GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University and the Pacific West Conference jointly announced Thursday that the Maverick men's and women's tennis teams will join the conference as affiliate members, beginning with the 2020-21 academic year.
 
The conference has the largest geographic footprint in Division II and currently has 12 active members, including nine in the state of California and three in Hawai'i.   The conference was founded in 1992 and began sponsorship of women's tennis in 2007 and men's tennis six years later in 2013.
 
With the addition of CMU and the Metropolitan State University of Denver, which will also join, the PacWest will grow from 14 to 16 total tennis members on the women's side and from eight to ten total members in men's tennis.
 
The Maverick men have been without a conference home since the end of the 2017-18 campaign as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, CMU's main membership conference, ended sponsorship of men's tennis.  CMU's women's tennis program has also been without a conference home this season after the Mavericks hosted the final RMAC Championships in 2019.
 
"We're excited for this opportunity for our tennis student-athletes," CMU Co-Director of Athletics Bryan Rooks said.  "This move will allow them the opportunity to earn the weekly and post-season recognitions that are missing without a conference home."
 
Veteran Maverick head coach Dan MacDonald echoed those thoughts. 
 
"It will be great to be part of a conference again.  We have been developing some rivalries out West with schools that we have been playing in on-conference play and this will help in those regards," he said.
 
"It will be great for the student-athletes to have the opportunity of a conference tournament experience and will give them something to shoot on a weekly and season-long basis."
 
The PacWest does not have a set regular season conference schedule but instead encourages teams to play each other throughout the season.  A tennis seeding committee then selects and seeds teams for the 8-team men's and 12-team women's post-season tournaments, which have been held at the Surprise Tennis Racquet Club in Surprise, Arizona since 2014.
 
"We're thrilled to bring in the outstanding tennis programs at Colorado Mesa and MSU Denver into the PacWest," commissioner Bog Hogue said.  "Their affiliation with us strengthens our already strong tennis championships and makes our conference even more competitive than it already is."
 
CMU's move to the PacWest will also mean a shift to the NCAA Division II West Region for NCAA Tournament qualification purposes.  In 2020-21, the PacWest will constitute the entirety of the West Region, which will qualify four men's and four women's teams for the regional portion of the NCAA Tournament each year.
 
The PacWest Tournament Champions receive automatic bids.
 
The PacWest has produced ten national championships in tennis (7 women, 3 men).
 
Here is a listing of the current PacWest tennis sponsoring institutions.
 
Men
Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.)
Biola University (La Mirada, Calif.)
Concordia University Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
Hawai'i Pacific University (Honolulu, Hawai'i)
Holy Names University (Oakland, Calif.)
Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego, Calif.)
*Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, Calif.)
University of Hawai'i-Hilo (Hilo, Hawai'i)

Women
Academy of Art University (San Francisco, Calif.)
Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.)
Biola University (La Mirada, Calif.)
*California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.)
*California State University, Stanislaus (Turlock, Calif.)
Chaminade University (Honolulu, Hawai'i)
Concordia University Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
Dominican University of California (San Rafael, Calif.)
Fresno Pacific University (Fresno, Calif.)
Hawai'i Pacific University (Honolulu, Hawai'i)
Holy Names University (Oakland, Calif.)
Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego, Calif.)
*Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, Calif.)
University of Hawai'i at Hilo (Hilo, Hawai'i)
 
*-Affiliate members