GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's team was bounced from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament in the semifinal for the first time in seven years as the Mavericks dropped a 4-2 decision to visiting Dixie State University, Friday afternoon here at the Elliott Tennis Center.
 
The third-seeded Mavericks dropped to 7-17 with the loss after winning their RMAC semifinal in each of the previous six years.
 
No. 2 seed Dixie State, which has defeated the Mavericks four times in as many tries this season, improved to 12-4 with the win and advances to Saturday's tournament championship match at 10:30 a.m. against top-seeded MSU Denver, which breezed past CSU-Pueblo, 4-0 in the morning semifinal.
 
The Mavericks will play a consolation match, not a part of the official tournament, against CSU-Pueblo on Saturday at the same time.
 
On Friday, the Mavericks once again won the doubles point as Rebecca Osterberg and Taylor Hershey claimed a 6-2 win in the No. 3 doubles match before Kristen Kirby and Emily Beckley scored a 6-4 win in the No. 1 match to clinch the point and give the Mavericks an early 1-0 lead.
 
However, the Trailblazers seized early momentum in singles play, winning the first set in four of the six matches while claiming victories in both the No. 1 and 6 matches to take a 2-1 lead.
 
The Mavericks did answer back and tied the team score at 2 as Hershey won a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Hattie Erekson in the No. 5 singles match.
 
Meanwhile, CMU senior Georgia Hansen had won a thrilling 9-7 first-set tiebreaker over Megan Lynch in the No. 4 singles to give the Mavericks hope.
 
However, the Trailblazers finished the win off as Kyra Harames defeated Beckley, 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 2 match.
 
Isabel Heras then clinched their first ever RMAC Tournament victory after overcoming a set point in a second-set tiebreaker to win that 8-6 after winning the first set, 6-3 in the No. 3 singles match against Osterberg.
 
Hansen's No. 4 singles match went unfinished.