GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After claiming their first PacWest conference win last Friday, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will begin a stretch of three straight matches against NCAA Division I foes this Friday as they play host to the Weber State University Wildcats at the Elliott Tennis Center.
The Mavericks will enter with a 7-6 overall record while the Wildcats are 2-8.
First serves are set for 1 p.m.
The Maverick men are off until Apr. 3.
Last Time Out
Freshman
Issy Coman and
Julianna Campos both went 2-0
as the Mavericks bounced back above .500 while snapping a 6-match losing streak with a 5-2 win over Dominican University of California in Englewood, Colorado last week. The Mavericks won two of the three doubles matches and then took the first two and last two singles matches to claim the dual win over the Penguins.
The victory was CMU's first in four tries against PacWest Conference foes in what is the Mavericks' first season as affiliate members in the conference.
Maike Waldburger and
Carolena Campos joined Coman and
Julianna Campos as singles winners after the Mavericks had claimed the doubles point with No. 2 and 3 victories. Coman had teamed with
Halle Romero at No. 2 to secure the doubles point with a 7-5 win after
Lauren Thomas and
Julianna Campos had won 6-4 at No. 3 doubles.
First in a dozen
Friday's match will be just the second home match of the season and will also mark the first time since Feb. 28, 2009, a span of more than 12 years, that the Mavericks will have played an NCAA Division I foe at home.
On that night, the Mavericks fell 5-4 to Southern Utah inside the Junction Indoor Tennis Center, CMU's alternative indoor home venue.
The Mavericks regularly take on mountain region Division I foes, but most of those matches have come on the road on in neutral-site encounters.
Now a doubleheader
The Mavericks will continue their stretch of matches against Division I opposition on Saturday, Mar. 27 when they travel to St. George, Utah to face Dixie State in a doubleheader. The teams were originally scheduled to play just once that day but have since agreed to play each other twice, starting at 9:30 a.m.
The Trailblazers are in their first year as Division I members after leaving the Division II ranks. The Mavericks and Trailblazers were both members of the South Central region for the previous two years and played each other as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals in 2018-19 before the conference ended their sponsorship of women's tennis at the end of that year.
Doubles is the key
The Mavericks are a perfect 7-0 this season when they have won the doubles point as they did last week against Dominican. Conversely, the Mavericks are 0-6 when they have lost the doubles point.
The Mavericks have already used ten different doubles combinations this season, four of which are undefeated. The Campos sister-act of Carolena and Julianna is 4-0 as are
Alexi Klabunde and
Halle Romero, when they have played together. Romero is also 1-0 with both
Lauren Thomas and
Julianna Campos and leads the team with a 7-5 doubles mark.
Julianna Campos (6-5), Thomas (5-3) and Klabunde (4-2) also have winning doubles records.
Nearing 50
Maverick junior
Maike Waldburger claimed double-bagel 6-0, 6-0 No. 2 singles win over Kaitlyn Nguyen from Dominican last week. The victory snapped a 6-match singles slide and was her first victory since winning both at singles and doubles against Arizona Christian on Feb. 13.
It was also Waldburger's 48
th career victory putting her just two shy of 50.
About Weber State
The Wildcats will enter Friday's match with a 2-8 overall record. They are 0-8 as the away team and have lost five straight team matches. Their two wins have come by 6-1 scores over New Mexico State and UTEP on neutral-courts.
Through nine team matches, Yuuna Ukita had one of the team's best singles record, going 3-4 at No. 1 singles. Sicely Ferreira was 4-3 overall and 4-2 at the No. 6 position. Megan Davies was also 3-3 at No. 5 singles and 3-6 overall.
In doubles, Ana Morrett Salas and Ukita were 4-3 in the top flight. While Ferreira and Megan Lombardi had posted a 3-3 No. 3 doubles record.
The Wildcats had been picked second in the Big Sky Conference Coaches Preseason Poll and have yet to begin conference play, which they will do on Mar. 27 at Montana.
Series History
The Mavericks are 0-6 all-time in official matches against Weber State. However, it has been more than six years since they have faced the Wildcats. The last meeting came on Jan. 24, 2015 in what was an exhibition match for the Mavericks and a counter for the Wildcats. Weber State won that 6-1.
The two teams also faced each other twice on back-to-back days (Mar. 7-8) in 2014. Both of those matches were played in St. George, Utah. They Wildcats won the first 7-2 and the second 5-4.
The Mavericks have never played at home against Weber State.
