GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After being without a conference home last season, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will re-enter postseason play on Wednesday when the Mavericks open up Pacific West Conference Tournament play against the Academy of Art University at the Surprise Tennis Center in Surprise, Arizona.
 
The Mavericks (12-11), who are in their first years as affiliate members of the conference, have drawn the No. 10 seed and will take on the seventh-seeded Urban Knights (4-4) in one of four first-round matches at 9 a.m. local time (10 am. MDT).  The four winners will then join the main 8-team bracket for quarterfinal, semifinal and championship as well as consolation rounds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the same time.
 
First round losers will play one remaining consolation match at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. MDT) on Thursday, which will be the last of their season.
 
The winner of the 12-team tournament will receive an automatic berth into next month's NCAA Division II Tournament.  Three other PacWest teams will be selected as at-large selections, based on the final regional rankings, for the 4-team West Regional portion of that tournament, which was also be held at the same venue.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks posted a pair of Senior Day wins to move back above .500 for the season on Saturday.  CMU dominated both visiting CSU Pueblo and Colorado College, posting 7-0 and 6-1 wins.  The Mavericks had dropped a 7-0 score to PacWest foe MSU Denver in another home match on Friday.
 
Fifth-year senior Carolena Campos and fourth-year redshirt junior Alexi Klabunde were honored between the matches and combined for five wins on Saturday.  2020 senior Kristen Kirby, who had her final season cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic also returned and was recognized during the festivities.
 
Julianna Campos, Carolena's freshman sister, Lauren Thomas and Maike Waldburger, all went 4-0 as well as the Mavericks dropped just nine total games without giving up more than one in a single set against CSU Pueblo, which fielded a lineup of just five players while being forced to default the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles affairs.
 
Against Colorado College, the Mavericks won two of the three doubles affairs and five of the six singles matches, four of which went in CMU's favor in straight sets. 
 
First win
 
Redshirt freshman Kira Coffee also picked up her first official win as a Maverick on Saturday as she won her No. 6 singles affair against Colorado College's Katherine Beard, taking a 10-8 third-set tie-breaker.  Coffee, who transferred from Nebraska-Kearney, also won the second set in a tie-breaker, 7-4 after dropping the first set, 6-3.
 
The match was just Coffee's second official match of the season.
 
Looking for a milestone
 
Meanwhile, Carolena Campos claimed her 46^th, 47^th and 48^th career victories on Saturday as she went 3-1 with a pair of No. 1 doubles wins alongside partner Maike Waldburger, who had reached the 50-career win mark the preceding weekend, and a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 win over Roma Cordova at No. 3 singles in the match against CSU-Pueblo.
 
Campos now has 24 singles and 24 doubles wins in her career heading into the PacWest Tournament.
 
Peaking at the right time
 
The Mavericks won five of their last six duals of the regular season over the past two weekends, claiming home-and-away sweeps of both Colorado College and CSU Pueblo as well as an Apr. 10 neutral-court win over Austin College in Colorado Springs.  All five of those wins came by 7-0 or 6-1 scores.
 
Conference Tournament History
 
Without a conference home, the Mavericks would not have had a conference tournament to compete at in 2020, even if they COVID-19 pandemic did not wipe out much of the NCAA tennis season. 
 
In 2019, which was the final year that the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference sponsored the sport, the Mavs lost their only official tournament match.  However, the Mavericks had gone 1-1 while advancing to the RMAC Tournament final in four consecutive years from 2015-18.  The Mavs, who had at least one conference tournament victory in every year from 2010-18, won their last RMAC Tournament title in 2014.  The Mavs had also won the 1982 (fall), 2007 and 2011 RMAC Tournament crowns.
 
Double-digit winners
 
The Mavericks enter the PacWest Tournament with two players who each have ten singles wins to their credit this season.  Those are Julianna Campos, who is 10-8, and Halle Romero, who sports a 10-10 record.  Carolena Campos (9-14) and Maike Waldburger (9-13) are just one win shy with nine singles wins, a piece.
 
Doubles is the Key
 
The Mavericks won the doubles point in both of their matches on Saturday and are now an impressive 12-1 when holding a lead going into singles play.  The Mavericks are 0-11 when they have dropped the doubles point.
 
In doubles play, the Mavericks are a combined 36-32 including default victories.
 
Halle Romero leads the Mavericks with her 12-8 doubles record.  Lauren Thomas (11-6), Issy Coman (11-11) and Carolena Campos (11-12) are all right behind with 11 doubles victories.  Julianna Campos and Lauren Thomas have the best partnership with a 7-5 record.  Coman and Romero are 7-8 as a duo.
 
About the Opponent
 
The Academy of Art Urban Knights will enter Wednesday's PacWest Tournament opener with a 4-4 overall record.   They are receiving votes in the Apr. 8 Oracle/ITA NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll and have won three out of their last four matches, defeating nationally-ranked Hawai'i Hilo, ranked 25^th at the time, on Mar. 16 and then No. 24 Fresno Pacific on Saturday.  They also completed the season sweep over the San Francisco Bay area rivals Dominican with an Apr. 10 victory.   Three of their four losses have come to Division I foes.
 
The Urban Knights, who are also seventh in the ITA's West regional rankings as of Mar. 23 and "under consideration" in the official NCAA Division II regional rankings, released last week (Apr. 14) are a strong 27-19 in singles play this year.  Sofia Ragona leads the team with her 6-2 singles record in the No. 1 spot.  She has won five straight and is ranked 47^th nationally according to the Apr. 8 Oracle/ITA NCAA Division II Singles Rankings.  Yun "Nicole" Shiau has also won four straight and is 5-2 at No. 2 and 3 singles.
 
In doubles, the Urban Knights have gone 4-4 in each of the three flights.   Ragona and Shiau as a partnership at No. 1 while Aitana Comas Adam and Erica Hellbe are 4-3 overall, including a 3-3 record at No. 3 doubles.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks and Urban Knights have met four previous times.  All of those meetings have come on neutral-courts in St. George, Utah, which happened in consecutive springs from 2010-13.  The Urban Knights have won the last three affairs after the Mavericks claimed their only in the series on Feb. 27, 2010 by a 7-2 score.
 
About the Conference
 
The PacWest is regarded as one of the strongest in Division II tennis and has two teams ranked amongst the nation's top 10 and two others in the top 25.  Hawai'i Pacific is ranked seventh and Azusa Pacific is ranked ninth.  Fresno Pacific is ranked 22^nd and Concordia University-Irvine is 23^rd.  Academy of Art and Biola are also receiving votes.