Drury University Athletics

A native of Sale, Morocco, Jalal Chafai burst onto the NCAA-II tennis scene in the spring of 1998 and what he accomplished individually, and what he helped his Drury teams attain over the next four years was truly remarkable. Jalal, who played #1 singles and doubles throughout his college career, led the Drury men’s tennis team to its first four NCAA-II national tennis championships (1998-2001) and an over that four-year period the Panthers had an overall team record of 87-22. His junior season the Panthers made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA-II national tournament and a final national ranking of #5 while fashioning a 25-5 record. His senior year Drury narrowly missed making the NCAA-II national champioinship match, losing 5-4 to Hawaii Pacific University in the semifinals before defeating BYU- Hawaii, 5-4, to claim the #3 spot in the nation and finish with a 26-5 mark. Individually, Jalal had a 90-11 career singles record and an 88-19 doubles record. He was named the NCAA-II/ITA Rookie of the Year after his freshman year and the NCAA-II/ITA National Player-to- Watch after his sophomore season. He earned earned NCAA-II All- America honors and Academic All-America honors his junior and senior years and Jalal was named the NCAA-II Senior Player of the Year his final season after being ranked #2 in the nation in singles. He was named the Heartland Conference’s Top Male Scholar-Athlete after leading the Panthers to a #1 ranking in the final regular season poll and after his graduation he played professionally for the Springfield Lasers of the World Team Tennis League and was ranked as high as #537 in the world’s singles rankings. Jalal, who was a double major as an undergraduate (Business Administration and Exercise and Sport Science) will earn his MBA from Drury on Dec. 18.