GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Off from competitive action for nearly three weeks, the regionally-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will keep the spring portion of the season rolling this weekend as they travel to southwestern Utah for four matches in three days, beginning Friday at 11 a.m. with a match-up against Division I opponent Southern Utah to start the weekend in Cedar City. 
 
That match was originally to be played in St. George at 9 a.m. but has been re-located to SUU's Thunderbird Tennis Courts and moved back two hours.
 
The Mavericks will then continue the weekend with neutral-court match ups on Saturday against Holy Names (8 a.m.) of the PacWest Conference and former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Western New Mexico (2 p.m.) in St. George.  They will then take on the Western New Mexico Mustangs for a second time on Sunday at 9 a.m.
 
All of the neutral-court match-ups will be played at Tonaquint Park.
 
Last time out
 
In their most recent action from Jan. 31-Feb. 2, the Mavericks gave it their all in an exhibition match against the Weber State Wildcats on Jan. 31 but were only able to win two singles matches at the No. 2 and 6 positions.
 
In their official spring opener against NAIA Lewis-Clark State on Feb. 1 at Idaho State's Reed Gym, the Maverick men would regroup as they would win five out of the six singles matches in straight sets to grab their first win of the spring by a 5-2 overall score.
 
Meanwhile, sophomore Steven Howe claimed the only win for the Mavericks over the Division I Idaho State Bengals winning the No. 3 singles match over Kyler Hartmann in straight sets (6-3, 7-5) on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 2). That 6-1 setback put the Mavericks at 4-2 on the year.
 
Howe went undefeated in his official matches on the opening weekend of the spring, winning both of his singles matches and a doubles match with partner Tyler Landen.  Their other doubles affair went unfinished.
 
Independent Path in the South Central
 
For the second straight year, the Maverick men are playing as independents as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference no longer sponsors tennis.
 
Although they competed at the ITA West Regionals, the Mavericks will compete for a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament out of the South Central Region once again this year.  The region, which will qualify four teams for the NCAA Tournament, including the Lone Star Conference Tournament Champions as automatic qualifiers, is made up of 12 men's tennis playing institutions.  Nine of those are in the expanded LSC, which merged with the now defunct Heartland Conference this season.  The region also includes former RMAC rivals CSU-Pueblo MSU Denver, who like the Mavericks are both playing independent schedules again this year.  The Mavs will play each of those teams twice this spring.
 
In the fall, the Mavericks went 2-1 against regional foes.  They have eight more matches on the spring slate against in-region opponents, including contests with MSU Texas, Cameron and Western New Mexico, who they will play twice this weekend.
 
They will also play five other NCAA Division II opponents throughout the spring, including four that will count toward their "in-region" record due to the NCAA's contiguous state policies.
 
A bulk of those key regional matches, will come over the next three weeks as they look to build their resume against South Central region competition in hopes of qualifying for the regional tournament, which begins May 3.
 
Sitting Sixth
 
The Mavericks are currently ranked sixth in the Oracle/ITA Division II South Central Regional Rankings, which were released on Jan. 15.  In the fall, the Mavericks defeated No. 8 Texas-Permian Basin and No. 10 Dallas Baptist.  Their lone loss was to Newman, ranked seventh in the Central Regional Rankings.
 
Although these rankings have no ramification on the official NCAA Division II Tournament selection process, they are a good guide of where the Mavericks stand in their hunt for a spot into the national tournament.
 
On Mar. 6, they will play against Midwestern State and Cameron ranked second and third in the region.  They will also play Southwest Baptist, ranked second in the Midwest Region a day later.
 
They also have matches at Azusa Pacific, ranked first in the West Region, at West No. 9 Biola and two neutral-court matches against Holy Names, tenth in the West, on the spring slate, the first of which comes Saturday.
 
Chasing 50
 
Maverick senior and regular starter Alain De Bastide will enter this weekend in range of reaching 50 career doubles wins this weekend.  He currently has a career doubles record of 47-41 and needs just three more to reach that milestone.  He also has a team-high 40 career singles wins to his credit.
 
The Future's Bright
 
The younger players on the CMU squad have helped lead the team.  No. 2 doubles partners Steven Howe, a sophomore, and Tyler Landen, a freshman, have been impressive this season.  As a duo, they are 6-3 overall in doubles play.  Meanwhile, they are also tied for the lead in singles wins as Landen has posted a 7-3 overall singles record while Howe is 7-4.
 
Another sophomore in Christian Albrechtsen is tied for the team lead in doubles victories with seven and has been playing in the No. 1 spot of the Mavericks' singles lineup.
 
Probable Lineup
 
Based strictly on how Head Coach Dan MacDonald deployed his men in their last outing against Idaho State, here is how the Mavs could lineup on Friday.
 
Doubles

No. 1: Alain De La Bastide/Moises Cure (3-5 overall, 2-4 in duals)
No. 2: Steven Howe/Tyler Landen (6-3 overall, 4-1 in duals)
No. 3: Christian Albrechtsen/Thiago Nejm (7-2 overall, 4-1 in duals)
 
Singles

No. 1: Albrechtsen (4-6 overall, 2-4 in duals)
No. 2: De La Bastide (5-5, 4-2)
No. 3: Cure (5-6, 1-4)
No. 4: Landen (7-3, 4-2)
No. 5: Howe (7-4, 5-1)
No. 6: Steadman (7-4, 4-1)
 
Road Warriors
 
The Mavericks' 2020 spring schedule, which includes 18 official matches will see the student-athletes play in five different states, including Colorado.  They will travel to Utah (twice), Idaho, Texas and California before playing each of their last five matches inside Colorado.
 
Only CMU's final two regular season contests will be at home in the friendly confines of the Elliott Tennis Center on Apr. 17 and 18.
 
Prior to that, the Mavericks will have nine more matches as the away team and will play seven times on neutral courts, where they are 3-1 thus far in 2019-20.
 
About the Thunderbirds
 
The Southern Utah University Thunderbirds have also been off since Feb. 1 and posted a .500 mark (2-2) claiming victories over CSU-Pueblo (7-0), and MSU-Denver (4-3) on Jan. 18.  They then completed that weekend on the U.S. Air Force Academy grounds, falling to the host Falcons, 4-3 on Jan. 19.
 
In their last outing on Feb. 1 in Las Vegas, they fell by the same margin to UC-Riverside.
 
Individually, Jose Ortega has been the leading producer for the Thunderbirds.  Ortega, has been a perfect 4-0 at the No. 4 and No. 6 singles positions this spring.  Led by Ortega's 3-0 mark at No. 6, the bottom of the Thunderbird lineup card has been perfect as Nicholas Sepulveda won his lone singles match in that spot against CSU-Pueblo.
 
The Thunderbirds are also a strong 3-1 at both the No. 4 and 5 singles positions.
 
The No.2 doubles partnership of Nolan McCaig and Connor Tordoff has also been strong as that duo has won three out of their four matches as well.
 
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between these two sides, all of which have come in the last five seasons.  The Mavericks won two matches by 7-0 scores on Feb. 19, 2016 before the Thunderbirds won a 5-2 decision in the last meeting on Feb. 25, 2017. 
 
Interestingly, all three of the previous match-ups have come in St. George Utah, which was the originally scheduled location for this year's match as well.
 
About the Hawks
 
After playing their first three matches, including an exhibition against Division I Nevada, in the San Francisco Bay area, the Hawks will travel further from home for the first time this weekend to play three matches, including Saturday's encounter with the Mavericks.
 
Prior to facing CMU on Saturday morning, the Hawks will play against Western New Mexico and Southern Utah.
 
The Oakland based squad, which begins the spring ranked tenth in the ITA West Regional rankings, is 0-2 officially having lost to PacWest rival Sonoma State, 6-1 on Feb. 2 before falling 7-0 to Division I Santa Clara in their last outing on Sunday (Feb. 16).
 
Saturday's meeting between the two teams will mark the third in as many years.  The Hawks have been victorious in each of the last two after CMU posted its' last win in the series on Mar. 29, 2014.  All three of these meetings have been neutral-site affairs.
 
Javier Luque was the lone Hawk winner this spring as he won a 3-set No. 3 singles match against Sonoma State's Max Nudell, ranked 20^th in the ITA West Regional ranking.
 
About Western New Mexico
 
The Mustangs, who will play Holy Names on Friday before facing the Mavericks twice, are currently 2-4 on the spring.  Both of their wins came last weekend in a 2-1 stretch through Arizona as they defeated Arizona Christian, 5-2 and Mesa Community College, 6-1 on Feb. 14 and 15, respectively.
 
Three of their losses have come against NCAA Division I foes in New Mexico State and Northern Arizona (twice).
 
The Mustangs, who were former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes, have won each of the last 16 meetings with the Mavericks and have faced them at least once each year dating back to at least 2009.
 
The Mustangs took last year's meeting, 5-2 on Feb. 16 in St. George, Utah.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's stretch, the Mavericks will have another week off before returning to action with three matches at the Midwestern State Duals in Wichita Falls, Texas on Mar. 6-7.  All three will be against regional ranked opponents starting with MSU Texas and Cameron on Mar. 6 before turning around for an Mar. 7 battle with Southwest Baptist.