GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Dropping their first four matches to fellow Pacific West Conference foes, the Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team is in need of positive results and will have that opportunity for just that as the head to California for a busy 4-day Spring Break stretch where they will play five matches, four of which will come against conference opponents.
CMU, 5-9 overall, will have a challenging start to the trip on Monday afternoon when they play Point Loma Nazarene, ranked 43
rd in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's latest NCAA Division II rankings, in San Diego.
The Mavs will then head to Azusa for a Tuesday morning neutral-site re-match with No. 39 Hawai'i Hilo, which recently downed the Mavs in a Mar. 10 doubleheader, CMU's last action.
CMU will then head up the Pacific Coast to Santa Barbara to play PacWest newcomer Westmont on Wednesday afternoon before wrapping up the trip on Thursday in Fresno, where they play will both host Fresno Pacific and NAIA Jessup, which is also in the beginning stages of a transition to the NCAA Division II ranks.
Follow the Mavs
A recap of the Mavs' efforts will be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com each evening and fans can follow the
Maverick Tennis Instagram page (@CMUTennis) for an inside look at the team.
Monday's dual at Point Loma Nazarene, which will begin at 1 p.m. PDT (2 p.m. Mountain)
will also be streamed here.
Last Time Out
The Maverick men faced the Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans in a home doubleheader last Sunday (Mar. 10) and dropped 4-1 decisions in both ends of the twin-bill.
Jorge Abreu and
Emil Hultman were each able to win a singles match on the day while Abreu was one of four Mavericks to win a doubles match.
Both duals were played to clinch.
In the first dual,
Henry Scheck and Diego Manzano won the No. 3 doubles match before Hultman won at No. 5 singles by a commanding 6-0, 6-3 margin over Yu Jhe Du. Manzano also won the first set of his No. 3 singles match but trailed 2-1 in the third set of the match that was left unfinished.
In the second, Scheck and Manzano forced a No. 3 doubles tie-breaker, but dropped that 7-2 as the Vulcans were able to steal the doubles point despite Abreu and
William Leschig's 6-4 No. 2 doubles win over Du and Fillippo in the second flight.
The Vulcans then claimed three singles wins at No. 1, 3 and 4 while Abreu got past Coby Pearce in the sixth flight, 6-4, 6-2. The No. 2 and 5 singles matches were both early in the third set when they were called.
To read the complete recap of the doubleheader,
please click here.
First to Ten
Maverick sophomore
Emil Hultman became the first Maverick to reach the 10-win mark this season with his win over the Vulcans. He is 10-6 overall in singles play, recording a 7-5 mark in duals as one of just two Mavericks to have a winning dual meet mark.
Shawn Springer is the other, having one his lone dual decision.
Hultman is also just one win away from double figures in doubles, having posted a team-best 9-7 overall record including an 8-5 dual meet mark, mostly with
Philemon Jabin. They are 8-4 together.
California Connections
This week's trip will be a homecoming for Maverick sophomore
Henry Scheck, one of four Mavericks with strong connections to the Golden State. Scheck hails from the southern California community of Camarillo in Ventura County and is one of three Mavericks to have prepped at the Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai.
Fellow sophomores
William Leschig and
Diogo Manzano were also classmates there.
CMU junior
Philemon Jabin also has a Southern California connection having played at Ventura College for the past two years at the junior college level.
Why it Matters
Although there are no official PacWest standings nor official conference matches, the head-to-head matchups between conference members have a heavy influence on the selection and seeding process for the Apr. 18-20 PacWest Championships.
Eight of the ten men's teams will be selected by a conference committee, which is scheduled to have its' first rankings call this week.
With an 0-4 mark against fellow conference members, the Mavs are already in a bit of a hole but have a chance to climb their way out of that this week when they have four of their remaining six opportunities to get "conference" wins. MSU Denver, playing many of the same opponents on their trip to the California will also play the Mavs home and away in April.
CMU has not qualified for the last two PacWest tournaments and would very much like to change that this year.
Know Your Foes
Point Loma Nazarene (Monday – 2 p.m. Mountain)
The Sea Lions are currently 5-3 this spring and had won four straight matches before falling 5-2 to Hawai'i Pacific last Wednesday. They have PacWest wins over Biola, Fresno Pacific and Concordia.
Eight of the nine players on last year's 18-4 team that hosted the NCAA West Regional for the first time in program history after taking third at the PacWest Championships are on this year's roster.
Alexander Leischner is ranked 12
th in the country for singles and has posted a solid 4-2 record in the top flight this spring. Matt Melosch is a perfect 7-0 this spring, going 5-0 at No. 5 and 2-0 at No. 6. The Sea Lions do have sub .500 marks in the middle (2-4) flights of their lineup.
Leischer and Nabeel Khan are 3-2 as a pair at No. 1 doubles and are ranked 35
th in the country by the ITA.
Hawai'i Hilo (Tuesday – 10 a.m. Mountain)
The Vulcans have not played since defeating the Mavericks in the Mar. 10 doubleheader, completing a 4-0 weekend in Colorado. They will play at Biola on Monday before facing the Mavs on Tuesday on Azusa Pacific University's campus.
The Vulcans' wins over MSU Denver and CMU helped them move up to No. 39 in the latest ITA National Rankings.
Cian McDonnell is ranked 49
th nationally in singles and won both of his singles matches against MSU Denver before his No. 2 singles match-ups with CMU's
William Leschig and
Philemon Jabin were both left unfinished.
Ryo Minakata won both of his No. 1 singles matches for the Vulcans in the earlier duals against CMU.
Westmont (Wednesday – 4 p.m. Mountain)
Wednesday's dual with the Westmont College Warriors has been moved to the Santa Barbara Polo Club and will be played later in the day at 4 p.m. Mountain.
The Warriors are in their second year of the 4-year transition process to the NCAA Division II ranks and are playing a PacWest schedule for the first time this season.
They are currently 3-7 on the season have lost their last four decisions, including matches against the PacWest's Concordia and Frenso Pacific earlier this month on Mar. 5 and 9, respectively. They also dropped a 4-3 decision to NCAA Division III Sewanee on Mar. 9 and to Division I Bucknell two days later. They will play MSU Denver at home on Tuesday before facing the Mavs.
Longan Thompson has the Warriors' best singles mark at 6-3, having gone 3-3 at No. 2 and a perfect 3-0 when starting in the third flight. Owen Vander Ark is also a solid 4-4 at No. 5 singles.
Thompson and Vander Ark are also an impressive 5-3 as a doubles partnership at No. 2 while Ethan Ha and Austin Stone have a 4-3 record in the top flight.
Fresno Pacific (Thursday – 10 a.m. Mountain)
The Sunbirds are currently 4-7 and have a 1-5 record against PacWest foes. They will host MSU Denver on Wednesday before facing the Mavs at the Haak Tennis Complex.
They dropped their last two decisions by 4-3 and 4-2 scores to No. 30 UT Permian Basin and Concordia on Thursday and Saturday after winning 4-1 over Westmont on Mar. 9, their lone win in the last six.
Their other wins have come over Bakersfield College, Ventura College and Jessup University.
Ravi Nelson has a 4-3 record in the top flight as the Sunbirds' top singles player. Sven Bangert, Angel Espana and Gregor Kliimask have all won their last two decisions but have received just eight combined starts in an inconsistent lineup.
Kliimask and Martin Ramirez have won seven straight at No. 3 doubles.
Jessup (Thursday – 2:30 p.m. Mountain)
Jessup University was accepted to the NCAA Division II transition process in July of 2023 and is playing in their final year as an NAIA member this season. They will join the PacWest in the fall of 2024.
The Warriors, who hail from Rocklin, California, have a 3-4 official record and are 1-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. They have also had a busy slate of scrimmages against NCAA Division I and junior college foes.
Austrebeto Carlon has a 3-2 record at No. 1 singles at the top of the Warriors' lineup. He is also a combined 3-2 with partners Isaac Graves and Joan Garros in doubles. Henrique Levy and Garros are also 3-2, including a 2-0 record as a duo.
Thursday's match-up with the Warriors will be played in Fresno at FPU's Haak Tennis Complex.
Series Histories
CMU is 0-5 all-time against Point Loma, having played the Sea Lions four times on the road in San Diego. They also faced each other at the 2021 PacWest Tournament in CMU's inaugural year as a conference member. The last match-up was on Mar. 5, 2022, which the Sea Lions won 6-1.
CMU is 1-2 against Fresno Pacific. They have lost to the Sunbirds in each of their past two spring break trips in Fresno but did defeat the Sunbirds at home on Mar. 11, 2022 in the first of that season's two match-ups, which were just 10 days apart.
CMU has never faced Westmont nor Jessup.
Up Next
The Mavericks will return home to Colorado for the remainder of the regular season. They will be off for more than two weeks before playing at MSU Denver on Apr. 5.
