SURPRISE, Ariz.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team won a hard-fought doubles point but dropped a 4-1 overall decision to the Academy of Art University Urban Knights in the opening round of the Pacific West Conference Championships on Wednesday here at the Surprise Tennis Center.
The Urban Knights were ranked 24
th nationally in the latest Oracle/ITA Division II Coaches' Poll, released Tuesday, and were the tournament's seventh seed.
The tenth-seeded Mavericks, who slipped to 12-12 overall, won both the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches as
Lauren Thomas and
Julianna Campos took down Erica Hellbe and Aitana Comas Adam, 7-5 in the No. 3 match before
Issy Coman and
Halle Romero claimed a 6-4 win in the second flight over Julia Ortega and Maria Casucci to give the Mavericks the overall doubles win.
However, the Urban Knights (5-4) regained their footing in singles play as they claimed straight set wins in the No. 1, 3, 5 and 6 flights to win the dual, which was played to clinch.
CMU's
Maike Waldburger had won the first set of her unfinished No. 2 singles match against Casucci, 7-5 and was trailing, 4-1 in the second set. The No. 4 singles match featuring Comas Adam and
Carolena Campos also went unfinished.
The Mavericks will try to wrap up their inaugural season in the PacWest with a winning record when they playing Hawai'i Hilo (7-6) in a consolation match at 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. MDT) on Thursday. The Vulcans were defeated by MSU Denver, 4-0 in another first-round match-up.
The Mavericks last met the Vulcans in 2008, when the Hawaiians won by a 9-0 score in Phoenix.
