GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University tennis teams will begin the spring season this weekend playing a combined seven matches indoors at the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center in Kearney, Nebraska on Friday and Saturday.
The Maverick women, who went 1-2 in dual matches during the fall season will begin a challenging weekend at 9 a.m. MST (10 a.m. Central) against the host University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers on Friday and will close out their weekend against Augustana, another team receiving votes in the ITA NCAA Division II National Rankings, on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. MST (11:30 a.m. Central). In between, they will take on NAIA Hastings College on Friday at 3 p.m. MST (4 p.m. Central).
Meanwhile, the Maverick men, 0-3 after the fall, will look to get the spring season off to a good start. They will play four matches taking on NAIA Doane and Hastings at Noon and 3 p.m. MST (1 & 4 p.m. Central) on Friday, respectively. They will then play Augustana on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. MST (8:30 a.m. Central) before wrapping up the weekend against William Jewell, a NCAA Division II and Great Lakes Valley Conference foe, at 1:30 p.m. MST (2:30 p.m. Central).
Fall Recap (Women)
The Maverick women played three matches during the Pueblo Duals on Sept. 16-17, defeating Fort Hays State, 6-1 after falling to former South Central Regional foes St. Mary's and Lubbock Texas earlier that weekend. The duals in between two individual tournaments that the Maverick players competed in during the fall.
The Mavs fared quite well at the MSU Denver Invite to begin the fall, winning three flight titles.
CMU then wrapped up the fall by playing host to the ITA West Regional Championships.
Makenna Livingston advanced to the Round of 16 in the singles draw at the tournament while she and
Issy Coman reached the quarterfinals of the doubles draw.
Livingston and freshman
Kristen Thomas both ended the fall with 6-3 individual records while another freshman in
Jane Steur was 4-4. Thomas and Steur both went 2-1 in dual matches at the No. 5 and 6 spots, respectively.
Thomas was also a combined 5-2 in doubles play with three doubles partners while Coman and Livingston went 4-1 together. Livingston played with
Macy Richards in the No. 1 spot during the Pueblo duals as Coman was out of the lineup that week. Livingston was 5-3 in doubles overall.
Fall Recap (Men)
The Maverick men enjoyed a solid fall season as well, highlighted and punctuated by
Tyler Landen and
William Leschig's run to the quarterfinals of the ITA West Regional doubles draw. Landen also reached the Round of 16 in singles play. They were both 1-2 in the top two singles spots of the team lineup at the Pueblo Duals as well.
Landen went 4-4 in singles throughout the fall while Leschig was 4-5.
Henry Scheck was also 4-3 and picked up wins in both of his dual-meet matches in the No. 5 and 6 spots.
In doubles, Landen and Leschig and the team's lone winning overall record. They were 4-3 and went 2-1 at the No. 1 spot in the Pueblo Duals, where the Mavs fell to UT Permian Basin, St. Mary's and Lubbock Christian, the last of which was decided by a 4-3 margin.
The Mavs also went a combined 11-9 in singles play at the season-opening MSU Denver Invitational as all eight mavericks in action won at least one match in that tournament, which saw Landen reach the A Singles semifinal while redshirt freshman
Jamison Pfingston reached the B Singles Draw final, which ended up not being played due to numerous weather delays throughout the weekend.
Ranked Mavs
The fall performances allowed four Maverick players to receive regional rankings from the ITA, which ranked the top 20 singles players and top ten doubles teams from each of the eight regions around the country at the end of the fall season. The organization also ranked the top 50 singles players and top 25 doubles teams.
Makenna Livingston was ranked tenth in the ITA's West Regional women's singles rankings and was sixth in the doubles pecking order alongside
Issy Coman.
Tyler Landen was ranked 14
th in men's singles while he and Leschig were ranked eighth in men's doubles.
Possible Lineup
Although there are still things to decide heading into and as the spring goes along, here is a quick look at the possible lineups Maverick Head Coach
Dan MacDonald may use this weekend.
Men's Singles
- Tyler Landen
- William Leschig
- Jorge Abreu
- Diogo Manzano
- Tegan Hartman
- Henry Scheck
Alternates:
Emil Hultman,
Jandre Van Wyk
Men's Doubles
- Landen/van Wyk
- Leschig/Manzano
- Abreu/Hartman or Hartman/Scheck
Women' Singles
- Makenna Livingston
- Issy Coman
- Macy Richards
- Halle Romero
- Julianna Campos
- Paige Furin
- Alternates: Kristen Thomas, Delia Maier
Women's Doubles
- Livingston/Coman or Livingston Richards
- Romero/Richards or Romero/Furin
- Furin/Campos or Campos/Thomas
200 Men's Wins
The Maverick men could hand Head Coach
Dan MacDonald his 200
th career men's coaching victory this weekend as MacDonald enters the year with 198 men's wins to his credit. In his 18
th year at the helm of both programs, MacDonald also has won 257 women's duals while in charge of the Mavericks.
PacWest Year No. 3
The 2022-23 season is the Mavericks' third as affiliate members of the Pacific West Conference for the sports of men's and women's tennis. Although the conference does not have a set regular-season schedule nor keep regular season standings, they do encourage members to play against each the other throughout the spring.
The conference, which makes up the entirety of the NCAA Division II West Region, has 15 women's and ten men's tennis members.
A seeding committee will rank and seed the top 12 women's and top eight men's teams, who will qualify for the conference championship tournament to be played Apr. 19-22 in Surprise, Arizona. The championship teams from that tournament will then earn the PacWest's automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. Three other PacWest teams will also be selected at-large for the NCAA men's and women's tournaments.
The Maverick women have qualified for the PacWest Championships in each of their first two years but have yet to win a match at the tournament. CMU's men qualified in their first year as members of the conference in 2021, finishing eighth, but did not qualify a year ago.
Tough Road
The PacWest has three men's teams and three women's squads that are in the top 25 of the ITA national team rankings.
Hawai'i Pacific is ranked ninth in the men's rankings while Azusa Pacific is 17
th. Point Loma is ranked 23
rd. Concordia Irvine is also receiving votes.
The PacWest also has three ranked women's teams in No. 4 Hawai'i Pacific, No. 17 Azusa Pacific and No. 21 Point Loma.
The Maverick men will play seven of their nine PacWest foes a combined nine teams this season, playing a home-and-home with fellow Colorado-based affiliate member MSU Denver near the end of the season and will play Hawai'i Hilo twice in neutral venues. The Mavs will make two trips to California in March for a majority of their PacWest matches and will be at home for just two duals all spring.
The CMU women will have just three home duals and will also play eight PacWest foes a combined nine teams, facing MSU Denver twice. Colorado College and CSU Pueblo will also head to Grand Junction in April.
It is worth noting, that many of the PacWest encounters will be on neutral courts in Fresno, California during the Mavs' spring break trip (Mar. 18-21).
Know your Foes
Nebraska-Kearney (Women)
The Lopers enjoyed an impressive fall going 6-0 in duals while claiming 20 combined wins during the ITC Central Regional. They then begin the spring last Friday, defeating fellow "receiving votes" opponent Midwestern State 4-2 in the first-ever dual in the new Ernest Grundy Tennis Center to move to 7-0. UNK also claimed a 7-0 exhibition win over Hastings on Sunday.
The Lopers have three singles players in the ITA's Central Regional rankings in No. 7 Jazmin Zamorano, No. 12 Melisa Becerra and No. 20 Narindra Ranaivo. Becerra and Ranaivo won their No. 1 and No. 3 singles matches against Midwestern State while Zamorano was tied with her opponent 1-1 in the third set in an unfinished matches. Becerra and Zamorano are also ranked eighth in that region for doubles, but dropped their No 1 doubles match to Midwestern State.
Hastings (Women)
The Lady Broncos opened the season with 5-2 victories over both Tabor (Jan. 28) at home and Friends in Wichita, Kansas last Friday. They won the doubles point in each dual, sweeping the doubles matches against Tabor, before taking four singles wins in each dual. The 2021-22 edition of the squad went 3-13.
Augustana (Women)
The Vikings opened their spring season with their first duals of the academic year last weekend. Both of those were played in Kearney and saw the Vikings defeat Midwestern State, 4-2 and MSU Denver, 7-0.
The Viking doubles duo of Florentia Hadjigeorgiou and Senem Ocal, who hail from Cyprus and Turkey, respectively, ended the fall ranked 11
th nationally and third in the Central Region for doubles but went 0-2 in the No. 1 doubles spot last weekend.
However, Hadjigeorgiou, ranked 11
th in the Central region for singles, and Ocal, ranked 17
th, responded in singles play as they both went 2-0 in the top singles spots of the lineup, where the Vikings really shined going a combined 10-1 last weekend.
Doane (Men)
The Tigers opened the spring with a 7-0 win over Saint Mary (Kan.) after falling by the same lop-sided margin against Division II William Jewell on Oct. 8 in their lone dual of the fall season. Jorge Chevez won his third Great Plains Athletic Conference individual title in the fall as well. The Tigers were 13-7 a year ago.
Hastings (Men)
The Broncos dropped their lone dual of the season thus far on Jan. 28 against Tabor, 7-0. Sophomore Nick Smeltzer and freshman Evan Franke claimed the team's lone match win in that contest, taking a No. 1 doubles victory. They went 4-10 last year.
Augustana (Men)
The Viking men dropped their season-opening matches to Midwestern State and MSU Denver last weekend in Kearney, falling 6-1 to the Mustangs and 7-0 to the Roadrunners.
Henry Dornbusch claimed the Vikings' lone singles win in the No. 1 position and teamed with Cade Damgaard for a No. 1 doubles victory over Midwestern State's top duo. As well.
William Jewell (Men)
The Cardinals have amassed a 5-4 team record this year, including a 2-1 record in the spring. They defeated Baker and Maryville, sandwiching a 7-0 defeat to No. 16 Washburn last Saturday.
Ugnius Bickauskis has put together a 9-2 overall and 6-1 dual record at the No. 1 position to lead the team. Julien Lafranchise is also 74 overall and 5-3 in duals, anchoring the back-half of the singles order at No. 4.
Bickauskis is also 7-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in duals in doubles play and has won six straight with three different partners.
Series Histories (Women)
The Mavericks' history with Nebraska-Kearney is quite extensive as both were former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals. The Lopers have won 22 of 38 matches dating back to 1994. They have won 12 of the last 13 matchups, including a 7-0 neutral-site encounter in the previous year on Sept. 17, 2021 in Pueblo. The Mavs' only recent win did come on Feb. 5, 2021 in Grand Island, Nebraska and was by a convincing 5-2 margin.
Current Mavericks
Julianna Campos and
Halle Romero both went 2-0 in that team victory.
The Mavs are a perfect 4-0 all-time against Hastings and have not dropped a match in those duals, the last of which was on Feb. 6, 2021 in Grand Island. The first three matchups were all 9-0 CMU victories in the spring of 2010, 2013 and 2016.
The CMU women have not played Augustana in nearly 11 years. They dropped a 5-4 road match-up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the only previous head-to-head meeting on Apr. 29, 2012.
Series Histories (Men)
The Maverick men have not previously played Doane nor William Jewell, but are a perfect 6-0 all-time against Hastings, blanking the Broncos in each of the last five duals, including a 7-0 win on Feb. 6, 2021 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Current Mavericks
Tyler Landen and Jandre van Wyk both went 2-0 on that day.
CMU's only previous meeting with Augustana was back on Apr. 7, 2012. The Mavericks won that home match-up, 5-4.
Up Next
Both Maverick teams will be on the road next week but playing in a warmer climate. They will head to the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Arizona, where they will face Division II Western New Mexico and NAIA foes Arizona Christian and Ottawa University Arizona, which are both from the metropolitan Phoenix area.
