GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a 4-0 start to their spring season, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's tennis team will hope for continued success this weekend when they head to Arizona for a trio of weekend outdoor matches in Glendale.
 
The Mavericks, 4-3 overall, will face former conference rival Western New Mexico at Noon on Friday before facing NAIA Arizona Christian later that day at 4 p.m.  They will then take on another NAIA foe in Ottawa University of Arizona on Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
All three matches will be played outdoors at the Paseo Racquet Center.  Temperatures are expected to be around 70 degrees, quite a change from the snow on the ground at home and indoor play last weekend in Kearney, Nebraska.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks claimed victory in all four of their duals in Kearney last weekend, defeating NAIA Doane and Hastings by 7-0 margins on Friday before claiming wins over NCAA Division II opposition in Augustana and William Jewell on Saturday.  Those victories came by 6-1 and 5-2 scores, respectively.
 
The Mavs went a combined 22-2 in singles matches throughout the weekend and were a strong 9-3 in doubles affairs.  All four duals were played indoors at the University of Nebraska-Kearney's new Ernest Grundy Tennis Center.
 
Jorge Abreu, later named as the Pacific West Conference's Men's Tennis Player of the Week, and Jandre van Wyk both went 4-0 in singles play throughout the weekend while Maverick freshman Emil Hultman and Diogo Manzano were both 3-0. 
 
Abreu and doubles partner Tegan Hartman were also 4-0 in doubles.
 
Milestone Wins
 
Friday's wins over Doane and Hastings were the 199^th and 200^th men's victories for 18^th Year CMU Head Coach Dan MacDonald, how also has 258 women's wins to his credit and now has 460 total career victories.
 
PacWest Honoree
 
As mentioned above, Jorge Abreu was named as the PacWest Player of the Week.  The announcement was made Tuesday.  He went a perfect 8-0 over the weekend in Kearney and becomes just the second Maverick man to earn PacWest Player of the Week honors since CMU joined the conference as an affiliate member for the 2020-21 season.  Jandre van Wyk earned the honor on Mar. 16 of that debut season.
 
CMU women's player Halle Romero was also recognized that year on Feb. 16, 2021.
 
Winning Streak
 
The Mavs' current 4-dual winning streak is the program's longest since 2017, when CMU won the final four matches of the regular season before claiming a RMAC Tournament semifinal win as well to extend their winning streak to five.
 
They were the RMAC Regular Season Co-Champions that year with a 5-1 RMAC record and finished with a 13-12 overall record, their last winning campaign.
 
Bagels
 
The Mavericks were quite dominant in Friday's win over Hastings, sweeping all six singles matches in straight sets after giving up just six total games in  a doubles sweep over the Broncos.   The Mavs won a combined eight sets by 6-0 margins in singles play against Hastings as Jorge Abreu, Diogo Manzano and Tegan Hartman all recorded "double-bagel" 6-0, 6-0 wins at No. 2, 4 and 6 singles, respectively.
 
Manzano also won by a 6-0, 6-0 margin against Doane's Donat Beke later in the day.
 
Emil Hultman, Jandre Van Wyk and Henry Scheck then all had 6-0 set wins in their matches against William Jewell on Saturday as well.
 
Ranked & Rested
 
Maverick redshirt junior Tyler Landen is currently ranked 14^th in the ITA's West Region Singles rankings while he and fall season doubles partner William Leschig are ranked eighth in doubles.
 
Landen split his two No. 1 singles matches last weekend while getting the wave off against Hastings and William Jewell.  He played with Jandre Van Wyk at No. 1 doubles and went a combined 2-1.  They did not play against Hastings as Head Coach Dan MacDonald gave the freshman duo of Emil Hultman and Henry Scheck a start while moving the other two doubles duos up a spot in the lineup.
 
Know your Foes
 
Western New Mexico
 
The Mustangs will bring a 1-0 official record into a Thursday dual against Arizona Christian.  They defeated Mesa Community College by an 8-1 score on Feb. 4.  The Mustangs have also played three exhibition matches against Division I opposition, falling 6-1 and 4-0 to Northern Arizona and New Mexico State on Valentine's Day (Tuesday).
 
Patricio Larrea claimed a No. 2 singles win over Northern Arizona.
 
The Mustangs dominated doubles play against Mesa Community College winning all three flights by 8-0 margins.  They were pressed a bit more in singles as three of the singles matches went to 10-point super-tiebreakers after the first two sets were split.
 
WNMU finished the 2021-22 campaign with a winning 11-10 overall record.  The Mustangs went 2-5 in Lone Star Conference action.
 
Arizona Christian
 
The Firestorm are currently 0-2 having dropped both ends of a Jan. 21 doubleheader to Northern Arizona.
 
Hugo Abril did take a set off his Lumberjack opponent Alex Groves in the No. 3 singles match of the first dual before playing at the No. 1 spot in the second match.
 
Jonan Wand and Anthony Popyrin were ranked 32^nd and 35^th in the ITA's NAIA National singles rankings from Nov. 16 although Popyrin is not listed on the Firestorm's current roster and did not play against Northern Arizona.  Martin Thomas and Jose Dominguez were ranked 23^rd nationally for doubles although Dominguez is also not listed on the current website roster.  Thomas played with Abril against Northern Arizona.
 
On a regionally scale, Wand was ranked fourth in the West Region while Popyrin and Dominguez were ranked fifth and 19^th, respectively in singles.  Thomas and Dominugez were ranked third in the region for doubles while Popyrin and Wand were eighth.

Last year's Firestorm team went 12-8 overall and were 6-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference matches before advancing to the conference tournament title match.
 
Ottawa
 
The Spirit dropped a 4-0 decision to NCAA Division I UC Riverside on Feb. 8.  Three singles matches were left unfinished in that dual.  The Spirit's Viktor Setzer won the first set of his No. 5 singles match, one of the unfinished matches, 7-5.
 
Goor Adiv is ranked 18^th in the NAIA's West Region, according to the NAIA.

The Spirit were 8-7 overall and 5-3 in Golden State Athletic Conference play last season.
 
Series Histories
 
Western New Mexico has controlled the all-time series with the Mavs, winning 22 of 25 previous duals, although the Mavs did win in both 2020 and 2021 by 6-1 scores before Western New Mexico won a pair of neutral-court duals last year by 4-3 and 5-2 scores.  CMU's 2020 win was the first in 14 years against the Mustangs, who used to be Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals.
 
The two teams have played at least once every spring dating back to 2006.
 
The rivalry with Arizona Christian is much younger although the teams will square off for the third straight year on Friday.  The teams have split six previous duals, 3-3, all of which have been played at various sites in the metropolitan Phoenix area The Firestorm have won three of the last four, taking a 6-1 decision on Feb. 12, 2022.  CMU won the 2021 encounter, 4-3.
 
Saturday's match-up with the OUAZ Spirit will be the third straight February encounter.  Ottawa has won the previous two by 6-1 and 4-1 scores.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will be off next week before making their first of two March trips to California for match-ups with PacWest foes.  They will play at Biola on Mar. 3 and at No. 17 Azusa Pacific a day later.