ST. GEORGE, Utah— Steven Howe, Tyler Landen and Mitchell Steadman all went 2-0 as the Colorado Mesa University men's team defeated Western New Mexico University for the first time in nearly 14 years and 20 opportunities on Sunday in neutral-court NCAA Division II South Central Regional action here at Tonaquint Park.
 
The Mavericks improved to 6-3 overall and to 3-0 against regional foes with the comprehensive victory over the now 2-6 Mustangs who had won the previous 19 encounters since CMU's last win on Mar. 12, 2006.
 
The two teams were also slated to play on Saturday but that match was washed out by rain.
 
On Sunday, the Mavericks took the doubles point as Howe and Landen defeated David Valles and Joaquin Delpino, 6-3 in the second flight before Steadman and Thiago Nejm claimed a 6-4 win in the No. 3 position.
 
WNMU's top duo of Ruan Du Preez and Niko Barr had won 6-4 over the Mavs' Christian Albrechtsen and Alain De La Bastide.
 
The Mavericks continued their momentum into singles play as the Howe, Steadman and Landen all won in straight sets to clinch the team victory.  That trio surrendered 11 total games to their Mustang opponents.
 
CMU also received later wins from De La Bastide and Jandre van Wyk while the Mustangs' only singles win and team point came from Du Preez.
 
Howe was the first Maverick to win in singles as he took down Jose Mario Neto, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.  Steadman then claimed a 6-2, 6-0 win over Jace Crawford at No. 6 before Landen clinched the dual with his 6-4, 6-1 win over David Valles at No. 3.
 
De La Bastide was also a straight-set winner as he claimed a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Niko Barr at No. 2.  Van Wyk won his tiebreaker, 10-8 at No. 5 singles after splitting the first two sets, 6-4 and 1-6.
 
The Mavericks will be off next weekend before a critical weekend on Mar. 6-7 in Wichita Falls, Texas where they will face MSU Texas and Cameron in regional matches as well as national No. 13 Southwest Baptist.