the program’s NCAA Era to capture All-America plaudits as both a singles and doubles player.
The doubles team of Jans and Bah earned All-MIAA/GAC First Team honors, while Bah was named an All-MIAA/GAC First Team performer at No. 6 Singles with Jans capturing All-MIAA/GAC Honorable Mention at No. 1 Singles. The pair helped Southern Arkansas to a 13-6 record overall, a runner-up finish in the MIAA-GAC South Division Regular Season, the program’s second NCAA Postseason berth in the past three seasons and the No. 22 ranking nationally to conclude the season.
As a doubles pairing, Jans and Bah held down the No. 1 spot this past spring and finished the campaign ranked No. 6 nationally. The duo posted an 8-4 record overall with six wins over MIAA/GAC opposition. Of the eight wins, half came against doubles teams ranked in the top 25 nationally: 6-2 against Midwestern State’s #17 Alex Martinez Roca/Alexandre Crepy, 6-2 over Ouachita’s #24 Francisco Oliveira/Santiago Kearney, 6-2 over Washburn’s #9 Bradley Eidenmueller and a 7-6 (6) win vs. Northwest Missouri’s #18 Andrea Zamurri/Franco Oliva. Additionally, four other matches against ranked opponents went unfinished.
Jans, the Muleriders’ top line player, nestled in nicely at the No. 1 spot. Jans collected a team-leading 12 singles wins, while twice being named the MIAA/GAC Men’s Tennis South Division Player of the Week. He finished the season with the No. 9 ranking nationally.
In action against nationally-ranked opponents, Jans has utterly dominated compiling a 6-2 mark overall, while going 3-0 in the regular season’s final week against No. 10 Francisco Oliveira of Ouachita, No. 15 Juan Scoppetta of Southeastern Oklahoma State and No. 24 Raul Dicu of Washburn. Jans’ match against No. 6 Andrea Zamurri, the league’s Player of the Year from Northwest Missouri State, was left unfinished as it was headed to a decisive third set. A native of Roden, Netherlands, Jans, prior to taking over the No. 1 spot, finished out his time at the No. 2 slot winning his final six matches.