GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will close out the 2022-23 season by hosting nationally-ranked and arch-rival MSU Denver on Saturday at the Elliott Tennis Center.  The dual will be just the second home dual of the entire season for CMU and will give the Mavs the opportunity to send off two veterans in a high note while denting their rivals' post-season seeding and NCAA Tournament qualification resume.
 
First serve for both the men's and women's duals against the Roadrunners will be at 2 p.m., following 1 p.m. Senior Day festivities, which will include recognition for Maverick veterans Tyler Landen and Jandre Van Wyk.
 
The Maverick women will also recognize three players after playing CSU Pueblo in an earlier dual at 10 a.m.
 
The Maverick men will enter Saturday's match with an 8-11 record and having defeated Colorado College twice on the previous two Saturdays around a costly 6-1 neutral-court loss to Hawai'i Hilo last Friday (Apr. 7).
 
MSU Denver will enter the dual with a 13-3 record and riding a 9-match winning streak.  They are ranked 35^th in the ITA's NCAA Division II National Rankings.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks played two duals last week, falling 6-1 to Hawai'i Hilo in Denver on Friday before bouncing back for a 5-2 win over the Colorado College Tigers in what was the Mavs' home opener on Saturday.
 
The win over CC came just a week after the Mavericks had won 8-1 in the 9-point Division III format a week earlier in Colorado Springs.
 
Against the Vulcans on Friday, the Mavericks received a 7-5 No. 2 doubles win from Diogo Manzano and Jandre Van Wyk but were not able to win the doubles point as the Vulcans won the other two matches, including a 7-5 squeaker in the decisive No. 1 match.
 
In singles, Emil Hultman won both sets of his No. 3 match over Zen Yoshida in tie-breakers.  The Vulcans won four of the other five matches in straight sets although the No. 1 match featuring Jorge Abreu and the Vulcans' Filippo Di Perna was decided by a pair of 7-5 scores in tie-breakers.

Van Wyk also won the first set of his No. 6 singles match but was downed 10-8 in the overall match tie-breaker.
 
The Mavs also lost the doubles point against CC and were trailing matches early on in singles play before rallying to win three of the four matches in the first wave before Tegan Hartman delivered the dual-clincher in the third set of his No. 5 singles match.   William Leschig and Henry Scheck were also 3-set winners at No. 2 and 4 singles while Abreu was a more dominant, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Aiden Little in the top flight.

Van Wyk also went on to win his No. 6 singles match in another super tie-breaker with the dual already clinched.
 
The loss to Hilo was especially costly as it provided the impetus for the Vulcans to move ahead of the Mavericks in the PacWest Rankings, knocking the Mavericks out of next week's PacWest Tournament. 
The Vulcans came into the match ranked ninth and are now eighth as the Mavericks dropped a spot in the flip-flop.  The two teams split a pair of neutral-court meetings although the Vulcans had a common opponent advantage having defeated tenth-ranked Holy Names, a team the Mavericks lost to, one of the decisive factors.
 
Senior Day
 
The Mavericks will recognize their two "seniors" in Tyler Landen and Jandre Van Wyk prior to Saturday's match with the Roadrunners.  Both players are in their fourth season with the Mavericks and are listed as redshirt juniors on the official Maverick roster.  Both would be eligible to return for a fifth year if they later chose to take advantage of the NCAA's blanket COVID eligibility waiver that significantly shortened their 2020 freshman seasons but are currently not planning to do so.
 
Van Wyk leads all current Mavericks with 61 career wins and has posted a winning 34-31 career record in doubles.  He and former partner Steven Howe earned Third Team All-PacWest Doubles honors in 2021 as the duo set the Mavs' single-season winning percentage record of .789 (15-4).  The Pretoria, South Africa native, joined the Mavericks in the spring of 2020, weeks before the COVID-cancelation cut his freshman season short.
 
Landen, who hails from Centennial, Colorado, has 54 career wins and has played in the No. 1 spot of the Maverick lineup for both singles and doubles this season.  He is 6-11 overall in singles play and leads the Mavs with his 10-0 doubles record, including his 7-6 No. 1 dual record with Van Wyk and at times William Leschig.
 
Both Landen and Van Wyk have shined in the classroom as well.  Van Wyk has been named to the Academic All-PacWest squad in each of the previous two years and is a 3x ITA Scholar Athlete.   Landen also earned both honors in 2022.
 
Freshman sensation
 
Maverick freshman Henry Scheck saw his 10-match singles winning streak snapped by Hawai'i Hilo's Agustine Gentile on Friday but bounced back for a come-from-behind 3-set win over Colorado College's August Knox on Saturday.  He was playing in the No. 4 spot of the Maverick lineup for the first time all season after playing mostly in the No. 5 and 6 spots although he did have one No. 3 start at Colorado College on Apr. 1.
 
The Camarillo, California native leads the Mavericks with a 13-4 record and sports an impressive 11-1 record in duals.
 
Fellow freshman William Leschig is second on the CMU squad with 12 singles wins this season, having posted a 12-13 record, including a 9-10 dual-meet mark.  Both are products of the Weil Tennis Academy and College Prep School based in Ojai, California.
 
Home Success
 
Although their opportunities have been very limited in recent years, including this season, the Mavs have posted a winning home-court record in eight straight seasons, going 2-1 at home last season.  A win on Saturday would extend that streak to nine straight seasons with a 2-0 mark although the Mavericks are already assured of at least a .500 home record thanks to their recent win over Colorado College.
 
The Mavs also went 2-1 in 2020-21 and 1-0 in 2019-20 after posting a 2-1 home record in 2018-19.
 
Opportunities for home matches were more prevalent before the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dropped sponsorship of the sport.  The Mavs had gone a combined 21-6 at home in the previous four seasons from 2015-18 and have not lost more than two home matches in any season since 2012-13 when they went 3-3.
 
About the Roadrunners
 
The Roadrunners are one of the hottest teams in the country, having won nine straight matches since Mar. 3.  They are 13-3 overall and ranked 35^th nationally in the ITA's national computerized rankings.  They also sit fifth in this week's PacWest rankings and have a perfect 5-0 record against fellow PacWest squads although all five of those wins have come against the bottom four teams in the rankings.
 
They are also ranked sixth in the official NCAA Division II West Regional Rankings, which will eventually form the qualification and seeding for the regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  Four PacWest teams will qualify.
 
Individually, No. 1 singles player Jeanloup Auzias has moved up two spots to 60^th in the ITA national singles rankings .  He has won eight straight matches to improve to 15-5 on the season, including a stellar 13-2 dual meet mark.
 
Alejandro Jimenez has won seven straight matches and is 15-5 overall.  He is 13-3 in duals, posting a 4-0 mark at No. 2 and 9-3 record at No. 3.
 
Juho Kantola also has an impressive 17-4 overall record, including a 14-1 dual-meet record.  He is 11-1 and No. 2 and 3-0 in some periodic starts in the third flight.
 
Auzias and Billy McDermott are also stellar in doubles.  They have an 18-3 overall record, including a 14-2 dual record at No. 2 and have won seven straight decisions.
 
Meanwhile, Kanotola and David Kijak are 8-2 in the No. 1 spot of Head Coach Josh Graetz's lineup and have won six straight matches.  They were ranked in the ITA's top 50 last week but dropped out in this week's rankings.  Kantola did not play in the Roadrunners' recent 5-2 win over Hawai'i Hilo last Saturday.
 
Series History
 
MSU Denver holds a 35-15 record in the all-time series with the Mavericks and have won 13 straight matches since 2017, when the Mavs claimed a 5-4 decision on Apr. 8 in Denver.  The two teams played earlier this month (Apr. 1) in Denver as the Roadrunners claimed a 6-1 decision.

They also met twice last year with the Roadrunners winning 6-1 on Apr. 1 in Denver before coming to Grand Junction to claim a 7-0 win in Grand Junction.
 
Up Next
 
Saturday's match will conclude the Mavericks' season as CMU learned on Monday that they were just outside of the top 8 in the PacWest Rankings, checking in ninth.  Only the top eight teams in the current rankings qualified for next week's PacWest Championships. 
 
The Roadrunners are assured of qualification although Saturday's results, and others from around the conference, will be figured in the final tournament seeding, which will be announced next Monday (Apr. 17).  The Mavs will also be trying to put a blemish on the Roadrunners' NCAA Tournament selection resume.