POCATELLO, Idaho— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team won four 3-set singles matches, coming from a set down in three of them, to help them blank the Whitman College Blues, 7-0 in a neutral-site, inter-divisional match-up on Sunday morning here inside Idaho State University's Reed Gym.
The victory was the Mavericks' first in three attempts this season while the Blues fell to 0-3.
CMU, members of NCAA Division II, was able to claim a hard-fought doubles point as
William Leschig and
Henry Scheck closed out a 6-4 win over Cameron Yang and Lucas Huang in the top flight after
Philemon Jabin and
Emil Hultman had won the first completed doubles match by a 6-1 margin at No. 2.
However, the NCAA Division III Blues, seized momentum early in singles play winning the first set at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles.
The Mavericks then came roaring back as Jabin, Leschig and
Diogo Manzano all won the second sets of their respective matches before claiming 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3 wins in the decisive third sets. Manzano's victory, keyed by a 7-0 tie-break win in the second set, clinched the dual for the Mavs.
Shawn Springer also needed a match tie-breaker to get past Gunnar Woller at No. 6 singles, by a 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-2) margin to complete the sweep.
Meanwhile, Scheck pulled out a tight 7-5 first-set win at No. 4 singles and went on to defeat Alejandro Raffo by a 6-3 count in the second set to clinch the dual.
Hultman also cruised in his No. 5 singles match, defeating Jackson Wurzer by a 6-2, 6-0 margin.
The Mavericks, who split their two opening matches of the spring in Idaho will next head to Kearney, Nebraska, where they will face four NCAA Division II opponents beginning Thursday evening at 7 p.m. CST (6 p.m. Mountain) against William Jewell.
