GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will play in its first conference tournament for three years when the 9-7 and eighth-seeded Mavericks take on top-seed and nation's seventh-ranked Asuza Pacific University (15-3) in the quarterfinal round of the Pacific West Conference Tournament.
 
Action will begin at 1 p.m. local time (2 p.m. MDT) on Thursday.  The Mavericks will also play at the same time on Friday and Saturday as the 8-team tournament progresses with championship and consolation brackets.
 
The tournament winner 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 claimed a Senior Day win over visiting Colorado College in their final regular season match of the season this past Saturday at the Elliott Tennis Center.  The Mavericks won 5-2 as a team as Thiago Nejm, Steven Howe and Jandre van Wyk all posted a pair of wins.  Nejm was recognized before the match during Senior Day festivities as was current volunteer assistant coach Alain de la Bastide, who had his 2020 senior season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The Mavericks had dropped a 5-2 decision to PacWest rival MSU Denver on Friday.  The Mavericks won one of the doubles matches and received singles win from Steven Howe and Jandre van Wyk, who had combined for a No. 2 doubles win with Howe.
 
Back in a Conference Tournament
 
The Mavericks are a new member in the PacWest this season after playing as independents in each of the past two years.  Previously, the Maverick tennis teams had been long-term members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which dropped sponsorship of men's tennis after the 2018 season and sponsorship of women's tennis a year later.
 
The Mavericks had won at least one match in every RMAC Tournament from 2006-18 finishing as the runner-up seven times in that stretch.
 
Record Watch
 
The Maverick doubles duo of Steven Howe and Jandre van Wyk is a strong 13-3 this season, good for a .812 winning percentage.  That mark is well above the current Maverick record for a single-season doubles winning percentage of .758 that Jordan Chomko and Nick Provenza set in 2008-09, when that duo went 25-8.
 
Assuming that Howe and van Wyk play in all three matches at the PacWest Tournament and that all three of their matches are completed, they would need to go 2-1 this weekend to finish ahead of the current record.
 
Streaking
 
Howe and van Wyk enter the PacWest Tournament in fine form.  They have won each of their last eight doubles matches and both players are also riding 4-match winning streaks in singles.
 
Team Leader
 
Van Wyk also leads the Mavericks in total wins with 23.  The Pretoria, South Africa native, who was named as the PacWest Player of the Week back on Mar. 16, is 10-5 in singles, including a 7-5 mark at his primary No. 5 position.  He is also 3-0 when playing at No. 4.
 
Thiago Nejm is tied with van Wyk for singles wins.  The Brazilian is 10-6 this year, with an 8-5 record at No. 6 singles.
 
One for a milestone
 
With his strong form as of late, Howe has rapidly approaching the 50-career win milestone.  The Temecula, California native has 49 wins to his credit, going 29-17 in doubles play throughout his career.  Howe has had a winning record in doubles in each of his three seasons at CMU, including last year's 8-7 COVID-19 shortened campaign.  He was also 8-7 as a true freshman in 2018-19.
 
Howe also has 20 collegiate singles wins to his credit, posting an 8-8 record this year after going 9-8 last season and 3-10 as a freshman.
 
Fellow redshirt sophomore Christian Albrechtsen is second amongst current Mavericks with 36 career wins.
 
One for a winning record
 
The Mavericks will also need to win one team dual this week to assure themselves of a 10-win season and winning record for the first time since 2017, when the Mavericks went 13-12.  CMU did go .500 (6-6) in last year's pandemic-shortened campaign after going 9-19 in 2018 and 5-15 in 2019.
 
About the Opponent
 
The Mavericks will have a difficult opponent in their Thursday quarterfinal match against Azusa Pacific.  The Cougars enter the PacWest Tournament with a 15-3 overall record and as winners of 11 straight.  All three of their losses have come to Division I opponents.
 
The Cougars are ranked seventh nationally according to Tuesday's Oracle/ITA Division II Coaches' Poll and were ranked first in the ITA's West Regional rankings as of Mar. 23.  They are also "under consideration" in each of the first two official NCAA Division II Regional Rankings.
 
They have two of the nation's top 10 singles players according to the Apr. 8 ITA rankings in No. 4 Jakob Schnaitter and No. 9 Samuel Sippel.  Schnaitter and Leyton Bohren are also ranked sixth nationally in doubles by the ITA.
 
Schnaitter is a perfect 15-0 at No. 1 singles this season while Sippel is 13-1 overall, with a 12-0 record at No. 2.  Ryan Nuno is also 12-2, including a 10-2 mark at No. 3.
 
In doubles, Schnaitter and Bohren are 13-3 as a pair in the No. 1 spot while Nuno and Sippel are 13-2 overall, with an 11-2 record and team-best 11-match winning streak at No. 2.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks and Cougars played earlier this season playing on Mar. 6 in Azusa, California.  The Cougars, who were ranked eighth in the country at that time, won that dual, 6-1 although the Mavericks did have some success on an individual front.  Howe and van Wyk won their No. 2 doubles match in a tie-breaker over Ethan Smith and Dylan Parsley while Moises Cure won a 3-set match over Smith at No. 4 singles.
 
In total, the Cougars have won all five previous duals against the Mavericks, all of which have been played in Azusa.
 
About the Conference
 
The PacWest is regarded as one of the strongest in Division II tennis and has four of the top 14 teams in the country, according to Tuesday's ITA rankings.  Hawai'i-Hilo, Hawai'i Pacific and Concordia-Irvine are ranked 12^th, 13^th and 14^th behind No. 7 Azusa.  Those are the four teams "under consideration" in this week's NCAA Division II regional rankings.
 
Hawai'i Pacific has won six of the seven conference tournament titles since 2013 while Azusa Pacific won the other in 2018.
 
Tournament Format
 
The Mavericks are guaranteed of three matches at the PacWest Tournament and will face either No. 4 seed Concordia or No. 5 seed Point Loma on Friday.  The winners of Thursday's quarterfinal matches play in the championship semifinals while the losers meet in the consolation semifinals.
 
The first, third, fifth and seventh place matches will then be played on Saturday.
 
The other half of the bracket includes Hawai'i Hilo, Hawai'i Pacific, MSU Denver and Biola, seeded second, third, sixth and seventh, respectively.