GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team recorded a pair of Senior Day wins, dominating visiting CSU Pueblo, 7-0 in the morning before claiming their second 4-3 win of the month over another arch-rival in MSU Denver in the afternoon dual to cap the regular season portion of the season on a high note on Saturday here at the Elliott Tennis Center.
In between, the Mavericks honored three departing players in
Halle Romero,
Macy Richards and
Paige Furin, who all played their final home matches on Saturday.
The Mavericks have now won three straight and seven of their last eight duals and will take that momentum and their 13-11 overall record in the PacWest Championships, which begin Wednesday in Surprise, Arizona.
CMU, which went a perfect 3-0 in home duals this season over the past eight days, was ranked tenth in the PacWest rankings coming into the day but could easily move up after taking down the seventh-ranked Roadrunners (13-7) for the second time this season. The Mavs had also registered a 4-3 win in Denver back on Apr. 1, which had been CMU's first win over the Roadrunners in seven years.
Against winless CSU Pueblo (0-11), the Mavericks won all nine matches giving up just six total games throughout the entire dual. The Mavs won all three of the doubles matches by 6-1 scores before five of the six Mavericks posted 6-0, 6-0 victories in singles play. The other win came by a 6-0, 6-3 margin.
The Mavs have now won 39 straight duals over the ThunderWolves since 2006, including eight straight by 7-0 scores.
Things were tougher against the Roadrunners, although the Mavericks were once again able to win the doubles point as
Makenna Livingston and Romero took down National No. 37 duo Isabel Heras and Kinsey Fields, by a 6-3 score in the top flight after they sat out of the CSU Pueblo dual.
Meanwhile,
Issy Coman and Richards were also 6-3 winners over Kayla Myburgh and Lily Stienemeier in the second flight while
Julianna Campos and Furin were leading 5-3 in the unfinished No. 3 doubles encounter.
Coman and Richards have now won eight consecutive doubles matches together and hold a 9-2 record as a partnership.
In singles, Richards got the Mavs out to a quick start with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Fields at No. 3 after posting an equally as dominant win over CSU Pueblo's Tilly Blasdale in the morning dual against the Pack.
The Roadrunners did get on the board as Stienemeier got past Romero, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
However, Coman then finished off Marie Cool, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to extend her singles winning streak to eight. She had also placed at No. 1 singles against CSU Pueblo, defeating Olivia Ivankoe in a pair of 6-0 sets.
Leading 3-1 against MSU Denver, the Mavericks then clinched the dual by injury as Kambra Roles was forced to retire in the No. 5 singles match against CMU's Campos. The Maverick junior had won the first set, 6-4 but was trailing early in the second, 1-0.
The Roadrunners then did win the final two singles matches to narrow the final scoreline.
With Livingston and Romero resting, Campos was in the No. 3 spot of the CMU lineup against CSU Pueblo and defeated Alyssa Wells by double-bagel margins. Freshman
Delia Maier did the same in the No. 6 spot against Malaya Pendon and is currently 6-0 in dual meets and 6-1 overall this season.
Meanwhile, Furin was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Sonrisa Bustamante at No. 4 singles while
Kristen Thomas dominated Avery Soto, winning 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 singles. Thomas also claimed an 8-5 exhibition set win over MSU Denver's Sanya Singh in the afternoon.
She and Maier were also in the doubles lineup against the Pack, winning 6-1 over Blasdale and Soto in the third flight.
The Mavericks will learning their final seeding and first round opponent for the PacWest Championships on Monday and have already claimed as many wins they have had in a single season since going 14-17 in 2018.