GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University Tennis Coach
Dan MacDonald summed it up well, saying "That was a great college tennis match. All of the matches were highly competitive."
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, he said it after his team dropped a 4-3 heart-breaker to visiting Dixie State University on Saturday in a non-conference preview of what could be another epic battle in the semifinal round of next weekend's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, which will also be at the Elliott Tennis Center.
On Saturday, the Mavericks won all three doubles matches but dropped two of the three 3-set singles matches and four overall as the Trailblazers improved to 11-4 with the overall victory, their third in as many tries against CMU this season.
The Mavericks, who will be the third seed in next week's tournament wrapped up the regular season with a 7-16 mark and will play the second seeded Trailblazers in the opening round.
"This was a tough match," MacDonald said.
"We played great doubles but singles came down to three 3-set matches and we only won one."
On Saturday, the Mavericks were led by senior
Taylor Hershey and junior
Kristen Kirby, who both went 2-0 on the day. Hershey teamed with
Rebecca Osterberg for a 7-6 (7-0) No. 3 doubles win to clinch the doubles point before extending the Mavericks' team lead to 2-0 with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Elly Lloyd at No. 5 singles.
Meanwhile, Kirby paired with
Emily Beckley for a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles before extending her singles winning streak to five with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 nail-bitter over Yolena Carlon, who had defeated Kirby two times earlier in the year. Both of those matches also went to three sets.
Earlier, the Mavericks had also received a 6-4 No. 2 doubles win from
Georgia Hansen and
Maike Waldburger, who defeated Kyra Harames and Megan Lynch.
However, the Trailblazers won the other four singles matches to come from behind for the team win.
They picked up their first win at No. 4 singles as Lynch stopped Hansen in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 thriller. They then tied the score at 2 when Juliana Honczaruk defeated Waldburger in a nearly as tight No. 6 affair, 7-5, 6-4.
Kirby then put the Mavericks back ahead with her 3-set victory.
However, the lead would be relinquished as Harames came from a set down to win over Beckley in the No. 2 singles match, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Heras then delivered the clincher at No. 3 singles with a 6-0 third-set win over Osterberg after they had split the first two sets, both of which went to tiebreakers. Heras won the opening set by an 8-6 margin in that tiebreaker.
