GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's tennis teams begin life in their new conference this weekend playing their first PacWest matches in program-history in southern California.
 
Both Maverick teams, who joined the PacWest as affiliate members this year, will make that history Friday afternoon at Concordia University-Irvine before remaining in southern California for Saturday morning at Azusa Pacific in Azusa before heading to nearby La Mirada for Saturday afternoon encounters with Biola, which will have a live stream of the matches at http://live.biola.edu/tennis/.
 
The Mavericks will then return home and have a quick turn-around before hosting Dallas Baptist in what will be their first home matches of 2021 on Tuesday at 11 a.m. the Elliott Tennis Center.
 
The start of the busy stretch will be especially challenging as both Concordia teams and both Azusa Pacific teams are nationally-ranked.
 
Last Time Out
 
Both Maverick teams were off last weekend after playing road matches against NCAA Division I opponents the weekend prior.
 
The CMU women were in Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday, Feb. 20 and were downed in both legs of a doubleheader at Idaho State by 7-0 margins.  The Maverick men were in Logan, Utah on the same day, dropping a 7-0 decision to Utah State.
 
Strong starts
 
Despite being over-matched by the Division I foes, both Mavericks teams are still off to strong 6-2 (women's) and 5-2 (men's)starts in non-conference play.
 
The Maverick women won their first six matches for the first time in program history.  Their 6-2 start is their first since the 2015-16 season.
 
The Maverick men are 5-2 for the first time since 2015-16 as well.
 
3-0 against D-II
 
In the grander scheme, both Maverick teams are 3-0 against fellow NCAA Division II opponents, which will ultimately be how the Mavericks are judged for post-seasons selection purposes.  The Maverick women claimed 5-2 wins over Oklahoma Baptist and Nebraska-Kearney to begin the season on Feb. 5 in Grand Island, Nebraska and were then able to get past Western New Mexico by a 4-3 score on Feb. 13 in Surprise, Arizona.
 
CMU's men claimed both legs of a Feb. 5 doubleheader against Oklahoma Baptist and then defeated Western New Mexico by a 6-1 score.
 
The Mavericks other matches to date have come against NAIA and NCAA Division I opponents and will not be considered for NCAA Tournament selection purposes.
 
PacWest honor
 
Although the Mavericks have yet to play a PacWest match, one CMU player has already been recognized by the conference.
 
Maverick redshirt freshman Halle Romero was named as the initial PacWest Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week on Feb. 16.  Romero had gone a perfect 6-0 in doubles player and was 5-1 at No. 4 singles mark over the Mavericks' perfect 6-0 team start, winning each of her last five matches in straight sets without giving up more than three games in any of them.
 
Romero was downed in both NoPoint. 4 singles matches at Idaho State and in doubles with partner Issy Coman against the Bengals but still leads the Mavericks with a 5-3 singles mark and has the team's second best doubles mark at 5-2.
 
Fifth-year senior Carolena Campos has the team's best doubles mark at 6-2.
 
Mix it up
 
Maverick Head Coach Dan MacDonald has already used nine different doubles partnerships on the women's side.  Sisters Carolena and Julianna Campos are a perfect 4-0 as are Romero and Alexi Klabunde when playing together.
 
As a team, the Maverick women are a combined 15-8 (.652) in doubles play so far this year and have won the doubles point in each of their six victories.
 
Steady as he goes
 
Meanwhile, MacDonald has kept the men's doubles lineup steady as all three of the partnerships have remained steady throughout all seven matches.  Christian Albrechtsen and Tyler Landen are 4-3 in the No. 1 doubles spot while the Steven Howe/Jandre van Wyk partnership has produced a 5-2 record, playing all but one of their matches at No. 2 doubles.  The all-South American duo of Moises Cure (Colombia) and Thiago Nejm (Brazil) is 4-2 and have had one unfinished match.  They are 3-2 at No. 3 doubles and won their lone No.2  match at No. 2 as they flip-flopped with Howe and van Wyk during the Feb. 5 doubleheader against Oklahoma Baptists to avoid playing the same Bison opponents.
 
Returning home after getting the call
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Steven Howe will return home to southern California this weekend.  He is a native of Temecula and graduated from Great Oak High School.
 
Howe led the Mavericks in both singles (9) and total wins (17) during last year's pandemic shortened season and is a solid 4-3 in singles play this year, playing mostly in the No. 2 position although he did get the call-up to the No. 1 spot for the first time in his career in CMU's last outing at Utah State.
 
He and van Wyk also lead the team with their 5-2 doubles record.
 
Nearing 50
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Maike Waldburger is nearing the 50 career-victory mark and enters this weekend Saturday with 47 career wins to her credit.  She is 24-31 in doubles player throughout her 2-plus season career and holds a 23-253 mark in singles. 
 
In 2021, Waldburger has been playing mostly in the top doubles flight, posting a combined 3-4 record with Issy Coman (3-2) and Carolena Campos (0-2), who she played with in both legs of the Idaho State doubleheader. In singles, Waldburger, a naïve of Wessel, Germany, has a 3-4 record at No. 2 singles.
 
Redshirt senior Carolena Campos is second amongst active players in career wins with 38, evenly split 19-19 between singles and doubles.
 
Unbeaten
 
Lauren Thomas, who has missed two of the Mavericks' three weekend road trips thus far, is a perfect 3-0 in both singles and doubles play this year and is expected to help boost the Maverick lineup this weekend in southern California.
 
Looking forward to being home
 
As independents for two years (men) and one year (women) along the pandemic that thwarted much of the 2020 spring and fall seasons, the Mavericks have not had many home matches recently.
 
However, when they have been home at the Elliott Tennis Center, they have taken regular advantage of it. 
 
The Maverick men last played a home match on Sept. 28, 2019 against Colorado College winning it 6-1 and have gone 8-3 at home over the last three seasons while posting a winning record at home in every season since 2014-15.
 
The Maverick women posted wins in their only two home-court matches during fall of 2019 and won their final home match of the 2018-19 season defeating CSU Pueblo and will enter Tuesday's encounter with DBU as winners of three straight at home.
 
About Concordia University-Irvine
 
The Eagle men are 3-2 this season and finished sixth at the ITA Indoor Team Nationals in Oklahoma City last weekend, going 1-2 against nationally-ranked foes.  They beat No. 22 Midwestern State and fell to No. 7 Drury and No. 19 Delta State.  They had started the year with a 6-1 exhibition win over Westmont and 4-1 wins over PacWest foes Biola and Point Loma closer to home.
 
The Eagle women are 2-1 and have had their last four scheduled matches postponed, three because of COVID-19 protocols and then on Wednesday by rain.  They have not played since Feb. 12, when they won 4-1 at Biola after winning at Westmont by a 6-1 score two days earlier.  Their lone loss came to Division I California State Fullerton, by a 4-3 score.
 
Both Eagle teams were included in the Oracle/ITA Division II National Rankings for the preseason with the men checking in at the No. 14 spot while the women came in 25^th.
 
About Azusa Pacific
 
The Cougar men were tabbed eighth in the ITA preseason rankings and are 1-2 overall heading into a  Friday afternoon match against Point Loma, which will be their first against a Division II or PacWest foe.  The Cougars defeated Division I UC Riverside by a 6-1 score on Mar. 2 after falling to Nevada (4-0) and at Fresno State (5-2) on Feb. 27.
 
The Cougar women, ranked 11^th, have yet to play this season but will get their season started Thursday against Chapman before hosting Point Loma on Friday afternoon and the Mavs on Saturday.
 
About Biola
 
The Eagle women are off to a solid 5-2 start, including a 2-2 record against fellow PacWest foes.  They have won on the road in each of their last three outings defeating Dominican by a 7-0 score on Tuesday after squeaking out a 4-3 win at Academy of Art on Monday.  They also won at Cal Lutheran by an 8-1 score last Saturday (Feb. 27).
 
The Eagle men are currently 2-2 and host No. 20 Hawai'i-Hilo on Friday before facing the Mavericks.  They are 0-2 against PacWest foes having lost to Concordia Irvine and Point Loma.
 
About Dallas Baptist
 
The DBU Patriot men are off to a 5-0 start but have yet to play against NCAA Division II opposition, having stayed closer to home with wins over Division III foes, Schreiner, Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons and McMurry inside Texas before venturing to Arkansas to claim a win at the University of the Ozarks last Saturday.
 
They begin a 3-match swing through Colorado against the Mavericks and will also play at Colorado College next Thursday (Mar. 11) at MSU Denver next Friday (Mar. 12).
 
They Patriot women, who will also play the same Colorado opponents and another match at CSU Pueblo next Thursday morning, are 4-0 with a similar schedule but did drop an exhibition match with Division I transitioning Tarleton Sate in their last outing on Feb. 24.
 
Both DBU squads  did have a slate of matches against Oklahoma-based Division II foes postponed.
 
Series Histories
 
Although the Mavericks are just joining the PacWest, they have played some of their new conference rivals fairly regularly during previous spring break trips to California.  The Maverick men played Azusa Pacific for three straight seasons from 2017-19 before last year's trip was thwarted due to the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and are 0-4 all-time against the Cougars.
 
On those same trips, the Mavericks won away matches over Biola in 2018 and 2019.
 
The Maverick women are also 0-4 against Azusa Pacific after playing them in three straight seasons from 2017-19 and in 2012.  They are also 2-0 against Biola win wins in 2018 and 2019.
 
The Maverick men are 4-0 all-time against DBU having last met the Patriots on Sept. 12, 2019 in Pueblo.  CMU defeated the Patriots, 9-0 in the spring of 2013, which was their last visit to the Elliott Tennis Center.
 
Conversely, DBU's women hold a 6-0 all-time series lead over the Mavericks.  The two former NCAA Division II South Central Regional rivals last met in the fall of 2019 in Pueblo, where the Patriots squeaked out a 4-3 win.  Their last venture to Grand Junction was also in 2013.
 
Up Next
 
After the four matches in five days, the Maverick men will be off for nearly a month before resuming their season on Apr. 3 with a scrimmage against Seward County Community College on Apr. 3 in Denver.  They will return to official action in Denver on Apr. 9 to face MSU Denver.
 
The CMU women will also have a somewhat less hectic schedule, but do have another PacWest affair scheduled for next Friday (Mar. 12) in Denver against Dominican of San Rafael, California.  They also play Division I foes Weber State and Dixie State on Mar. 19 and 27, respectively.