GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Men's Tennis Team will play their only two scheduled home matches of the spring season this week when they face in-state rivals MSU Denver and CSU-Pueblo on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday's match against the Roadrunners (1-3) was originally scheduled for Friday but has been moved up a day due to weather forecasts. It will commence at 2 p.m. at the Elliott Tennis Center.
The Mavericks will face CSU-Pueblo (1-8) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (Updated Time)
The Maverick women also play the same opponents at the same time.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks (2-4) were off last week after playing a neutral-court NCAA Division II South Central Regional match against Western New Mexico on Feb. 16 in St. George, Utah. The Mavericks won the doubles point but managed just one singles victory as they fell to 2-4 overall and to 0-3 in the spring season with the 5-2 setback.
They also played MSU Denver the following day in a scrimmage.
Fine at Home
The Mavericks have posted a fine home-court record in recent years. They won their only home dual of the fall season, defeating Colorado College in an inside match at the Junction Indoor Tennis Center. They also went 5-2 at home in 2017-18 and 4-2 in 2016-17 after back-to-back 6-1 home-court seasons.
Posting a winning record at home in each of the last five years, the Mavericks are 22-6 at home since 2014-15.
De La Bastide = Double winner
Maverick junior
Alain De La Bastide was a double winner for the Mavericks in the match against the Mustangs. He teamed with
Lucas Martin for a 6-2 No. 2 doubles win as the Mavericks took the doubles point before winning 7-6 (10-8), 6-1 over Oscar Serra at No. 4 singles.
De La Bastide and Martin are tied for the team lead in doubles wins with nine. They are 9-3 as a pair. De La Bastide (5-8) and
William Agritelley (5-7) are tied for the team lead in singles wins.
Solid Doubles play
The Mavericks have won the doubles point in five of their six dual matches this year sweeping the three doubles matches against Newman (Kan.) on Sept. 15. De La Bastide and Martin are 4-1 in the No. 2 spot and were leading in the other match that was unfinished against Idaho State. Meanwhile, four different Maverick combinations have posted a cumulative 5-1 mark at No. 3 doubles.
One from 50
Lucas Martin, one of the Mavs' three seniors, will enter Thursday's match just one win away from the 50-career win mark in doubles and is rapidly approaching the 100-career win mark overall. The 5-time overall (4x Second Team) All-RMAC selection out of Fort Collins, Colorado now has 49 career doubles wins (49-41) and 87 overall wins, including 38 singles triumphs (38-54) in his career.
Top 10 Clashes
The Mavericks are ranked seventh as a team in the Oracle/ITA Division II South Central Regional rankings, last updated on Jan. 16. They are 1-2 against other teams ranked in the top 10 thus far. Both of this week's opponents are also in the top 10 with MSU Denver, checking in at the No. 5 spot while CSU-Pueblo sits 10
th.
Western New Mexico is ranked ninth.
The Mavericks also played No. 6 Texas-Permian Basin and No. 8 Newman in the fall and will play the top three teams in those rankings next week in Wichita Falls, Texas, facing No. 2 St. Edward's, No. 1 Midwestern State and No. 3 Cameron on Mar. 7 and 8 before wrapping up their 4-match weekend against Southern Arkansas, which is ranked eighth in the Central Region.
United Nations
The Mavericks have players from six different countries on their roster this year, including
Alain De La Bastide, who hails from Caracas, Venezuela. Freshman
Moises Cure of Puerto, Colombia and
Thiago Nejm of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil also represent South America. Europe and Scandinavia are also well represented on the roster with
Max Lindqvist of Stockholm, Sweden and
Christian Albrechtsen, who hails from Coppenhagen, Denmark.
There are also six Mavericks from the United States, representing four states, including Colorado (3;
Cody Carlton,
Lucas Martin,
Chapin Schott). There are also Mavs from California (
Steven Howe), Oregon (
Mitchell Steadman) and Texas (
William Agritelley).
Scouting the Opponents
MSU Denver
The Roadrunners enter Thursday's match with a 1-3 team record. They defeated Oklahoma Baptist, 5-2 in their spring opener on Feb. 1 before dropping matches to Division I Air Force (Feb. 4) and Southern Utah (Feb. 15). They then fell by a 6-1 margin to Western New Mexico on Feb. 17.
Mateo Besada picked up their only singles win in the match against Western New Mexico, defeating Oscar Serra, 6-3, 6-0. The Roadrunners did not field a No. 3 doubles team against the Mustangs nor against Southern Utah.
Daniel Llorente was their lone winner against Air Force, winning a No. 3 singles match.
Alejandro Martinez-Morilla led the team with a 5-3 fall tournament singles record but has dropped his last three No. 2 singles matches.
CSU-Pueblo
The ThunderWolves are 1-8 as a team this year, posting a 1-6 record in the spring. They went 1-3 last weekend at the University of Texas-Permian Basin Invite, defeating Western New Mexico, 4-3 to claim their first win of the year.
Up Next
After this weekend's home matches, the Mavericks will travel to Wichita Falls, Texas for four matches against regionally-ranked opponents in a 3-day stretch from Mar. 7-9.
