GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a solid start to the season in individual style play, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's tennis team will begin team play this weekend facing three Texas opponents this weekend at the Pueblo Duals.
The Mavs will face St. Mary's and UT Permian Basin on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. before wrapping up the weekend with an 8:30 a.m. encounter against first-year program Lubbock Christian on Saturday morning. All three matches will be played at the Pueblo City Park Tennis Complex.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks began their season last Saturday and Sunday playing at the MSU Denver Invitational.
Redshirt freshman
Jamison Pfingston went a perfect 4-0 to lead the way as the Mavs combined for an 11-9 record in singles matches and a 3-3 mark in doubles action during the 2-day tournament, hampered by multiple weather delays on Saturday.
Pfingston went 3-0 in singles and advanced to the B Singles Draw final, which was not played. He and Jandre van Wyk also posted a B Doubles victory.
Meanwhile,
Tyler Landen went 2-1 in the A Singles Draw, advancing to the semifinals.
Maverick newcomer
Emil Hultman also went 2-1 in A Singles play, winning a pair of matches in the back draw.
Elsewhere,
Diogo Manzano and van Wyk were also 1-1 in B Singles action while
William Leschig went 1-2 in the A draw brackets.
Manzano and
Henry Scheck also won their only B Doubles match and advanced to the finals, where they were slated to play van Wyk and Pfingston.
A look at the Maverick Lineup
Here is a look at the Mavs' probable singles lineup for this weekend's duals, as announced by Head Coach
Dan MacDonald. In these season-opening duals, MacDonald plans to move players in and out of the bottom third of the lineup while also experimenting with doubles partnerships.
Each players' singles record at the MSU Denver Invitational and last year's season-record where applicable are in parenthesis.
Singles
- Tyler Landen (2-1; 4-8 in 2021-22)
- William Leschig (1-2; Freshman)
- Emil Hultman (2-1; Freshman)
- Jorge Abreu (1-1; 10-13 in 2021-22)
- Diogo Manzano (1-1; Freshman)
- Henry Scheck (0-2, Freshman)
Others*: Jandre van Wyk (1-1; 6-13 in 2021-22;
Jamison Pfingston (3-0; Redshirted last year)
Freshman Heavy
The Mavericks will have as many as four true freshmen in their lineups this weekend. Three of those were all teammates at the Weil Tennis Preparatory School in Ojai, California in
William Leschig,
Diogo Manzano and
Henry Scheck. Swede
Emil Hultman is also a part of the group.
A Big Jump
Redshirt junior
Tyler Landen has made a big jump in the Maverick singles lineup going into the fall. Injured last fall and for the early stages of the spring, Landen then played in the No. 4 and 5 singles spots last season.
The Centennial, Colorado native had played mostly in the No. 3 singles spot as a redshirt freshman in the spring of 2021 and split time between the No. 3 and 4 spots as a true freshman in 2019-20.
As one of the few veterans on the Maverick squad, Landen is not a stranger to the hot seat and has been a regular in the top doubles flight throughout his 3-plus years as a Maverick.
Looking for 200
Maverick Head Coach
Dan MacDonald enters this weekend looking for his 200
th career men's victory. He begins the campaign, his 18
th in charge, with 198, and could reach the milestone as early as Friday. MacDonald also has 256 career victories with the Maverick women.
Know your Foe
St. Mary's
The Rattlers are coming off a strong 17-7 season and their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022.
Rattler Director of Tennis Bill Macom's squad then got their fall season underway last weekend hosting an invitational and won two singles titles. They also had a pair of doubles teams in the finals before those matches were called due to lightning.
Junior Ryan Koth and sophomore Alvaro Soler won their singles flights while Koth and Jake Faryniarz reached the doubles final in flight two while Sabastian Azcui and Nicolas Llosa only dropped two games in advancing to the finals of flight three.
Both Oskar Irdoj, back for his junior season, and Llosa broke the Rattler record for singles wins last season, claiming their 20
th during the Lone Star Conference Tournament. The Rattlers advanced to the semifinals after going 4-3 in conference play and then earned the No. 4 seed for the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.
About UT Permian Basin
The Falcons went 7-10 overall and 1-6 in Lone Star Conference play a year ago and will begin the 2022-23 campaign on Thursday against MSU Denver.
Patryk Kosinski led last year's edition of the Falcons with an 8-3 singles record, including one win in the top flight and a strong 6-3 mark at No. 2. He is back this year
About Lubbock Christian
The Chaps started their tennis programs this season and got things underway last weekend, competing at the Cameron Invite in Lawton, Oklahoma. Freshman Kelly Giese has the top performance, defeating Cameron's Tomas Almeida, last year's LSC Newcomer of the Year.
Martins Abamu also had a notable win, defeating 2018 ITA Rookie of the Year Luis Diaz Argente of Midwestern State. Abamu and Herman Aguirre also teamed up for doubles and went 2-1. In total, the Chaps won six doubles matches last week.
They will play Colorado College on Thursday and against MSU Denver on Friday before wrapping up the Pueblo Duals against the Mavs.
Series Histories
The Mavs are 0-3 all-time against St. Mary's, facing the Rattlers only on neutral courts. The last meeting was on Apr. 1, 2017 in Colorado Springs, a match-up the Rattlers, won 5-1.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks are 5-2 all-time against UTPB. The two teams faced off every year from 2014-19 at the Pueblo Duals after first facing off at the U.S. Air Force Academy in the fall of 2012. CMU won the last match-up on Sept. 13, 2019 by a 5-2 margin.
Tyler Landen won his No. 4 singles match on that day as a freshman while also teaming up with
Steven Howe for a No. 2 doubles win.
CMU has never faced Lubbock Christian, a first year-program, in a dual before.
Up Next
After this weekend's team duals, the Mavericks will have a weekend off from competition before returning to individual-style play with the ITA West Regional Championships, that the Mavericks will host from Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Elliott Tennis Center and Canyon View Park.
