GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will return to California in search of needed Pacific West Conference wins playing four matches in as many days in Fresno, beginning Saturday.
 
The Mavs (5-7) will play three neutral-court matches at three different locations in the city before wrapping up the trip on Tuesday in a true away match at Fresno Pacific. 
 
The stretch begins Saturday at 4 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. Mountain) against Holy Names at the Copper River Tennis Club.  The Mavs will then move to Fresno Pacific's Haak Tennis Complex for a Sunday match against Hawai'i Hilo at the same time.  They will then play CUI at 1 p.m. PDT (2 p.m. Mountain) on Monday at the Fig Garden Swim and Racquet Club before taking on the Sunbirds at 8 a.m. PDT (9 a.m. Mountain) on Tuesday morning.
 
The Maverick women are also playing four matches over four days.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were off last weekend after playing twice in Southern California on the previous weekend (Mar. 3-4).  On that trip, the Mavs played their first two PacWest foes of the season, falling to Biola, 6-1 before going down 5-2 to No. 18 Azusa Pacific.
 
Diogo Manzano was victorious for the Mavericks against Biola, winning his No. 6 singles match over the Eagles' Callen Hein by a 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.
 
The Mavs were also able to claim a No. 6 singles win over Azusa Pacific as Henry Scheck out-lasted Dylan Parsley in a super tie-breaker, 10-3.
 
However, that was far from the biggest highlight of the day as Maverick redshirt junior Tyler Landen recorded the biggest win of his career, taking down Leyton Bohren, ranked 12^th in the nation as the time at No. 1 singles.
 
An important trip
 
The results of this trip to Fresno are going to have a large impact on the Mavs' overall season and their hopes of qualifying for the PacWest Championship Tournament.  Eight of the ten PacWest's men's teams will be selected and seeded by a conference committee.
 
Although no official conference standings are kept, head-to-head results have a large impact on that process.
 
The Mavericks are currently 0-2 against PacWest foes and will have just three more "conference" matches following this trip, making it critically important for the Mavs to pick up some wins on this trip.
 
Nationally-Ranked Win
 
Tyler Landen's win over Leyton Bohren in the Mavs' last dual at Azusa Pacific was quite hard-fought and was the most impressive of his career.  It was also CMU's first individual win over a nationally-ranked opponent of the season.
 
Landen claimed the victory by a 10-4 margin in super tie-breaker after the two had split extra-point tie-breakers in the first two sets.  Landen won the first set with an 8-6 win in the tie-breaker before Bohren took the second set tie-breaker 12-10.
 
Bohren is currently ranked 49^th nationally.  He was ranked second in the ITA's West Regional rankings after the fall while Landen was ranked 14^th.
 
Streaking Scheck
 
Maverick freshman Henry Scheck has taken the most of his opportunities in the Maverick lineup this season and is a perfect 6-0 in dual meets.  He has also won six straight matches overall, including all four of his singles starts this spring.  He is 3-0 at No. 5 and 3-0 at No. 6 and has an overall record of 8-3 this year, including his 2-3 mark in individual style tournaments in the fall.
 
Even longer
 
Scheck's Weil Tennis Academy teammate Diogo Manzano has done even better, winning each of his last seven starts, five of which have come at No. 6 singles.  He has also appeared and been victorious in appearances at No. 4 and 5 singles this spring and has a 7-2 dual-meet record this year.  He was just 1-4 in the fall but now has an 8-4 overall record, second best on the team only to Scheck's 8-3 mark.
 
Crowded Eights
 
Three other Maverick men also currently have eight singles wins.  Jandre Van Wyk is 8-5 this season while Jorge Abreu is 8-8.  William Leschig sports an 8-10 record.
 
No. 6 dominance
 
Largely thanks to Manzano and Scheck, the Mavericks are a super impressive 11-1 in the No. 6 singles flight this season.  Manzano is 5-0 in that flight while Scheck is 3-0.  Tegan Hartman also has a 2-0 record in that spot of the lineup while Jandre Van Wyk is 1-0.
 
Matching Mavs
 
With five wins this spring, the Mavericks have already matched their 2021-22 season total, when CMU went 5-15 overall.
 
Know your Foes
 
Holy Names (Saturday, Mar. 18 – 4 p.m. PDT/5 p.m. MDT – Copper River Tennis Club)
 
The Hawks are 0-8 this year and are still looking for their initial win in what will be their final season.  The university, located in Oakland, California, will be ceasing operations at the end of this academic year.
 
Hawai'i Hilo (Sunday, Mar. 19 – 4 p.m. PDT/5 p.m. MDT – Haak Tennis Complex)
 
The Vulcans are in the midst of a massive 9-day stretch in southern California, playing eight duals.  They began the stretch on Monday falling 6-1 to 41^st-ranked Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego.  They were then rained out at Biola on Tuesday but bounced back for a 4-1 win over No. 15 Midwestern State on Wednesday.
 
Currently 2-4, the Vulcans lost at CUI on Thursday and are scheduled to play at No. 24 Azusa Pacific on Friday.  They have also rescheduled with Biola for Saturday before heading to Fresno to meet the Mavs on Sunday, MSU Denver on Monday and Fresno Pacific on Tuesday.
 
The Big Islanders finished third at last year's PacWest Tournament and qualified at-large for the NCAA Tournament but were downed in the opening round by Hawai'i Pacific on O'ahu.
 
Luca Matheiowetz is currently ranked 74^th in the ITA's national singles rankings, which were updated on Wednesday.
 
CUI (Monday, Mar. 20 – 1 p.m. PDT/2 p.m. MDT – Fig Garden Swim & Racquet Club)
 
The Golden Eagles are now 6-3 after Thursday's win over Hawai'i Hilo.  They were ranked 35^th nationally in the Mar. 8 edition of the ITA's National Rankings but dropped out of the top 50 in the latest rankings.
 
They were unable to complete a match against Western New Mexico on Wednesday after defeating Holy Names by a 7-0 count on Mar. 9.  They had dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 23 Hawai'i Pacific the day earlier and had defeated No. 18 Azusa Pacific on Mar. 3.
 
Alexander Edmonston is currently ranked 73^rd nationally in singles.  He was 6-1 this spring entering Thursday's dual, playing in the No. 4 and 5 positions of the lineup, but was defeated in Thursday's match against Hilo.  Leon Czarnikau is now 5-4 at No. 1 and defeated Mathiowetz on Thursday while Julius Seifert has a winning 6-3 mark at No. 2.  He is 7-3 overall and has a 1-0 mark at No. 1.
 
Edmonston and Seifert are also a perfect 8-0 in doubles this spring, playing twice at No. 2 and six times at No. 3.
 
Edmonston led a group of five Golden Eagles in the top 20 of the ITA's West Regional Rankings at the end of the fall.  He was ranked seventh ahead of Adam Large (8^th), Czarnikau (10^th), Tim Nutz (16^th) and Mike Jansen (19^th).
 
James Caddies and Jansen were also ranked first in the region for doubles while Edmonston and Adam Kartzinel were tenth after playing together during the fall.
 
Fresno Pacific (Tuesday, Mar. 21 – 8 a.m. PDT/9 a.m. MDT – Haak Tennis Complex)
 
The Sunbirds now have a 1-6 team record after falling in neutral-site encounter with Midwestern State (Texas) in Azusa, California on Thursday.  They are also due to host NAIA Menlo on Saturday before taking on the Mavs.
 
Their lone this win came on Feb. 15 by a 5-2 margin at Holy Names but have played a challenging schedule, including  match against Division I Boston College.
 
Ben Cronau has a 2-5 record in duals this spring, splitting time in both of the first two flights with Brodie Sodersten (1-5).  Cronau is also 3-3 in doubles with Sven Bangert.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs are 2-3 all-time against Holy Names after having dropped a 4-3 decision on Mar. 20 of last year in Fresno.  The Mavs had won in 2014 and 2020 while the Hawks claimed wins in 2018 and 2019.  All five previous meetings have been on neutral-courts.  Two of the Hawks' three wins have come in Fresno.
 
The Mavs dropped a 7-0 decision to Hawai'i Hilo on Mar. 22 of last year in Fresno, the first match-up between the teams in 15 years.  The Vulcans had claimed a 9-0 win over the Mavs in Grand Junction in 2007, the only other previous match-up.
 
The Mavs are also 0-2 against CUI, having lost to them by 5-2 and 7-0 margins over the last two years.  Both of those matches were played in Irvine.
 
The split two duals with Fresno Pacific last year with each team winning at home.  The Sunbirds won 4-3 on Mar. 21 in Fresno after the Mavericks had claimed a 5-2 indoor win on Mar. 11.   Those match-ups were the first ever meetings between the teams.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home to Colorado for the rest of the regular season.  They will resume their season on Mar. 31 against rival MSU Denver, currently ranked 35^th nationally, in the first half of a home-and-home series.  CMU will also play at Division III Colorado College on Apr. 1 in the first half of a home-and-home with the Tigers.