GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Women's Tennis squad will host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2014 and hope to close out the 2019 season with a title at the Elliott Tennis Center.
 
The Mavericks (7-16, 1-2 RMAC) will enter the 4-team tournament as the third seed and will host No. 2 seed Dixie State in the second semifinal at 1 p.m. after top seed MSU Denver takes on CSU-Pueblo in the earlier semifinal at 9:30 a.m.  The semifinal winners will then meet in Saturday morning's championship match at 10:30 a.m.
 
The semifinal losers will also play in a consolation match at the same time on Saturday morning although that match is not officially part of the tournament, but rather to guarantee that each team gets to play two matches over the weekend.
 
Re-Match
 
Friday's semifinal with the Trailblazers will be re-match of a competitive battle in both teams' last outing on Saturday (Apr. 20).  Dixie State won that match, also played at the Elliott Tennis Center, by the narrowest of 4-3 margins.  Three of the six singles matches went to three sets as the Trailblazers pulled out two of those and four of the six singles matches overall to come from behind for the non-conference victory.  The Mavericks had earlier swept the three doubles matches and won more total matches (5) than the Trailblazers despite dropping the dual under the new Division II team scoring format which awards just one doubles point to the team that wins a majority of the doubles matches.
 
In Saturday's contest, senior Taylor Hershey and junior Kristen Kirby both went 2-0.  Hershey defeated Elly Lloyd in the No. 5 singles match (6-3, 6-1) after she had teamed with Rebecca Osterberg for a 7-6 (7-0) No. 3 doubles win.  Meanwhile, Kirby avenged two earlier defeats to Yolena Carlon in the No. 1 singles match, claiming a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win on Saturday.  Kirby and Emily Beckley also defeated Carlon and Isabel Heras by a 6-4 margin in the No. 1 doubles affair.
 
Back-to-back dominations
 
Prior to Saturday's heart-breaking setback to the Trailblazers, the Mavericks had comfortably defeated CSU-Pueblo, 7-0 on Friday in what was their first RMAC win of the season.   The Mavericks did not drop a single set and benefited from two forfeits as CSU-Pueblo was only able to field a lineup of five players for the second straight dual against the Mavericks.
 
Hershey did not drop a game in her 6-0, 6-0 win over Katherine Ambrose in her No. 5 singles match while Georgia Hansen and Maike Waldburger both won a set by a 6-0 margin in their singles encounter after teaming for a 6-0 No. 2 doubles win as well.  Hansen won her No. 3 singles match, 6-0, 6-3 while Waldburger won at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-0.
 
The 7-0 team win was the Mavs' third overall and second consecutive this season, after they had blanked Colorado Christian, 9-0 on Apr. 12 in Colorado Springs, a dual played with the NCAA Division III 9-point team scoring format.
 
Sweet revenge
 
With two singles wins last week, Maverick junior Kristen Kirby avenged earlier losses.  On Friday, she defeated Nia Matthews of CSU-Pueblo, 7-5, 6-1 after Matthews had won a 3-set match in Pueblo on Apr. 6.  Kirby had also defeated Matthews at the ITA South Central Regional during the fall season.

Kirby then took down Yolena Carlon of Dixie State by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 margin on Saturday to avenge two earlier losses, one in the fall and one in the spring.  All three matches have gone to three sets and Kirby will likely have an opportunity to even the season series at two on Friday afternoon in the RMAC Tournament semifinals.

Kirby is now 15-13 overall and 13-9 in duals for singles this year, playing exclusively in the No. 1 position.

Crushing it back to even

Maverick senior Taylor Hershey as won each of her last three No. 5 singles matches and has given up just four total games in the impressive run.  She defeated opponents from Colorado College (Emily Faulks) and CSU-Pueblo (Katherine Ambrose) by 6-0, 6-0 margins and then posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Elly Lloyd of Dixie State.  In the process, Hershey has leveled her career singles record at an even 52-52 entering this weekend's RMAC Tournament.  She also has 42 career doubles wins to her credit.

Triple digits
 
Senior Emily Beckley leads the current edition of the Mavericks with 110 career victories having gone 55-51 in singles throughout her career while posting a 55-53 mark in doubles play.    She has played at all three spots of doubles throughout her career and in the No. 1-5 flights in singles at various times.  However, she has been exclusively at the No. 2 singles position this year, going 8-13 in dual meets and 11-16 overall.  She and Kristen Kirby are 11-12 at No. 1 doubles this year and are 15-14 overall.  They have won each of their last four doubles matches together.
 
Hot streak
 
Kirby is in even stronger form in singles having won five straight singles matches dating back to Apr. 11.  That winning streak is the longest of her season.  With two more wins this week, Kirby would match her Sept. 16-Oct. 6, 2017 fall season run of seven consecutive wins, the longest in collegiate singles career.
 
Semifinal success
 
The Mavericks will be looking to continue a streak of six consecutive RMAC Tournament semifinal victories that dates back to 2013 when they play Dixie State on Friday.  However, the Mavericks' luck in the championship match has not been as good as they have only one RMAC Tournament title (2014) in that stretch.
 
CMU's other RMAC Tournament crowns came in 2007 and 2011.  The Mavericks have also won five regular season titles, the last of which came in 2016.
 
Scouting the Opponents
 
Dixie State
 
Including last Saturday's win, the Trailblazers have put together a solid 11-4 season and are 3-0 against the Mavericks this year.  Two of those results have come by 4-3 margins, both in Grand Junction.
 
The Trailblazers went 2-1 in RMAC duals to earn the second seed for this weekend's tournament.
 
The have a pair of 10-match winners in singles this season as Megan Lynch is 11-2 while Kyra Harames has an 11-3 record.  Lynch has played mostly in the No. 4 spot but is 2-0 at No. 3 as well.  Harames is 10-3 at No. 2 and won her lone match in the No. 1 position as well.
 
Yolena Carlon has been the 'Blazers No. 1 player in all 14 other matches and has gone 7-7.
 
In doubles, Carlon and Isabel Heras are 9-6 at No. 1.  Harames and Lynch have the same record in the No. 2 spot.
 
Lynch has won her last four singles matches and is 8-2 in her last 10.  Juliana Honczaruk has won her last five matches in spot duty at the back end of the lineup in the No. 5 and 6 positions and is 5-1 this season.  Her lone loss came to CMU's Maike Waldburger in the fall.  However, she avenged that loss with a 7-5 ,6-4 win over Waldburger on Saturday in the No. 6 singles battle.
 
Dixie State is a newcomer to the conference and is competing in the RMAC Tournament for the first time.
 
CSU-Pueblo
 
The ThunderWolves will enter the RMAC Tournament with a 1-20 overall record.  They went 0-3 in RMAC duals and are the fourth seed.
 
They have lost seven straight team matches since claiming their lone win of the year on Mar. 23 against New Mexico Military Institute.
 
Nia Matthews, the team's lone senior, partnered with Kali Hamilton to pick up a 6-4 No 1 doubles win on Tuesday against MSU Denver in their final regular season match.
 
MSU Denver
 
The Roadrunners finished the regular season with five straight wins to get to 12-9 overall.  They also went 3-0 in RMAC duals this spring to earn the RMAC Regular Season title for the third straight and fifth overall time, matching the Mavericks for the most in conference history.
 
Individually, Tabitha Porter is ranked 41^st in the Oracle/ITA Division II Women's Rankings for singles.  She is 17-11 overall this year, posting a 10-8 record at the No. 1 singles position.
 
Helena Steenberg leads the Roadrunners with 18 singles wins this year and is 18-5 overall.  She has won eight straight matches, playing mostly at the No. 3 spot this year.
 
In doubles, Porter is 14-10 while Steenberg is 14-12.  Mackenzie Hotan, named as the RMAC Player of the Week on Wednesday, is 12-6 while Alex Pessoa is also in double figures for wins with a 13-13 mark.
 
Last Time We Met
 
The Mavericks have faced Dixie State three times year, dropping all three.  In the fall, the Mavericks won two of three doubles matches indoors on Oct. 5 before the Trailblazers came from behind to win four of the six singles matches at the Elliott Tennis Center later in the day after the weather improved to take the 4-3 decision.  Four of the six singles matches went to three sets in what was a very competitive non-conference battle.
 
The two teams then squared off again to begin the spring on Feb. 15 in St. George, Utah.  The Trailblazers again won four of the six singles matches after taking the doubles point to win that dual, which was counted in the RMAC standings, 5-2.  Three of that day's singles matches went to three sets while the decisive No. 2 doubles match was determined in a tiebreaker.
 
Although Dixie State is new to the RMAC this year, they have been regular opponents.  The Trailblazers have won six of the last seven team matches although the Mavericks have a 13-7 lead in the available series history.