GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Although they will still be on the road, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will play in Colorado for the first time during the spring this weekend, contesting three matches in less than a 48-hour span on the Front Range.
 
Having traveled to Nebraska, Arizona, California, Utah and back to California this spring, the road-warrior Mavericks, currently 7-10 on the season, will open the weekend at Pacific West Conference rival MSU Denver on Friday at 1:30 p.m., an hour earlier than originally scheduled, at the Roadrunners' Assembly Athletic Complex.  They will then travel to Colorado Springs's Memorial Park to face Division III Colorado College on Saturday at 11 a.m. before wrapping up the weekend against former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival CSU Pueblo on Sunday morning.  That match will now begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Pueblo City Park Tennis Complex.
 
The CMU men will also play at MSU Denver and Colorado College at the same times.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks battled through the rain and against some tough PacWest foes over three days to post a 2-2 team record in Fresno, California.  The Mavs book-ended the stint with victories over Holy Names and Dominican but fell to the Academy of Art and at Fresno Pacific.  The 5-1 and 4-3 wins were the Mavs' first two PacWest victories of the season.
 
Issy Coman and Macy Richards led the Mavericks throughout the weekend.  They were both 3-1 in singles play in the second and third flights and went 2-1 together at No. 2 doubles.  Paige Furin also had a 2-1 singles weekend, winning two No. 6 matches while dropping one at No. 5.  She and Julianna Campos also claimed a No. 3 doubles win.
 
PacWest Rankings
 
The PacWest released its first official set of rankings of the season on Wednesday.  The Mavs sit tenth out of 15 teams in those rankings, which will eventually determine the qualifiers and seeding for the PacWest Championships, which begin Apr. 19 in Surprise, Arizona.  Twelve of the 15 women's teams qualify.
 
Although there are no official conference standings, the rankings, put together by a seeding committee of representatives from all geographical areas of the conference, and are based upon a variety of criteria, including head-to-head results, results amongst common opponents, strength of schedule and records in both PacWest and Division II matches.
 
The rankings will be updated again next week before the tournament qualifiers are announced the week following.  The final seeds will then be determined after all regular season play wraps up on Apr. 15.
 
The head-to-head win over Dominican was especially helpful as the Penguins sit 11^th in the current rankings.

MSU Denver, a team the Mavs will play twice down the stretch, is ranked seventh while Hawai'i Hilo, a team the Mavs will play next week, is ranked ninth and just ahead of the Mavericks.
 
Hawai'i Pacific, ranked tenth nationally in the ITA's rankings, holds down the conference's top spot ahead of national No. 19 Azusa Pacific.  CUI, ranked 40^th nationally, is third in the conference rankings, which can be seen here.
 
Double Figure Company
 
Maverick sophomore Makenna Livingston continues to lead the Mavericks in singles wins (11) but has been joined in double figures by fellow sophomore Macy Richards, who now has 10.  Both players have .500 overall records.  Paige Furin also has a 9-9 singles mark while Kristen Thomas has a 9-7 mark.
 
Furin also leads the team in doubles victories with ten and is 10-7.  She is 9-5 in duals, including a 5-3 mark at No. 2 with Halle Romero.  However, she has been playing with Julianna Campos at the No. 3 spot in the Mavs' last nine duals.  She and Campos are 4-2 together and have had two other matches left unfinished while another that was not started.
 
50-Plus
 
Maverick junior Julianna Campos went over the 50-career win mark during the trip to Fresno and will enter this weekend with 52 total career victories.  She is 25-20 in doubles play throughout her career and has a 27-31 singles mark.
 
Fourth-year Maverick Halle Romero, a redshirt junior who could choose to return in 2023-24, leads all current Mavericks with 59 career wins.  She is 37-34 in doubles and has 22 career singles wins to her credit.
 
Makenna Livingston (42), Issy Coman (41), Paige Furin (38) Macy Richards (38) could also reach the 50-win mark by the end of the season if they have down the stretch performances.
 
Know Your Foes
 
MSU Denver (Friday, Mar. 31 – 2:30 p.m. – Denver)
 
The Roadrunners are 10-5 on the season and are coming off a 2-1 performance in Fresno, where they defeated Holy Names and Dominican.  They were beaten by Fresno Pacific and had a match with the Academy of Art canceled.
 
Those three matches were the only PacWest matches the Runners have played as they have spent more time in the Midwest and in exhibition matches against Division I teams. 
 
They have won four of their last five overall.
 
In singles, Kambra Roles leads the team with a strong 14-5 record.  She is 9-3 in duals. Having played everywhere from No. 2-6.  Monica Guarin is 7-1 and has won seven straight matches but has appeared in just four duals this spring. 
 
Hanna Haber (11-8) and Marie Cool (10-9) also have double-digit singles wins.
 
In doubles, Kinsey Fields and Isabel Heras have posted an 11-4 record, including an 8-3 mark in duals at the No. 1 position.  Cool and Haber are also 11-4 overall and are 8-2 in duals.  They are 3-0 at No. 1 and 5-2 at No. 2.  Fields and Heras are also ranked 27^th in the ITA's National Doubles rankings, down seven spots from last week's No. 20 position.
 
Colorado College (Saturday, Apr. 1 – 11 a.m.)
 
The Tigers have a 3-5 team record on a limited schedule.  They played three of those matches in recent days on a trip to Washington and Oregon, where they picked up 9-0 wins over Puget Sound and Willamette on both ends of a 5-4 loss at Linfield.    They had only played two previous matches in the spring falling 7-0 to Division I New Mexico on Feb. 4 before defeating the University of St. Thomas in SCAC play on Mar. 12.
 
In the fall, then went 0-3 against Division II opponents at the Pueblo Duals.
 
The Tigers were ranked 17^th as a team in the ITA's Division III West Regional.
 
CSU Pueblo (Sunday, Apr. 2 – 10:30 a.m.)
 
The ThunderWolves are currently 0-7 heading into a Saturday dual at MSU Denver.  They last played in Arizona against three junior colleges., falling 5-2 at Mesa Community College, 6-1 at Arizona Christian and 5-1 at Eastern Arizona. 
 
In singles, Sonrisa Bustamante and Avery Soto have 2-4 records.  Alyssa Wllis is 1-5.
 
Wells and Bustamante are 2-2 as a doubles duo.
 
Series Histories
 
MSU Denver holds a 31-27 lead in the all-time series, the most often played rivalry in CMU's tennis history, and has won 14 straight matches over the last seven seasons.  CMU's last win came on Apr. 15, 2016.
 
In 2022, the teams played two tight matches.  The Roadrunners on Apr. 1 by a 4-3 count and then recorded a 5-2 win a week later in Grand Junction.

Conversely, the Mavericks have won 14 straight duals against Colorado College since 2012 and hold an 18-11 lead in the all-time series.  The Mavs won 8-1 and 7-0 decisions last season.
 
The Mavs have won 37 consecutive duals against CSU Pueblo and lead the overall series, 46-11.  The Mavs have won each of the last six duals by 7-0 margins. 
 
CMU will host each of the three opponents later this season.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will play two matches next week heading to Denver for an important neutral-court PacWest match against Hawai'i Hilo next Friday (Apr. 7) before returning home to host Colorado College in their home opener on Saturday, Apr. 8.  Both of those matches are scheduled for 10 a.m. starts.