PUEBLO, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team swept all 12 of their singles matches, including five three-setters, and won all but one of the six doubles match in a pair of 7-0 team victories on Friday at the Pueblo Duals, here at Pueblo City Park.
The Mavericks won a trio of 3-set singles matches against Dallas Baptist University in the afternoon, coming from a set down in two of them. They also won two more 3-setters against Colorado College in the evening session after sweeping the doubles matches against the Tigers.
Christian Albrechtsen,
Moises Cure,
Jandre van Wyk and freshman
Tegan Hartman were all 4-0 on the day for the Mavs.
Steven Howe and
Jorge Abreu also claimed two singles wins and a doubles victory together in some top-notch battles at the top of the Maverick singles lineup.
Against DBU, Howe defeated returning ITA All-South Central Region and 2-time Second Team All-Lone Star Conference selection Grant McKenzie, winning a third-set tiebreaker, 7-5 after dropping the first set, 6-3. Howe then took the second, 6-4 and battled McKenzie throughout a tight third set at No. 1 singles.
Meanwhile, Abreu dropped his first set to Gabe Garrido, 7-5 but roared back for 6-1 and 6-4 victories to take his No. 2 singles match.
Albrechtsen also staved off a rally from Aaron Capone at No. 3 singles, coming though for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win. Earlier, Cure, van Wyk and Hartman had all posted straight-set wins to clinch the dual with wins in the bottom half of the lineup.
In doubles, Albrechtsen and Cure won 6-4 over Bradley Neil and Garrido in the top flight while Van Wyk and Hartman delivered a 6-4 win over Roman Hill and Will Fiala in the third flight giving the Mavericks the doubles point despite a No. 2 doubles setback as Howe and Abreu were downed in a tie-breaker, 7-6 (7-4).
Maverick freshman
Wayne Aggen and
Brandon Keller also won exhibition singles matches against the Patriots.
Against Colorado College, the Mavericks swept the doubles matches dropping just seven total games.
In singles play, van Wyk and Cure were easy straight-set winners. Abreu then posted a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 win over Andrew Kaelin to seal the team victory.
However, the Mavericks were not done as Abrechtsen and Howe both squeaked out third-set tiebreakers by 11-9 and 13-11 margins.
Hartman also claimed a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win at No. 6 to complete the singles sweep.
Friday's duals were the only two of the fall season for the Maverick men, who will have next week off before competing in the ITA West Regional in Fresno, California from Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
