OGDEN, Utah— Colorado Mesa University men's tennis seniors Alain De La Bastide and Mitchell Steadman got their final spring season off to a good start as they posted wins over their respective NCAA Division I opponents in the Mavericks' Friday afternoon exhibition match against the Weber State University Wildcats here in the Ogden Athletic Club.
 
De La Bastide outlasted Bo-Han Li 15-13 in a tiebreaker in the No. 2 singles match after coming from a set down.  Steadman also battled for a 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 win over Killian Sinclair in the No. 6 singles match.
 
The Wildcats won the other four singles matches and swept the doubles matches to claim the 5-2 overall win, which does count on their official team record.  They are now 4-2 this spring and have won three straight team matches.
 
Moments before De La Bastide claimed his 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 win, CMU sophomore Steven Howe had also taken his opponent Brendan Barr to a third set.  He dropped the opening set to Barr, 6-4 but won the second, 6-3.  Howe then fell 10-8 in the tie-breaker.
 
The Mavericks, who went 3-1 in the fall, will play their official spring opener on Saturday against NAIA No. 25 Lewis-Clark State inside Idaho State University's Reed Gymnasium.