GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After winning their last two duals to even their overall record at 3-3, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will face another busy and challenging weekend in Idaho and Utah this weekend.  The Mavs are due to play three matches facing NCAA Division I foes Idaho State and Weber State before and after taking on NAIA College of Idaho on Saturday afternoon.
 
Both the 9 a.m. encounter at Idaho State and the 4:30 p.m. match-up with the College of Idaho will be played in Pocatello in ISU's Reed Gym.  The Mavs will then face Weber State at the Ogden (Utah) Athletic Club on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. after a 9:30 a.m. men's match between the institutions.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks got the spring portion of the season underway last weekend playing three matches in two days in metropolitan Phoenix.  They dropped the opener to NAIA Ottawa University of Arizona by a 6-1 margin but came back to record a 6-1 triumph over fellow NCAA Division II foe Western New Mexico University later Friday afternoon.  The Mavs then came back to blast Arizona Christian, 7-0 on Saturday morning.
 
The Mavs won every match against the Firestorm, surrendering just three total games in a doubles sweep while winning five of the six singles matches in straight sets.  Notably, freshman Makenna Livingston defeated NAIA No. 43 Deondra Bacchus, 7-5, 6-4, while redshirt junior Maike Waldburger claimed a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Vittoria Quaddri, tabbed 35th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's NAIA singles rankings.
 
All eight Mavericks to see action throughout the weekend, five of which are freshman, won their matches against the Firestorm.
 
The Mavs had a more difficult path to victory against Western New Mexico, but still prevailed as they won No. 1 and 3 doubles affairs before coming out on top in three of the four 3-set singles matches.  Paige Furin also controlled her No. 6 singles match against the Mustangs, winning 6-1, 6-2 over Nicold Gonzalez.
 
Against Ottawa, Furin and fellow freshman Macy Richards claimed a No. 3 doubles win while another freshman in Kenna Kelley won a third-set tiebreaker at No. 6 to give the Mavs their lone point.
 
Undefeated Freshmen
 
Paige Furin had a perfect 5-0 weekend and is a perfect 5-0 in singles play this season.  She did not play singles against Ottawa, but dropped just three games in her No. 6 singles wins over Gonzalez and Arizona Christian's Samantha Salim on Saturday after moving into the dual singles lineup for the first time in her young collegiate career.
 
The Las Vegas, Nevada product also went 3-0 in doubles matches last weekend, teaming with veteran Maike Waldburger for No. 1 wins in two of the three duals while partnering with Macy Richards for a No. 2 doubles victory over Western New Mexico.  All three victories were by convincing 6-1 margins.  Including tournament matches in the fall, Furin is 6-2 in doubles and has won her last four matches.  She has played with three different partners in Richards, Waldburger and Audrey O'Rear.
 
Meanwhile, Kenna Kelley, another CMU freshman is 4-0 in singles matches this year and has yet to play in doubles.  The Leonard, Texas product has split time at No. 5 and 6 singles this year.
 
Regionally Ranked
 
Another Maverick freshman Makenna Livingston, a native of Huntington Beach, California, also ended the fall ranked 14^th in the ITA's Division II West Regional Singles Rankings, which were announced after the fall season on Nov. 23.  She missed the Pueblo duals weekend in the fall but posted a pair of ITA regional wins advancing to the Round of 16 in the championship bracket.  She claimed her first dual wins of her career on Saturday against Arizona Christian, defeating Bacchus in No. 1 singles after teaming with Macy Richards for a No. 2 doubles victory earlier in the day against the Firestorm.
 
In the poll
 
The Mavericks were tabbed 11^th out of the 15 teams in the Pacific West Conference Women's Tennis Preseason Poll, which was announced on Feb. 3.  The Mavericks are in their second season as affiliate members of the PacWest.  They went 12-13 overall and participated in their first PacWest Championships last spring.
 
Twelve PacWest women's teams will be selected for the PacWest Championships by a conference seeding committee at the end of the regular season.
 
Nearing 250 and 450
 
Maverick Head Coach Dan MacDonald will enter this weekend inching ever closer to a couple of win milestones.  The 17^th-year CMU head coach has compiled a 248-181 (.578) winning percentage on the women's side and also has a 197-204 men's coaching record.
 
He is just five combined wins shy of 450 and two shy of 250 women's victories and has the potential to reach both of those milestones this weekend.
 
Scouting the Opponents

Idaho State
 
The Bengal women are 2-1 thus far in the season having won 4-3 at Utah State in their last match on Feb. 5.  They also won 7-0 over Dixie State on Jan. 23 before falling 5-2 at Utah on Feb. 4.  They had a home match with UTEP last Saturday canceled.  Thus, Saturday's match-up with the Mavericks has turned into their home-opener.  They are due to play their next three and five of the next six at home.
 
In 2022, they Bengals have gone a combined 11-7 in singles matches in the first three duals and sport a 4-5 overall doubles mark. 
 
They have been especially tough in bottom third of the singles lineup as Alexandra Arkhipov, Leah Krurvilla, Sol O'Lideadha and Adriene Pavek are a combined 6-0 at No. 5 and 6 singles.
 
Hana Cho, Megan Lang-Gould and Kuruvilla are all 2-1 in doubles matches.
 
Arkhipov was named as the Big Sky Conference's Player of the Week on Feb. 8.
 
Last year's Bengal squad went 8-8 for Head Coach Gretchen Maloney.
 
College of Idaho
 
The College of Idaho Yotes are 1-3 thus far in the season.  They won 6-3 at Pacific Lutheran to claim their lone win of the season last Saturday in Tacoma, Washington but were downed, 5-4 on Sunday at Puget Sound.  They had also dropped 7-0 decisions to both Whitworth and Lewis Clark State the week prior.
 
Leiana Almaraz has two singles wins to lead the Yotes and was the lone singles victory against Puget Sound after the Yotes had won all three doubles matches against the NCAA Division III Loggers.  They also won two of the three doubles affairs at Pacific Lutheran but were swept in doubles by Whitworth and Lewis Clark State.
 
They were 0-8 in duals in 2021 after going 1-6 as a team during the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 campaign.
 
Weber State
 
Weber State is 2-4 thus far in the spring heading into a Saturday home match with Nevada.  They dropped away duals at BYU (6-0) and Utah State (5-2) last weekend  after claiming their second win by a 4-0 margin over UTEP on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Their other win came on Jan. 22 over Dixie State.
 
The Wildcats are a combined 10-7 in doubles matches and have a .500 or better record in each of the three flights.  The duos of Megan Davies/Sicely Ferreira and Megan Lombardi/Yuuna Ukita are both 4-2. 
 
Ferreira (3-2) and Davies (3-3) lead the Wildcats in singles wins.  Davies has played in the No. 2 singles spot in five of the six duals going 2-3 after claiming an easy 6-1, 6-0 No. 1 singles win over Dixie State's Alexandra Hildreth in the season-opener.  Ferreira has been in the No. 6 spot in each of the last five duals.
 
In 2021, WSU went 8-11 overall while posting a 3-2 Big Sky Conference record.  The Wildcats also advanced to the BSC Tournament finals, before falling 4-2 to Northern Arizona.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs are 0-4 all-time against Idaho State having played the Bengals three times in the last two years alone.  ISU claimed a pair of 7-0 wins in a Feb. 20, 2021 doubleheader in Pocatello and were 6-1 winners over the Mavs on Feb. 2, 2020.  The only previous meeting came back in 2002.
 
The Mavs are 0-7 against Weber State.  The last meeting was on Mar. 19, 2021 when the Wildcats won a 7-0 decision in Grand Junction in what was the first match-up between the teams in more than seven years.
 
The Mavericks won the only previous match-up against C of I, which came nearly 14 years ago.  On Apr. 6, 2008, the Mavericks drubbed the Yotes, 9-0 at home in Grand Junction.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will take next weekend off from competitive action before heading out to southern California to play three PacWest foes in as many days from Mar. 3-5.  They will play at Biola, Concordia Irvine and Point Loma on that trip.