FRESNO, Calif.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team was unable to complete a season sweep of the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds, who handed the Mavericks their second 4-3 defeat in as many days on Monday afternoon here at the Haak Tennis Complex.
The Mavericks fell to 3-12 on the season and to 0-3 on their trip to California after being downed by the same 4-3 score on Sunday against Holy Names and by a 6-1 county by No. 22 Azusa Pacific on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Sunbirds improved to 5-7 overall reversing the result in three of the singles matches
from the previous meeting between the teams just ten days ago in the Mavericks' home opener on Mar. 11. The Mavs won that dual 5-2 after winning five of the six singles matches.
On Monday, the Mavericks were able to win just three of the singles matches as
Tegan Hartman won for the second time over Pablo Zubieta at No. 6 singles before the Sunbirds clinched the dual with their third singles victory at No. 3.
In that match, Joshua Wong bounced back from a 6-0 second set defeat to take the third in his 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 victory over CMU's
Jorge Abreu, who had won a tight 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) decision in the earlier match-up.
FPU's Martin Ramirez also avenged an earlier loss to Maverick veteran
Christian Albrechtsen, winning his Monday afternoon No. 2 singles match, 6-2, 6-2.
Sven Bangert also avenged a No. 5 singles defeat to CMU's
Jandre van Wyk, winning 6-3, 6-1 on his home court.
Those victories clinched the dual for the Sunbirds, who had also won the No. 1 and 3 doubles matches to seize the early momentum and 1-0 team lead.
The Mavericks did get wins at No. 1 and 4 singles as
Steven Howe defeated Ben Cronau for the second time. Howe dropped the opening set in a tie-breaker but rallied to win the second, 6-2. He was then up 4-1 in the third when Cronau retired due to injury.
Howe went 2-0 on the day as he and van Wyk had defeated Gregor Kliimask and Ramirez, 7-5 at No. 2 doubles.
Tyler Landen also picked up his third singles win in four outings, avenging an earlier loss to Kliimask. The two players split the first two sets, 6-2 with Kliimask winning the first. However, Landen prevailed in the third-set tie-breaker, 7-5.
The Mavs will wrap up their trip on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. PDT (10:30 a.m. Mountain) facing defending Pacific West Conference yet struggling Hawai'i Hilo. The Vulcans have won four straight matches to improve to 5-8 after getting out to a 1-8 start against mostly nationally-ranked opposition.
