GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a successful start to the campaign with the individual-style MSU Denver Invitational last weekend, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will begin team action this week with a busy slate of five matches over three days at the Pueblo Duals, starting Thursday afternoon.
All five neutral-court matches will be played at Pueblo City Park and will give the Mavericks an early test against two of their NCAA Division II South Central Regional and Lone Star Conference rivals as well as three foes from the Central Region and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
The slate begins Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against regional rival Dallas Baptist. The Mavs will then play Nebraska-Kearney and Texas-Permian Basin at 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Friday, respectively before wrapping up the weekend on Saturday with matches against Fort Hays State (8 a.m.) and Newman (Noon), both from Kansas.
MSU Denver Invite Success
The Mavericks took eight players to last weekend's tournament at the Roadrunners' Regency Athletic Complex. All eight won at least one singles match as the Mavs went a combined 12-9 in singles play. They were also a combined 5-6 in doubles.
Rebecca Osterberg went 3-1 in singles and won the consolation half of the A flight, winning three straight after dropping her opening match.
Maike Waldburger also won both of her first two matches to reach the semifinals of the A flight bracket before ending the weekend 2-1 in singles.
Osterberg and Waldburger also led the Mavs in doubles play, going 3-1 as a pair while winning the consolation title after losing a tiebreaker in their opening match.
Osterberg was a perfect 4-0 in Sunday's portion of the tournament and leads the team with six total wins.
Danish Debut
Laura Alsing, a freshman out of Charlottelund, Denmark, was one of three Mavericks to have made their collegiate debuts last week. She went 1-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles with senior partner
Kristen Kirby winning her opening match in both disciplines. Her singles win came by a 6-3, 6-0 margin over Colorado College's Olivia Dicks in the A bracket.
Another true freshman in
Halle Romero, who hails from Corpus Christi, Texas also claimed a win in her opening collegiate match, defeating Katherine Ambrose of CSU-Pueblo by a 6-0, 6-2 score in the opening round of the B flight.
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman
Lauren Thomas, who hails from Littleton, Colorado, also had a strong weekend to begin her competitive collegiate career going 2-2 in B flight singles and 1-2 in doubles with experienced partner
Carolena Campos. Thomas redshirted last season.
About the Opponents/Series Histories
Dallas Baptist
DBU opened their season with four Lady Patriots seeing action at the Tyler Invite last weekend in Tyler, Texas. Freshman Genie Hernandez went 2-1 in singles action while Ashton Wilfong and Leslie Omeire also claiming a singles win. Wilfong and Omeire also teamed for a doubles win.
In 2017-18, the Patriots went 17-9 overall and 2-2 in Heartland Conference play before falling to St. Mary's in the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Patriots have won all five previous meetings with the Mavericks. The last three of those have been on neutral-courts, including the last which was on Mar. 10, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas.
Nebraska-Kearney
The Lopers will begin their 2019-20 this week, starting with a Thursday afternoon match at MSU Denver. They went 15-13 last year while posting a 3-6 record in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association before seeing their season end in the quarterfinal round of the MIAA Tournament, which they were the No. 7 seed for.
The Lopers have won the last 10 matches between the teams and have a 15-5 series lead. They have met in each of the last three falls in Pueblo.
Texas-Permian Basin
The Falcons will also open up the season this weekend after going 7-17 a year ago.
The Mavericks hold a 4-1 lead in the all-time series with all five meetings occurring in September in Pueblo. The Mavericks have won the last three, including a 7-0 triumph on Sept. 15, 2018.
Fort Hays State
The Tigers opened their 2019-20 campaign on Saturday, posting a 7-0 home-court win over NAIA Hastings College (Neb.).
In 2018-19, the Tigers went 3-10 overall and 0-8 in the MIAA while failing to qualify for the conference tournament. One of their losses was to the Mavericks on Sept. 14, 2018 in Pueblo. The Mavs won that match 7-0 and now have a 9-1 series lead since 2008. The Mavs have won five straight matches playing the Tiers in Pueblo in each of the past five years.
Newman
The Jets opened their season last weekend at the Tiger-Jinx Invitational in Winfield, Kansas Vlada Litvinova took second place in the A flight for singles while Elizaveta Gerasimova and Mirella D'Angelo Calvalcanti took first in the B and C flights, respectively. Calvalcanti and Isabela Campos Bifano, who took third in the B singles flight, also won their doubles flight.
In 2018-19, the Jets went 13-13 overall and 1-3 in Heartland Conference play before falling to top-seed St. Edward's in the opening round of the conference tournament. With that conference now disbanded, the Jets have now moved to the MIAA and the Central Region for this year.
Up Next
After this weekend's busy slate, the Mavericks will get a week off but will return to action on Sept. 27 and 28 when they host Colorado College and Dixie State in their only two home matches of the fall.
Wrapping up the Fall out West
The Mavericks will then wrap up the fall portion of the season on Oct. 3-5 competing in the ITA West Regional Championships in Azusa, California, a change from previous seasons when they went to the South Central Regional, typically held in Texas.
Independent Path
Although they will compete at the ITA West Regional, the Mavericks will be competing for NCAA Tournament spots out of the South Central Region. Both Maverick squads will be competing as independents as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference no longer sponsors the sport for either gender. That was also the case for the men in 2018-19 but will be a new thing for the Maverick women this season.
