GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After playing each of their first 21 duals of the fall and spring season on the road, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will finally have the chance to play at home as they close out the regular season with three matches in as many days at the Elliott Tennis Center.
 
The Mavericks, 9-12 overall, will take on MSU Denver on Friday at 2 p.m. in their final match of the year against a fellow Pacific West Conference opponent.  They will then take on another long-time rival in CSU Pueblo on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. before closing out the weekend and the regular season against yet another in-state opponent in Division III Colorado College on Sunday at 10 a.m.
 
The Mavericks will also hold Senior Day festivities on Sunday morning beginning at 8:45 a.m. before warming-up for the match against the Tigers.  Lauren Thomas and Maike Waldburger will be recognized during those ceremonies along with three members of the Maverick men's team, which will also play MSU Denver and Colorado College on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks enjoyed a fairly strong 2-1 weekend on Colorado's Front Range last weekend, where they played each of the same opponents that they will face this week.  They began the trip with a narrow 4-3 defeat at MSU Denver on Friday before claiming dominant 8-1 and 7-0 wins at Colorado College and CSU Pueblo on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
 
Julianna Campos, Macy Richards and Maike Waldburger all went 3-0 in singles play throughout the weekend while Campos had a perfect 5-0 overall record after teaming with Lauren Thomas for a 2-0 doubles record.  Richards and Waldburger also won two of their three doubles matches with separate partners to tally 5-win weekends as well.
 
The Mavs won three singles matches against MSU Denver but came up just short after dropping two of the three doubles affairs.  They then won all three doubles matches at CC on Saturday while also taking five of the six singles matches, all of which came in straight sets.
 
The Mavs were even more dominant against CSU Pueblo conceding just five total games in the three official and four total doubles victories before sweeping all six official singles matches, five in straight sets.  The Mavs combined to win five of those sets by 6-0 margins as Campos won her No. 4 singles match in flawless 6-0, 6-0 fashion.
 
PacWest Rankings
 
The Maverick women dropped one spot and currently sit 12^th out of 15 teams in the PacWest Tennis Rankings, released Tuesday for the third time.  The rankings are voted upon by administrators from the conference, representing the geographical regions of it.  They will be updated one more time after this week's results leading into Monday's (Apr. 11) qualifiers and seeding announcement for the PacWest Championship Tournament.
 
That tournament will be held from Apr. 20-23 in Surprise, Arizona and will include 12 teams.
 
The Mavericks have a 4-9 record against Division II foes and are 1-7 against other PacWest opponents. 
 
MSU Denver, which is 7-7 against Division II opposition and 1-4 against other PacWest teams, is ranked just two spots ahead of the Mavericks in the No. 10 spot, giving the Mavericks a chance at securing a spot with a good result on Friday.
 
Cal State LA is now ranked 11^th after the Golden Eagles, 3-8 nationally and 1-4 against the PacWest, split two matches last week winning at 13^th-ranked Stanislaus State, 1-5 against D-II and PacWest foes.
 
Stanislaus hosts Dominican on Wednesday and is at Holy Names on Friday.  Cal State LA hosts Azusa Pacific, ranked third in the conference, on Wednesday and NAIA Hope International on Friday.
 
The Mavs will not play Cal State LA nor Stanislaus State, which makes head-to-head comparisons difficult for the committee.
 
To see the complete and current rankings, click here.
 
Senior Capsules
 
The Mavericks will recognize their two fourth-year players, who both joined the program as freshman in 2018-19, before Sunday's match with Colorado College.
 
Lauren Thomas
 
The Littleton, Colorado native has recorded 35 career wins in three on-court seasons with the Mavericks after redshirting as a freshman in 2018-19.  Technically a redshirt sophomore in eligibility, Thomas could choose to return for a fifth or even sixth year if she later chooses to take advantage of the NCAA COVID eligibility waiver.  She is 5-4 in doubles play this spring and has played in some exhibition singles matches as well.  Thomas also led the 2021 Maverick team in doubles winning percentage (.667) after going 12-6 and was named to the Academic All-PacWest squad last year.  She was also a 2021 ITA Scholar-Athlete as a nursing major.
 
Maike Waldburger
 
Hailing from Wesel, Germany, Waldburger enters her final regular season weekend with 82 career victories, including 42 in singles and 40 in doubles to rank amongst the program's all-time top 20 in both disciplines.  She leads all current Mavericks in both categories and has been a regular starter throughout her 4-year Maverick career.  As the team captain and a veteran "coach on the court" in a freshman-heavy lineup, Waldburger leads this year's team with 13 singles and 23 total wins playing exclusively in the top half of the singles lineup and enters this weekend on a 4-match singles winning streak.   She has also reached double-figures for doubles wins in three of her four years as a Maverick, earning Second Team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors as a freshman in 2019, the final year that the RMAC sponsored the sport.  She was also named as the RMAC Player of the Week on Mar. 13 of that year and was named to the 2021 Academic All-PacWest squad in CMU's initial year of Pacific West Conference membership last spring.  Like Thomas, Waldburger would be eligible to return in 2022-23 if she chose to take advantage of the NCAA eligibility waiver and is thus officially listed on the Maverick roster as a redshirt junior.
 
Home Debut
 
As crazy as it sounds, Friday's dual with MSU Denver will be the Mavericks' home debut.  The Mavs were 2-3 at home last year winning their last two match-ups over CSU Pueblo and Colorado College.  The Mavs also went 2-0 at home in 2019-20 defeating Dixie State and Colorado College in the fall portion of the season before a majority of the spring season was canceled due to COVID before the Mavs had any home matches.

Campos Cruising
 
Maverick sophomore Julianna Campos will enter the weekend having won each of her last six matches.  She has won four straight singles matches, posting two 6-3, 6-0 and another 6-0, 6-0 victory in the stretch.  She also re-entered the doubles lineup on Saturday posting 8-4 and 6-1 doubles wins in the third flight alongside Lauren Thomas against CC and CSU-Pueblo.  She and Thomas have won four straight doubles matches overall dating back to Feb. 12.
 
Coaching Milestones
 
Maverick Head Coach Dan MacDonald will enter this weekend having won his 250^th career women's match on Mar. 12 when the Mavericks swept Division I Dixie State.  He now has 254 career wins and is 254-190 (.572) with the Maverick women.  He also 197 victories with the Maverick men and reached the 450 total win mark on Saturday when the Maverick men and women swept Colorado College on Saturday.
 
Scouting the MSU Denver Roadrunners
 
The Roadrunners will enter Friday's match with an 8-8 overall record and are 7-7 against Division II foes after defeating the Mavericks and CSU Pueblo last Friday and Saturday, respectively.  They also won 7-0 over Colorado College on Sunday and enter the weekend with some momentum on after going 0-4 on a recent trip to California.  They had won four straight non-conference matches prior to that and have certainly been on a roller-coaster of swings.
 
Throughout the season, Ava Neuburger-Higby leads the Roadrunners with a 14-6 singles record.  She is 11-3 in duals meets having gone 8-3 at No. 1 and 3-0 at No. 2.  Monica Guarin also has a winning record at the other end of the lineup having gone 10-8 overall and 8-7 in duals, all but three of which have been played in the No. 6 spot.
 
The Roadrunners have fared better in doubles posting winning records and double-figure win totals in all three flights.  They are 10-6 at No.1 and No. 3 and have an 11-5 record in the second flight.   The Roadrunners have won the doubles point in 11 of their 13 duals and have won 21 of the 24 doubles matches in their team victories.
 
Isabel Heras and Neuburger-Higby have won 11 doubles matches together (11-7), having gone 9-4 in the No. 1 flight.  The Gala Castello/Marie Cool duo is 9-3 at No. 2 as well.

Neuburger-Higby and Heras are both 12-8 overall in doubles play while Cool has a 12-7 record.  Castello (10-3), Kayla Mybrugh (11-6) and Lilly Steienemer (10-7) have reached double-figures for doubles wins as well.
 
Scouting the Colorado College Tigers
 
The NCAA Division III Tigers slipped to 5-9 overall after dropping an 8-1 decision to the Mavericks and a 7-0 bout at MSU Denver over the weekend. 
 
Malia Rivera was their lone victor of the weekend, taking Saturday's No. 6 singles match against the Mavericks.
 
Gigi Jensen leads the Tiger squad with eight singles wins and has the team's only winning record at 8-7.  Christina Heffron (7-9) and Maddy Meister (7-11) are right behind as mainstays in the top half of the lineup.  Heffron also has a 7-6 dual record all at No. 1 while Meister has played nine times at No. 2.
 
The Tigers have put together a 7-7 record in the No. 3 doubles spot with a variety of partnerships.  Elizabeth Girian and Heffron are 3-2 together.
 
Scouting the CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves
 
The ThunderWolves are currently 0-9 in a limited schedule.  They lost 6-1 at MSU Denver last Saturday before dropping the 7-0 decision to the Mavs on Sunday.  Their point on Saturday came from Sonrisa Bustamante due to forfeit.
 
No. 1 singles player Kali Hamilton took both of her singles matches to three sets last week but was downed in both.
 
Series Histories
 
As expected with their relative proximity, the Mavericks have an extensive history against each of their three remaining opponents.
 
The Mavs are now 27-30 overall against MSU Denver but have dropped 13 straight matches to the Roadrunners since last defeating them at home on Mar. 15, 2016.  The Mavs are 9-10 against the Roadrunners at home.
 
The Mavericks have dominated their other upcoming opponents.  They have now won 36 straight matches against CSU Pueblo since 2017 and are 45-11 against them all-time.  The teams were both members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference before the conference dropped sponsorship of the sport following the 2018-19 season.  The Mavs are 23-3 against them at home and have not lost a home match against the ThunderWolves since 2014.  Each of the last five meetings have gone to the Mavericks by 7-0 scores.
 
The Mavs also have also defeated Colorado College 13 straight times since Mar. 25, 2012 to take a 17-11 series lead.  The Tigers' last win over CMU came on Apr. 10, 2009.  However, the Mavericks have gone just 4-5 against them at home winning each of the last four in the odd-numbered years since and including 2015.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will learn their post-season fate on Monday (Apr. 11) and if selected, will begin the PacWest Championship Tournament with a first round match on Wednesday, Apr. 20 in Surprise, Arizona.  That 12-team tournament runs through Saturday, Apr. 23 with the winner earning the conference's automatic qualification spot into the NCAA Division II Tournament.