GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Although still on the road, the Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will be much closer to home as they will head to the Colorado's front range and the state's largest two cities for a pair of matches this weekend.
 
The Mavericks, 6-9 on the season, will open the weekend looking to upset No. 31 MSU Denver (10-3) in a battle of Pacific West Conference affiliate members on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Denver at the Roadrunners' Assembly Athletic Complex.  That match will be played an hour earlier than originally scheduled.
 
The Mavs will then head down I-25 to face Division III Colorado College (4-5) on Saturday at 11 a.m.  That match will be played at Memorial Park.
 
The CMU women are also making the same trip with an additional match at CSU Pueblo, which does not have a men's team, on Sunday.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavs were last in action from Mar. 18-20 in Fresno, California, where they ended up playing three matches in as many days against PacWest foes.  A fourth match with CUI was canceled as the teams adjusted on the fly while fighting through rain storms during much of the trip. 
 
The Mavericks ended the trip on a high note, defeating Hawai'i Hilo by a 4-0 count in a match played to clinch.  They had dropped a match at Fresno Pacific the day earlier by the score after dropping a very tight 4-3 decision to Holy Names in their first match of the trip on Mar. 18.
 
The Mavs went 6-6 in completed singles matches throughout the trip as freshman Henry Scheck went 2-0 in No.5 and 6 affairs while fellow freshman William Leschig was 2-1 at No. 2 while delivering the dual-clinching point against Hilo.  Emil Hultman also won his lone completed match at No. 4 while Jorge Abreu went 1-1 at No. 3.
 
In doubles, Tyler Landen and Jandre Van Wyk went 2-1.
 
PacWest Rankings
 
The PacWest released its first official set of rankings of the season on Wednesday.  The Mavs sit eighth out of ten teams in those rankings, which will eventually determine the qualifiers and seeding for the PacWest Championships, the men's portion of which runs from Apr. 20-22 in Surprise, Arizona.  That No. 8 spot will be critical to hold as only eight teams will 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 Mavericks sit one spot ahead of Hawai'i Hilo, largely thanks to the head-to-head win over the Vulcans.  However, the teams are slated to face off again next Friday in Denver.
 
Holy Names, which lost to Hilo, is ranked tenth but does have the tight victory over the Mavericks that has created an interesting 3-way fight for the final spot. 
 
Things are just as interesting at the top, as Point Loma Nazarene holds down the No. 1 spot in the conference rankings as one of PacWest Teams in the latest ITA National Rankings at No. 35.
 
Hawai'i Pacific emerged from the committee call in the No. 2 spot and is ranked 22^nd nationally.  CUI is ranked third in the conference and 44^th nationally while Azusa Pacific is fourth in the conference rankings while sitting 29^th nationally this week.  National No. 34 Biola and No. 31 MSU Denver are fifth and sixth in the conference while Fresno Pacific is seventh in the initial set of conference rankings, which can be seen here.
 
Freshman Leaders
 
With their performances in Fresno, Maverick freshman Henry Scheck and William Leschig have both reached double figures for singles wins.  Scheck is now 10-3 and has a perfect 8-0 dual meet record, split between the No. 5 and 6 positions.  Leschig is 10-11 overall and has a 7-8 mark in duals, playing mostly in the No. 2 spot while making three spot starts at No. 1.
 
Veteran Watch
 
The Mavericks' most tenured veterans have also contributed significantly to their success this year.  Junior Jorge Abreu is 9-9 while redshirt junior Jandre Van Wyk has an 8-5 record, including a solid 7-3 mark in duals.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt junior Tyler Landen has been holding down the No. 1 spot in the Mavs' singles lineup and leads the team in doubles wins with nine, one more than Abreu and two more than Van Wyk, who is 7-10 in doubles play with multiple partners, including a 5-5 mark with  Landen.
 
First win
 
Last week's win over Hawai'i Hilo was the Mavs' first over the Vulcans in three all-time meetings.  The victory was also CMU's sixth of the overall season allowing the Mavs to surpass last year's win total, when they went 5-15.
 
Know Your Foes
 
MSU Denver (Friday, Mar. 31 – 1:30 p.m. – Denver)
 
The Roadrunners will enter Friday's match with a 10-3 overall record and a No. 31 national ranking.  They have won six straight matches going 3-0 on their spring trip to Fresno, California to face the same three teams the Mavs faced in Holy Names, Hawai'i Hilo and Fresno Pacific.  They had also won a home match over Division III St. Thomas (Texas) on Mar. 13 after knocking off then 16^th-ranked Northwest Missouri State on Mar. 4.
 
They have been tough to beat at the top of the singles and doubles lineup.  Juho Kantola has a 15-4 overall record and is 12-1 in duals, going 9-1 at No. 2.  Jeanloup Auzias is 12-5 overall and has a 10-2 record at No. 1 while Alejandro Jimenez also has a 12-5 overall record.  He is 10-3 and has a 3-0 mark at No. 2 and a No. 3 mark at No. 3.  Stephen Kossifas has also emerged and has won seven straight matches while gradually moving up from No. 6 to No. 4 in the lineup.
 
Auzias is ranked 56^th in the ITA's National Rankings.
 
In doubles, Auzias and Billy McDermott are 11-2 at No. 2 and 15-3 overall when including fall tournaments.  Kantola is also 9-6 overall and 7-4 in the No. 1 spot of duals with spring partner David Kijak and Carlos Pinedo, who he played with in the fall.
 
Kantola and Kijak are ranked 43^rd it the ITA's National Doubles rankings.
 
Colorado College (Saturday, Apr. 1 – 11 a.m.)
 
The Tigers have a 4-5 overall record and are coming off a 3-2 performance during a Mar. 23-27 swing through the Pacific Northwest.  They had just one earlier spring season match, defeating St. Thomas in their lone SCAC match of the year to date.
 
They are ranked 15^th in this week's set of the ITA's NCAA Division III West Regional rankings.
 
Andrew Kaelin is ranked 25^th individually and has a team-best 6-2 dual meet record in singles thus far.  Jack Delafield is 4-2.
 
August Knox and Nick Bishop are 4-1 together in doubles.
 
Series Histories
 
MSU Denver holds a 34-15 record in the all-time series with the Mavericks and have won 12 straight matches since 2017, when the Mavs claimed a 5-4 decision on Apr. 8 in Denver.  The two teams played twice last year with the Roadrunners winning 6-1 on Apr. 1 in Denver before coming to Grand Junction to claim a 7-9 win in Grand Junction.
 
The Mavs have enjoyed much more success against the CC Tigers, winning each of the last 18 matches to take a commanding 25-4 series lead.  CC's last win in the rivalry came in 2009.
 
In 2021-22, the Mavs played three times in three different places.  The Mavericks won 7-0 in the fall of 2021 in Pueblo before winning 7-2 on Apr. 2 in Colorado Springs.  They then won 6-1 at home just eight days later.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will play two matches next weekend heading to Denver for a critical re-match against Hawai'i Hilo on Friday, Apr. 7 before coming home for the first time this spring to take on Colorado College for a second time on Saturday, Apr. 8.