GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will continue its season in a warmer climate this weekend as the Mavericks will play three duals on Friday and Saturday at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Arizona.
The Mavs, now 2-4 overall, will take on former conference rival Western New Mexico at noon on Friday before facing NAIA Arizona Christian later that day at 4 p.m. and again on Saturday at 1 p.m.
CMU was originally scheduled to play Ottawa University of Arizona on Saturday, but the Spirit have been unable to field a women's team this spring, resulting in the late change and a second match-up with ACU.
Temperatures for the outdoor matches this weekend are expected to be in the high 60s or low 70s, quite a change from the snow on the ground at home and indoor play last weekend in Kearney, Nebraska.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks began the spring portion of their season last weekend playing three indoor matches in the University of Nebraska-Kearney's new Ernest Grundy Tennis Center. The Mavs were on both sides of lopsided scores in the indoor matches falling 7-0 to the host Lopers before bouncing back for a 7-0 win over NAIA Hastings later on Friday. The Mavs then fell 5-0 to Augustana on Saturday.
Nebraska-Kearney and Augustana are receiving votes in the ITA's NCAA Division II National Poll.
All eight Mavericks to play throughout the weekend recorded a singles win while all three doubles partnerships claimed a win during the sweep of Hastings.
Blanking the Broncos
The Mavericks were dominant in Friday's win over Hastings, winning two of the three doubles sets by 6-0 margins. The Mavericks also won all six singles matches in straight sets. All six included at least one set decided by a 6-0 margin.
Paige Furin,
Kristen Thomas and
Delia Maier all won their No. 3, 4 and 5 singles matches in 6-0, 6-0 fashion.
The victory was the first singles triumph of Maier's career.
Ranked Mavs
Maverick sophomore
Makenna Livingston has begun the spring season, ranked tenth in the ITA's West Regional singles rankings. She and fall doubles partner
Issy Coman are also ranked sixth in the doubles rankings. Coman did not play last weekend.
Top rung debut
Maverick sophomore
Macy Richards got her first opportunity in the top spot of the Maverick singles lineup on Friday in the win over Hastings, delivering a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 No. 1 singles win over the Broncos' Theresa Price.
Makenna Livingston has been the Mavs' No. 1 player in the other five duals of the season but was given a singles wave off after pairing with Richards for a 6-0 No. 1 doubles win over Price and Paige Wilcoxson.
Know your Foes
Western New Mexico
Western New Mexico opened the spring season with two wins over junior college opponents, defeating Mesa Community College and Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, Arizona on Feb. 4. The Mustangs won the matches by 9-0 and 8-1 margins.
They swept the doubles matches in both duals and lost only at No. 2 singles against the Monsters.
Willemjen Van Mierlo, a freshman who hails from Amsterdam, Netherlands, played at No. 1 singles in both matches claiming a 6-0, 6-0 win over Mesa before winning a super tie-breaker against Eastern Arizona's after splitting the first two sets by 6-4 margins against her Monster opponent.
The Mustangs and third-year Head Coach Alex Hunt have players from nine different countries on their 11-woman roster. They will play at Arizona Christian on Thursday before facing the Mavs.
WNMU went 6-15 overall and 0-9 in Lone Star Conference matches last year.
Arizona Christian
The Firestorm claimed victory in their lone match to date, knocking off short-handed Pacific Lutheran by a 6-1 margin on Feb. 1.
Deonadra Bacchus and Vittoria Quadri are ranked 13
th and 14
th, respectively, in the ITA's NAIA West Region singles rankings while the pair is ranked sixth as a doubles duo. They won their No. 1 doubles match-up against the Lutes by an 8-4 margin and both were dominant singles winners, dropping just five total games in their No. 1 and No. 2 singles wins over PLU.
Bacchus and Quadri were both All-Golden State Athletic Conference selections last year during the Firestorm's 5-13 overall (3-5 GSAC) season.
Series Histories
The Mavericks lead the series with Western New Mexico 20-7 and have won three straight and five of the last six match-ups, all played on neutral courts. The two teams have met every season since 2006 and used to be fierce Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals, who played in the RMAC Tournament championship match for four straight years from 2013-16 before the Mustangs left the conference.
CMU leads the all-time series with Arizona Christian by a 4-2 margin after winning 7-0 and 6-1 matches over each of the past two seasons after the Firestorm claimed a 6-3 win in 2018.
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.
