ST. GEORGE, Utah— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team claimed 4-3 wins in both halves of a doubleheader against NCAA Division I Dixie State University on Saturday.
In the process, they defeated a Division I opponent for the first time since the 2016 season-opener against Southern Utah and gave their head coach
Dan MacDonald a milestone victory.
He was not there.
MacDonald, who coached the Maverick men to their first-ever Pacific West Conference win on Friday afternoon in Grand Junction, Colorado, did not make the trip with the women, instead entrusting long-time assistant David Smith to guide the Mavs on the Trailblazer Tennis Courts.
Although Smith coached the Mavericks on Saturday, the wins are still officially credited to MacDonald who picked up his 250
th career victory with the Mavs' morning triumph.
MacDonald is now 251-186 in women's duals in his 17 years with CMU.
All eight Mavericks in action on Saturday contributed to the dual wins as the Mavs moved to 6-8 overall after snapping a 4-match slide. The Trailblazers fell to 2-12.
Freshman
Makenna Livingston led the way with three total victories, including the afternoon dual clincher while
Julianna Campos won both of her singles affairs. Freshman
Kenna Kelley also won her lone match of the day at No. 6 singles in the afternoon.
The Mavericks dropped the doubles point in the morning although
Halle Romero and
Issy Coman were able to get a 6-2 No. 3 doubles victory. The Mavs then rallied to claim four singles victories as
Maike Waldburger pulled out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles over Sabrina Longson to secure MacDonald's milestone victory.
Livingston and fellow freshman
Macy Richards had also recorded dominated singles wins to give the Mavs a 2-1 overall lead. Richards was a 6-0, 6-2 No. 5 winner over Angelina Amelkina while Livingston took down Juliana Honczaruk, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2.
The Trailblazers then took the No. 4 match before Campos claimed a 7-5, 6-1 win over Jane Dorney at No. 6 singles to put the Mavs ahead for good, 3-2, setting up Waldburger for the clincher.
In the afternoon, the Mavericks won the doubles point as Waldburger and
Paige Furin claimed a 6-3 win over Longson and Dorny at No. 3 after Richards and Livingston had won by the same margin in the top flight over DSU's Alexandra Hildreth and Ya-Chi Hsu.
However, the Trailblazers won the first two completed singles matches in the middle of the ladder before Kelley defeated Dorny, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6 singles to level the dual at 2.
Campos then claimed a 6-2, 6-4 win over Cami Oyama at No. 5 for the Mavs before Honczaruk was able to get past Waldburger in the No. 2 match, setting the stage for Livingston in the top flight clash.
Livingston won the first set of her battle with Hildreth in a tie-breaker by a 7-2 margin and then posted a slightly more comfortable 6-3 second-set win.
The Maverick were scheduled to face Western New Mexico in a mid-week affair but that match has been canceled.
Instead, the Mavericks will resume PacWest play with four matches in as many days starting next Saturday at No. 14 Azusa Pacific.
