UMSL Tennis Ranked in Regional Preseason Poll

Rivermen Will Looks for Third Straight Trip to NCAA Regionals

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s tennis program has made two straight trips to the NCAA Regionals, and will be looking for a third straight this year. This success has led to some national recognition for the team as the preseason polls, conducted by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, have UMSL ranked sixth in the Great Lakes Region to start the season.

UMSL is one of five teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference ranked in the preseason regional polls, and is third of those teams behind third ranked Southern Indiana and fourth ranked Northern Kentucky. Northwood (Mich.) University is ranked first in the region, followed by Ferris State. Wayne State, the team that has eliminated UMSL in the NCAA Regional each of the past two years, is ranked fifth in the region, one spot ahead of the Rivermen.

The Rivermen are led this year by senior Matt Vaulkhard (Victoria, British Columbia) who has a chance to etch his name in school history with a good showing this spring. Vaulkhard currently had 43 career singles wins at UMSL, needing just seven more to tie the career record of 50 wins established by UMSL Hall of Famer Tom January. The rest of the squad is a young team for head coach Rick Gyllenborg, which includes returning players Mike Schaaf (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), Rajan Saini (Victoria, British Columbia) and Stephen Pobst (Sikeston, Mo./Sikeston). Last year, Schaaf finished 14-3 in the singles play, Saini was 10-4 and Pobst was 9-7 on the year. New additions to the team this year include junior James Daugherty (White Settlement, Texas/Brewer), Max Bugner (Kingwood, Texas) and Francis Lam (Kettering, England).