IRVINE, Calif.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's tennis teams have been picked eighth and 12^th, respectively, in the Pacific West Conference's Preseason polls, recently announced by conference officials.
 
If those predictions from the league's coaches hold up, the Mavericks would be just inside the necessary positioning to qualify for the PacWest Championships in April.  The top eight men's and top 12 women's squads as determined by a conference ranking and seeding committee will do so.
 
The Maverick men, who just missed out on that opportunity last year, received 24 points in the poll, finishing ahead of Fresno Pacific (22) and Holy Names (9).
 
Hawai'i Pacific, which has won six PacWest titles since 2013, was picked first with 83 points while Point Loma squeezed into the second spot with 79.  Defending champion Azusa Pacific was just behind and in third with 78.  Biola (59), Concordia (56), Hawai'i Hilo (44) and MSU Denver (41) were in the middle of the poll in the No. 4-7 spots of the poll.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick women were picked 12^th after qualifying for but going 0-2 in each of the past two PacWest tournaments.  The Mavs received 69 points in the 15-team poll, finishing ahead of Stanislaus State (40), Holy Names (34) and Chaminade (19).
 
Hawai'i Pacific received the top spot in the poll with 207 points while Azusa Pacific, which has won back-to-back titles, was picked second with 194.  Point Loma was third with 176.
 
The PacWest does not keep official regular season standings nor have a conference mandated regular season schedule, but still encourages teams to play each other throughout the spring to shake out the seeding for the Apr. 19-22 championship tournament in Surprise, Arizona.
 
CMU began the spring season last weekend in Kearney, Nebraska and will begin the slate against PacWest foes on Mar. 3 at Biola.  The CMU women will play eight PacWest foes a combined nine times while the men are slated to face seven conference foes a combined nine times.