GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a 2-1 weekend in their last action and taking last weekend off, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will resume their spring season this weekend playing three fellow Pacific West Conference foes in a span of just over 24 hours in southern California and the metropolitan Los Angeles area.
 
The Mavericks, 4-5 overall and 3-3 during the spring, will take on Concordia University Irvine at 9 a.m. PST (10 a.m. Mountain) on Friday before heading to La Mirada for a 2 p.m. PST (3 p.m. Mountain) match at Biola that afternoon.  The Mavs will then wrap up the weekend with a Saturday morning (9 a.m. PST/10 a.m.) encounter at national No. 17 Azusa Pacific in Azusa on Saturday.
 
The match against CUI was a late addition to the schedule and gives the Mavs yet another opportunity to take on a conference foe.
 
Live streams and live results of the Mavericks' match at Biola can be found at the links above.
 
Daily recaps will also be posted on www.cmumavericks.com.
 
The Maverick men will also be playing at Biola and Azusa Pacific at the same times but will not play CUI.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks last played on Feb. 17 and 18 in the Phoenix duals, where they went 2-1.  They dropped a 4-3 match to Western New Mexico but bounced back to trounce Arizona Christian by 7-0 scores on back-to-back days.
 
The Mavericks combined for an impressive 15-3 record in singles play and went 6-2 in completed doubles matches throughout the weekend.  Makenna Livingston and Macy Richards were both 3-0 in  the top two flights while Julianna Campos went 2-0 at No. 4 singles.  Paige Furin and Kristen Thomas also went 2-1 in singles.
 
Furin and Halle Romero were both 3-0 in doubles, partnering with each other for a pair of No. 2 doubles wins while splitting up for wins with Campos and Richards, respectively, for another win.
 
Extinguishing the Firestorm
 
The Mavericks dominated the Arizona Christian Firestorm in their Feb. 17 and 18 matches against the NAIA squad in Glendale, Arizona.  The Mavs won both matched 7-0 and did not drop a set.
 
Makenna Livingston and Macy Richards both posted No. 1 and 2 singles wins over the Firestorm's Deonadra Bacchus and Vittoria Quadri, who are ranked 13^th and 14^th, respectively, in the ITA's NAIA West Region singles.  The Mavs switched flights for the two duals to avoid repeat match ups.
 
Livingston and Issy Coman also claimed a doubles win over the Firestorm duo, ranked sixth in their region, during the Feb. 18 dual while Livingston and Richards were leading Bacchus and Quadri, 4-3 in an unfinished doubles match during the first dual.
 
The Mavs are now 3-0 as a team and have not dropped a set in their three duals against NAIA opponents this spring.
 
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.
 
Welcome back Issy
 
Issy Coman made her spring season debut on Feb. 18, partnering with Makenna Livingston for a 6-2 No. 1 doubles win over the earlier mentioned Deondra Bacchus and Vittoria Quadri in the Mavs' second 7-0 win over Arizona Christian.
 
The match was Coman's first in a dual since Apr. 1, 2022 as she has been plagued by injuries.
 
Coman did play in two individual-format tournaments during the fall but was unable to go during the Pueblo Duals weekend in the fall and in the opening Kearney Duals weekend of the spring.
 
Coman also missed the latter stages of the spring of 2022 after playing in the No. 1 position of the Mavs' singles lineup for much of the earlier stages of last year.  The return of the junior out of Auckland, New Zealand will certainly be a boost for Mavs.
 
The next is ten
 
Makenna Livingston and Kristen Thomas both enter the opening weekend just one singles win away from ten for the season.  Livingston is 9-5 overall, including a 4-4 record in duals this season while Thomas has a 9-6 overall mark, including a 5-4 dual meet mark.
 
Four different Mavericks, including Livingston and Thomas, are tied for the team lead in doubles wins with seven.  Paige Furin and Halle Romero are also both 7-5.
 
PacWest Play
 
This weekend's matches will be the first three of ten that the Mavs are currently scheduled to play against fellow PacWest Conference foes.  CMU is in its third year as an affiliate member of the conference for men's and women's tennis.  The conference does not keep regular season standings nor mandate a conference playing scheduled but does encourage teams to face off with one another, the results of which, help shape the selections and seeding for the conference championship tournament, which runs from Apr. 19-22 in Surprise, Arizona. 
 
Twelve of the 15 women's tennis members will be selected.  The Mavs have qualified in each of the previous two seasons but have yet to claim a tournament win. 
 
They have won one regular season match against PacWest foes in each of the past two seasons, defeating Holy Names last year and Dominican in 2021.
 
Know your Foes
 
CUI
 
Friday's dual with the CUI Golden Eagles will give the Mavericks a chance at avenging a tight 4-3 loss in the consolation round of last year's PacWest Tournament which ended both teams' 2021-22 seasons.
 
This year's CUI squad is off to a 2-0 start heading into a Thursday afternoon encounter with No. 17 Azusa Pacific.  They defeated NAIA Hope International by a 6-1 margin on Feb. 1 before claiming a 4-3 road win at Biola on Feb. 18.  They have since had matches at Point Loma and Cal State LA postponed and rescheduled for later this month.
 
Heather Richards is ranked 17^th in the ITA's NCAA Division II West Regional rankings, released at the end of the fall, but is 0-2 in the top spot of the singles lineup this spring.  She reached the Round of 16 of the ITA Regional that the Mavs hosted.
 
However, Sophie Rachor and Jessica Bear both have 2-0 marks in the No. 2 and 5 spots of Coach Jonathan Sanchez's lineup.  Richards and Rachor are also 2-0 together at No. 1 doubles.
 
The Golden Eagles were 9-14 last year and were picked seventh in the PacWest Preseason Poll, five spots ahead of the Mavericks.
 
Biola
 
The Biola Eagles enter a Thursday match-up with No. 4 Hawaii Pacific with a 1-2 record.  There three previous matches have all been against PacWest foes and including a 4-3 home win over Cal State LA on Feb. 6.  They were downed by the same score against CUI on Feb. 18 and dropped a Feb. 13 road match by a 6-1 score at Fresno Pacific in between.
 
They also won a 4-3 exhibition dual over Westcliff on Jan. 20 after a strong 21-6 season a year ago.  The Eagles finished sixth at last year's PacWest Tournament and were picked fourth in the PacWest poll.
 
The Eagles have three regionally-ranked singles players in No. 9 Colbeyshae Emery, No. 14 Brooke Fager and No. 16 Lily McNeill, who all reached the Round of 16 at the ITA Regional in the Fall.  Emery and Charlie Croteau are also ranked fifth in doubles while Fager and Alex Mann sit eighth in the regional doubles rankings after both pairs reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Regional.
 
Emery is 2-1 at No. 1 singles this spring.  McNeill, who has been playing at No. 4, and usual No. 5 Gaby Carvajal also have 2-1 records. 
 
The Eagles are just 2-6 in doubles matches this spring as McNeill has recorded a pair of No. 2 wins with Carvajal and Fager.  Croteau has yet to play this season.
 
Azusa Pacific
 
The Cougars enter their Thursday match at Concordia with a 6-2 record during an action packed early spring season.  They won four straight matches from Feb. 12-20, including a 4-0 win over Division I UC Riverside and three lopsided wins over PacWest foes in which they outscored their opponents by a combined 18-1 team-scoring margin.
 
However, that run was ended on Wednesday in a tight 4-3 loss to Hawa'i Pacific.  The fourth-ranked Sharks also won 5-2 on Oah'u on Feb. 11, the Cougars' only other loss of the season.
 
Eleonora Liga is ranked fifth in the ITA's National Rankings while she and Madison Kane are ranked third in the country in doubles after reaching the finals of the ITA Cup last fall.  Liga also reached the semifinal round of the singles draw at the ITA West Regional and is ranked third in the region.  She is 7-1 this spring at No. 1 singles and has won five straight.  The Cougars are strong throughout their lineup as Katherine Nguyen also sports a 7-0 record, including a 5-0 mark at No. 6, while Miruna Tudor is 6-1, primarily in the No. 5 spot.  April Wong was ranked fifth in the region and 34^th nationally in singles after the fall but is just 2-3 this spring.
 
Kane is ranked 13^th in the region and has a 4-3 mark at No. 2 singles this year.
 
The Cougars have won the doubles point in six of their eight duals thus far and are a perfect 6-0 when they have done so.  They have won 15 of their 21 total finished doubles matches as Liga and Kane have gone 6-1 in the top flight together.  They sit second in the regional rankings while Wong and Shannele Lopez are ranked tenth.  Lopez, a freshman, has not yet played this spring.
 
Last year's Cougar squad went 20-7, won the PacWest title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  They were picked second in this year's PacWest poll behind only Hawai'i Pacific.
 
Series Histories (Women)
 
The Mavs are 0-3 against CUI having played in Irvine during each of the past two regular seasons before facing off in last year's PacWest Tournament.
 
The Mavs are 2-2 all-time against Biola with all four previous matches having been played in La Mirada.  The Mavs won the first two of those in 2018 and 2019 before they joined the PacWest, but have been downed 7-0 by the Eagles in each of the past two years since joining the conference.
 
CMU is 0-6 all-time against Azusa Pacific and will play playing for the sixth straight spring, excluding the 2020 COVID-effected season.  All six of the previous matches have come on Cougar territory in Azusa.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will play a doubleheader at Division I Utah Tech (formerly known as Dixie State) next Saturday (Mar. 11) in St. George, Utah before resuming PacWest matches with four encounters in as many days from Mar. 18-21 in Fresno, California.