GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will look to remain undefeated against South Central Regional foes when they head to Wichita Falls, Texas for three challenging matches, two of which will be against regional opposition.
 
As one of six men's teams in the MSU-Texas Tennis Invitational, the Mavericks will take on the host Mustangs at 9 a.m. CST (8 a.m. Mountain) on Friday before facing Cameron later that day at 3 p.m. CST (2 p.m. Mountain).
 
The Mavericks will then square off with the nation's 13^th ranked Southwest Baptist Bearcats on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. CST (8 a.m. Mountain) to wrap up the weekend.
 
The matches against the Mustangs and Bearcats will be played at MSU-Texas' on campus tennis center while the match with the Cameron Aggies will be held at the nearby Weeks Park Tennis Center.
 
The Maverick women are playing the same opponents at the same times and also have Thursday afternoon match against Angelo State.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks improved their overall record to 6-3 and remained a perfect 3-0 against NCAA Division II South Central Regional foes as they went 2-1 in their Feb. 21-23 trip to southwestern Utah.  The Mavericks dropped their opening match of the swing at Division I Southern Utah in Cedar City but rebounded later that Friday night (Feb. 21) for a 4-2 win over Holy Names in St. George.  They were scheduled to play Western New Mexico twice on the next two days but the match on Feb. 22 was cancelled due to the weather.
 
However, the Mavericks did record an impressive 6-1 win over the Mustangs on Sunday, Feb. 23, their first win over the Mustangs in 14 years.
 
In the win over WNMU, Steven Howe, Tyler Landen and Mitchell Steadman all went 2-0.   Howe also won his singles matches and teamed with Landen for a No. 2 doubles win in the victory over Holy Names.  Christian Albrechtsen and Alain De La Bastide also were 2-0 on the day against Holy Names.
 
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.
 
The Mavericks have a 3-0 record against fellow regional foes this season and are also a strong 4-1 against Division II opponents.  They also have a 4-1 "in-region" record counting matches against Newman and Holy Names thanks to the NCAA's contiguous state policies.
 
The results of Friday's matches against Midwestern State and Cameron will certainly go a long ways to determining CMU's NCAA Tournament hopes.
 
New Conference
 
The Mavericks run as independents is on the clock as they will join the PacWest Conference as affiliate members for the 2020-21 season.  That announcement was made last Thursday.  The Mavericks and MSU Denver will both make the move, growing the conference to ten men's tennis playing institutions, including other affiliate members.
 
The PacWest does not have a designated regular season schedule but encourages teams to play each other throughout the year.  A selection committee will then select and seed eight teams for the conference tournament, which has been played annually at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Arizona since 2014.
 
In addition to the conference tournament opportunity, the Mavericks will have a chance to earn various conference honors, something they have not been able to do so this year.
 
With the move, the Mavericks will also make the move to the West Region for NCAA Tournament selection purposes.  The PacWest, which will make up the entirety of the West Region in 2020-21, will send four teams to the NCAA Tournament, including the conference tournament champions as automatic qualifiers.
 
The PacWest has produced three national championship teams in men's tennis since sponsorship of the sport began in 2013.
 
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.
 
The Mavs also hold a win over Holy Names, ranked ninth in the West Region.
 
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.
 
Howe is getting it done
 
Maverick sophomore Steven Howe enters this weekend as the Mavs' leader in both singles (9) and overall wins (17).  He is 9-5 in singles, including a 7-2 dual meet mark split between the No. 4 and 5 positions.
 
He and Tyler Landen also have the team's best doubles record at 8-4.  They are 6-2 in duals at the No. 2 spot.
 
Landen, a freshman, is right behind Howe in singles wins with eight.
 
Mitchell Steadman also has eight singles wins to his credit.
 
Chasing 50 with a new partner
 
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 48-43 and needs just two more to reach that milestone.  He also has a team-high 42 career singles wins to his credit.
 
De La Bastide switched doubles partners in CMU's last outings in Utah, playing with Christian Albrechtsen in all three matches of that trip.  He had been paired with Moises Cure in each of his previous nine doubles outings.
 
Probable Lineup
 
Based strictly on how Head Coach Dan MacDonald deployed his men in their last outing in Utah, here is a look at how the Mavericks may lineup again this weekend.
 
Doubles
No. 1: Alain De La Bastide/Christian Albrechtsen (1-2, 1-2 in duals)
No. 2: Steven Howe/Tyler Landen (8-4 overall, 6-2)
No. 3: Mitchell Steadman/Thiago Nejm (1-0 overall)
 
Singles
No. 1: Albrechtsen (5-8 overall, 3-6 in duals)
No. 2: De La Bastide (7-6, 6-3)
No. 3: Landen (8-4, 5-3)
No. 4: Howe (9-5, 7-2)
No. 5: Jandre van Wyk (2-2, 2-2)
No. 6: Steadman (8-5, 5-2)
 
About the Mustangs (Friday – 9 a.m. CST/8 a.m. MST)
 
The Midwestern State University Mustangs will enter this weekend with a 4-7 overall record and as losers of five straight.  However, each of their last three losses came to teams ranked amongst the nation's top 15 at last weekend's ITA Indoor Team Championship.
 
They are ranked second in the Oracle/ITA Division II South Central Rankings as of Jan. 15.  They were also tabbed 15^th in the national rankings at that time but dropped out of the latest national rankings, announced Feb. 19.
 
Individually, the Mustangs had three players ranked amongst the region's top 20 after the fall season in No. 2 Angel Palacios, No. 5 Alex Martinez-Roca and No. 19 Alberto Diaz, who is also ranked ninth with Quentin Scharfenberg in doubles.  Palacios is also ranked fifth nationally while Martinez-Roca sits in the No. 43 spot.
 
Palacios has posted a winning 5-4 record at No. 1 singles this season while Alberto Diaz has gone 4-0 at No. 2 and 5-5 overall.
 
Palacios has gone 4-3 with Ben Westwick at No. 1 doubles and 2-1 with Diaz in that spots.
 
In 2019, the Mustangs went 20-6 and won the Lone Star Conference Tournament before advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament, where they eventually downed by top-ranked Columbus State.  That marked the fifth time in the last seven years that the Mustangs advanced to the quarterfinal round.
 
About the Aggies (Friday – 3 p.m. CST/2 p.m. MST)
 
Cameron University will enter the weekend with an 2-3 team record.  Only three of their five official matches have come against NCAA Division II foes.
 
They are amongst the "others receiving votes" category of the latest (Feb. 19) Oracle/ITA Division II National Rankings and are ranked third in the latest (Jan. 15) South Central Regional Rankings.
 
Individually, the Aggies have four regionally ranked singles players after the fall portion of the season.  Those are No. 4 Bruno Vietri, No. No. 10 Oscar Del Granado, No. 12 Julien Gutierrez and No. 14 Pierre Marion.  Vietri and Marion are also ranked 10^th in doubles.
 
Vietri has gone 2-3 at No. 1 singles this season while Del Granado and Marion are both 4-1 at No. 2 and No. 3.  Gutierrez has posted a 2-2 record at No. 4.  Vietri and Marion have not played together in doubles this spring, instead teaming with other partners.  Vietri and Maycon Dias lead the team with their respective 3-2 doubles records.
 
About the Bearcats (Saturday – 9 a.m. CST/8 a.m. MST)
 
The Southwest Baptist University Bearcats are currently ranked 13^th nationally but enter the weekend with a 1-2 team records this spring.  Their win came by a 5-2 margin over Lewis on Feb .15.  They have since fallen to Washington University in St. Louis and Southern Arkansas.
 
Individually, Youssef Nabil (2-0 at No. 5) and Adham Gaber (2-1 at No. 1) are the only two singles players with winning records thus far in the young season.  Alvaro Nunez and David Szeri are a perfect 3-0 in doubles play.
 
The Bearcats, who are now members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, also sit second in the ITA's Midwest Regional Team Rankings as of Jan. 19, a feat they backed up with the win over sixth-ranked Lewis.
 
At the end of the fall, Gaber was ranked fifth in the Midwest Region and 19th nationally for singles, while Szeri was ranked eighth in the region.  Gaber and Nunez are ranked eighth in the region for doubles but have not played together this spring.
 
Series Histories
 
The MSU-Texas Mustangs have dominated the all-time series winning all seven previous meetings with the Mavs.  Friday's match-up will be the third in as many seasons.  The Mustangs won 7-0 last year on Mar. 8 in Wichita Falls and took an 8-1 win on Mar. 23, 2018 in Pueblo, Colorado.
 
The Cameron Aggies lead the all-time series with CMU by a 4-1 margin.  They have defeated the Mavericks in the last three matches, including a Mar. 8 meeting in Wichita Falls last year.  They won that match 7-0.  Previously, the teams had not met since 2016 but did play for four straight springs since 2013.  CMU's lone win came by a 5-4 score on Mar. 24, 2014 on the road in Lawton, Oklahoma.
 
Saturday's meeting with the Bearcats is believed to be the first in CMU's history.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will again head out on a long road trip playing four matches in three days on a spring break pilgrimage to California.  They will play three future PacWest Conference foes in that stretch, opening the trip against No. 8 Azuza Pacific on Mar. 14.  They will also play at Division I Fresno State on Mar. 15.