GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will take a break in between a pair of Pacific West Conference trips to California to face an old rival when they head to St. George, Utah to square off with Division I Utah Tech in a Saturday doubleheader.
 
The matches at the Trailblazer Tennis Courts will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. with a lunch break in between.
 
The Mavericks will enter the doubleheader with a 4-8 record while the NCAA Division I Trailblazers are currently 0-9.
 
The Maverick men are off this week.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were in California last weekend playing their first three PacWest foes of the season.  The Mavericks went 0-3 as a team but had some bright spots throughout the challenging weekend against CUI, Biola and 15^th-ranked Azusa Pacific.
 
Julianna Campos and Paige Furin were undefeated in doubles over the weekend in the No. 3 doubles position.  Furin also recorded a singles win.  Issy Coman and Macy Richards were also singles winners last Friday afternoon at Biola as Coman defeated regionally-ranked Brook Fager in straight sets at No. 2 singles.
 
The Mavericks won three of the six singles matches and one of the doubles affairs against the Eagles, but were ultimately downed 4-3 in the middle of their three weekend duals in Southern California. 
 
They had been blanked 5-0 at CUI earlier in the day and then were downed 7-0 by the nationally-ranked APU Cougars in their weekend finale on Saturday.
 
The next is ten
 
Makenna Livingston and Kristen Thomas both enter this weekend just one singles win away from ten for the season.  Livingston is 9-8 overall, including a 4-7 record in duals this season while Thomas has a 9-6 overall mark, including a 5-4 dual meet mark.  She did not play in any official matches last weekend while Livingston had a challenging slate of opponents last week, all three of whom were fellow regionally-ranked opponents.  Two of them were also ranked nationally.
 
Paige Furin is also now just one win away from ten in doubles.  She has a team-best 9-5 doubles record.
 
Perfecting their partnership
 
Sophomores Julianna Campos and Paige Furin have played together in each of the Mavericks' last four duals in the third doubles flight and are undefeated in the stretch.  They have gone 3-0 together since re-joining forces in the second dual against Arizona Christian (Feb. 18) and had another match left unfinished when tied 5-5.
 
They had also played once together in tournament-style play at the MSU Denver Invitational in September but played with other partners throughout the rest of the fall and into the spring.
 
Furin has won five straight doubles matches while Campos is now riding a 4-match winning streak.
 
The duo also went 3-1 together in the 2021-22 season when both were freshmen.
 
Renewing a Rivalry
 
The Mavericks and Trailblazers have met at least once every spring since 2009 in the regional rivalry.  Utah Tech, formerly known as Dixie State, recently moved to the Division I ranks, making that move in all sports for the 2020-21 academic year.
 
They were also former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals until the conference discontinued sponsorship of the sport, which eventually led to the Mavericks joining the PacWest as an affiliate member in 2020-21.  The Trailblazers were members of the PacWest before joining the RMAC.
 
The Mavs hold a 16-11 all-time series lead and are 8-6 against the Trailblazers in St. George.  CMU won both ends of a Mar. 12 doubleheader last year by identical 4-3 scores after the Trailblazers had won seven of the previous eight meetings on both sides of their division change.
 
Last year's victories pushed Maverick Head Coach Dan MacDonald to and over the 250 women's win milestone although he did not personally make the trip, entrusting long-time assistant David Smith to guide the team on the day.
 
Makenna Livingston picked up three total wins in last year's doubleheader while Juliana Campos won both of her singles matches as well.
 
A look at the Trailblazers
 
The Trailblazers have struggled this season, going 0-9 against fellow Division I opposition.  They have been held without a team point in six of their nine duals but did manage to pick up a singles victory last Saturday in a home dual against Weber State.
 
Adithi Vekatakrishn won her No. 4 singles match, 6-3, 6-1 against the Wildcats.  She is 2-5 in singles throughout the spring to date.
 
Alysha Damron, Raquel Mellor and Raquel Roshak also have singles wins to their credit this season.
 
Mellor and Annemiek Sterk have the team's lone doubles victory this season in 24 total doubles matches to date.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return to California next week playing four PacWest foes in as many days, beginning Mar. 18.  All four of the matches will be played in Fresno, all be it at three different locations.  Three of the Mavs' four matches will be neutral-court affairs against San Francisco Bay area foes Holy Names, Academy of Art and Dominican.  They then wrap up the stint on Mar. 21 in a true road match at Fresno Pacific.
 
The Mar. 18 match with the Hawks will likely be the last as Holy Names has announced it is closing its doors following this academic year.