GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After returning from California for their spring break trip, the Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will head across the Rocky Mountains to play a pair of matches on Colorado's Front Range this weekend.
 
The Mavericks, 3-13 overall, open the weekend on Friday at 2 p.m. against fellow Pacific West Conference affiliate member MSU Denver, ranked 43rd in the latest ITA national rankings.  They will then head down I-25 to play Division III Colorado College at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs at 11 a.m. on Saturday.  The Maverick women are also playing the same teams at the same times and have a Sunday morning match at CSU Pueblo as well.
 
The Maverick men will then host the same two opponents to close out the regular season at home next weekend.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played four PacWest foes in as many days from Mar. 19-22 in California.  The Mavericks lost all four although the middle two matches against Holy Names (Mar. 20) and Fresno Pacific (Mar. 21) were by the narrowest of 4-3 margins.  The Mavericks also played at No. 22 Azusa Pacific to begin the stretch and against defending PacWest and NCAA Division II West Regional Champion Hawai'i Hilo on the last of three days in Fresno.
 
On an individual basis, the Mavericks had three different men who claimed two singles wins during the trip. Tyler Landen went 2-1 at No. 4 singles while Tegan Hartman and Steven Howe both went 2-2.  Howe's wins came at the No. 1 singles while Hartman went 2-1 at No. 6 and played one match at No. 5 as well.
 
Hartman and Jorge Abreu were also a strong 3-1 at No. 3 doubles while Howe and Jandre van Wyk also won a No. 2 doubles match.
 
Tiger Rematch
 
Saturday's encounter at Colorado College will be the second of three scheduled matches between the Mavericks and Tigers.  The two teams played on Sept. 17 during the fall portion of the season as part of the Pueblo Duals.  The Mavericks dominated on that day winning all three doubles matches before sweeping the six singles matches as well.  The Mavericks won four of those singles matches in straight sets while winning thrilling match tie-breakers at No. 1 and 3.
 
The Mavs will also close out the regular season against the Tigers on Apr. 10.
 
Needing wins
 
The Mavericks enter this weekend needing some wins to qualify for the upcoming PacWest Tournament.  The Mavericks were ranked eighth in the initial set of conference rankings but slipped to the tenth and last spot in this week's rankings, released Tuesday, after falling 4-3 to Holy Names and Fresno Pacific in their recent trip to California.
 
The rankings are voted upon by administrators from the conference, representing the geographical regions of it.  They will continue to be updated on a weekly basis leading up to the Apr. 11 qualifiers and seeding announcement for the PacWest Championship Tournament.
 
That tournament will be held from Apr. 21-23 in Surprise, Arizona and will only include eight of the ten PacWest teams.
 
The Mavs have a 2-9 record against other Division II foes and are 1-7 against PacWest opponents.  They have split two earlier matches with Fresno Pacific with each winning on the road.  Fresno Pacific is now ranked eighth, while Holy Names is ninth, largely due to last week's head-to-head victory over the Mavericks, their only Division II victory.
 
CMU has also played the second through seventh ranked teams with the exception of MSU Denver, who they will play twice in eight days.  Hawai'i Pacific is the only team the Mavericks will not play during the regular season and leads the conference rankings.
 
To see the complete and current rankings, click here.
 
Youth Movement
 
Thanks in part to his recent successes in California, Maverick freshman Tegan Hartman has taken over the team lead for wins in both singles and doubles play.  He now has a 9-10 record in singles action, including a 7-8 mark in duals.  He is 7-4 at No. 6.
 
In doubles, the Idaho Falls, Idaho native has been playing at No. 3 alongside Jorge Abreu in each of the Mavericks' last six affairs after playing with Moises Cure and Jandre van Wyk earlier in the season.  Hartman has a team-best 8-9 doubles record overall with his three partners.
 
Hartman's 17 overall wins also lead the team and are three more than his current doubles partner in Abreu, who is 8-11 in singles and 6-11 in doubles.  Christian Albrechtsen is third on the team with 13 victories.
 
Scouting the Roadrunners
 
The Roadrunners have an 8-3 overall record and coming off similar 4-match trip through Southern California, which saw them to go 2-2 last week.  They began the trip with 4-3 and 6-1 wins over Point Loma and Fresno Pacific.  The Roadrunners then fell 6-1 to No. 47 Biola and Concordia Irvine to end the trip.
 
The 'Runners were ranked 43^rd in last week's ITA NCAA Division II National rankings, which are slated to be updated again on Thursday.
 
Three different Roadrunners have already reached double figures for singles wins.  Andy Caruana leads the bunch with a 12-4 overall record.  He is also a team-best 8-2 in duals having gone 4-0 at No. 6 and 4-2 in the No. 3, 4 and 5 spots combined.
 
Jeanloup Auzias is 10-6 overall and has a 6-4 dual record, including a 4-4 mark in the top flight.  Carlos Pinedo is 11-5 overall and has played exclusively in the top half of the lineup.
 
Alejandro Jimenez is also 9-3 overall, playing in the No. 4-6 spots during duals.
 
In doubles play, Caruana and Pinedo are 9-7 together, including a 6-4 mark at No. 2 doubles.  Auzias and Dayton Fisher are also 6-4 together and have a 5-2 mark at No. 3.  Billy and Jack McDermott are 3-5 in the No. 1 doubles position.
 
Scouting the Tigers
 
The Colorado College Tigers have an 8-4 record and are red-hot having won each of their five matches in a Mar. 18-23 trip to Orlando, Florida.  The Division III Tigers are 1-2 against Division II opposition having defeated Dallas Baptist, 5-2 while falling 7-0 to CMU in the fall.  They also fell 6-3 to Western New Mexico on Mar. 13 before departing for Orlando.  The Tigers also have their best regional ranking in program history, sitting No. 16 in the West Region according to the ITA.
 
Tiger freshman Nate Beerman was named as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Men's Tennis Player of the Week after going 3-0 at No. 5 singles and 5-0 at No. 3 doubles with Jacob Adas.
 
Beerman now leads the Tigers in singles wins with nine and is 9-3 in duals.  No. 6 singles regular Alex Kley and No. 4 regular Lucas Pastor also have winning 8-6 overall records. 
 
The Tigers have been far from routine in their doubles partnerships and lineup, although Kley and Pastor have been a solid 5-2 together, going 5-1 in duals in the second flight.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks will be looking to snap a 10-match losing streak to the Roadrunners, who lead the all-time series 32-15.  The Mavericks are 5-15 against the Roadrunners in Denver with their last win coming back on Apr. 8, 2017, just 15 days before the Roadrunners started their 10-match winning streak by reversing the 5-4 margin in the final of that year's RMAC Tournament.
 
The two teams both joined the PacWest as affiliate members last year and played three times last April.  The Roadrunners won 6-1 on Apr. 9 in Denver before claiming a 5-2 in Grand Junction a week later.  The Roadrunners then picked up a 4-1 win during last year's PacWest Tournament.
 
Conversely, the Mavericks have dominated Colorado College as of late defeating the Tigers 16 straight times since 2012.  They met three times in the 2021 calendar year with the Mavs winning 7-0 in Colorado Springs on Apr. 10 before taking a 5-2 home win a week later.  The Mavs then won 7-0 on Sept. 17 during the fall portion of this current academic year.
 
The Mavs hold a 23-4 record in the all-time series and have won 12 out of the 15 matches in Colorado Springs, including each of the last eight.
 
CC's last win over the Mavericks was on Apr. 10, 2009 in Colorado Springs.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home to face the same two foes next weekend in the back-end of home-and-home series.  They will play MSU Denver on Friday, Apr. 8 at 2 p.m. before closing out the regular season against CC on Sunday, Apr. 10 at 10 a.m.
 
The Mavericks will then learn their PacWest Tournament fate on Apr. 11.