GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will look to bounce back from a tough weekend in California when they head West once again to face NCAA Division I rival Utah Tech University in a Saturday morning match.
The Mavericks, 7-7 overall, will square off with the Trailblazers, currently 4-6, at 10 a.m. in St. George, Utah.
Follow the Mavs
There will not be any live coverage of Saturday's dual although a recap of the match will be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com on Saturday evening and fans can follow the
Maverick Tennis Instagram page (@CMUTennis) for an inside look at the team.
Last Time Out
The Maverick squads played their first two Pacific West Conference foes of the season last week when they made the trip to Southern California to face Azusa Pacific University and Biola University.
The Mavs dropped both matches as a team, 7-0.
Azusa Pacific was receiving votes in the ITA's NCAA Division II Poll, and had two nationally-ranked and four regionally-ranked players in their singles lineup, which swept the Mavs in straight sets in Thursday's dual, which was moved up from Saturday due to weather forecasts. The Mavs were able to win a doubles match as
Kristen Thomas and
Delia Maier claimed a 7-5 victory in the third flight.
The Mavs were not able to win any matches against the Eagles although both
Issy Coman and
Makenna Livingston won sets in the No. 1 and 2 singles matches. Livingston also took the other two sets of her match against regionally-ranked Lilly McNeill to tiebreakers, which McNeill was able to pull out.
Coman and Livingston were also down just 3-2 in an unfinished No. 1 doubles match against the nation's 11
th ranked duo of Brooke Fater and Alexandria Mann.
The Key Point
The ability to win the doubles point has been key for the Mavericks this season. The Mavs are a perfect 6-0 as a team when they have taken the doubles point this season but are just 1-7 as a team when they have had to play from a 1-0 team scoring deficit.
Career Wins Battle
The Mavericks' two seniors will battle in the final weeks of their careers in terms of career wins.
Julianna Campos currently has the edge over
Issy Coman in this statistical category, 77-75.
Campos has 40 career singles wins to rank 17
th in program history. She is also 37-32 in doubles throughout her career.
Meanwhile, Coman has racked up 43 doubles wins throughout her career, posting a winning record in three of her four seasons, including a 7-6 mark this year. She is also 32-42 having played exclusively in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles flights of her career. Coman is ranked 17
th in CMU history for career doubles wins.
Know Your Foe
The Trailblazers will enter a Friday afternoon home dual with Idaho State with a 4-6 record.
They swept a 4-match swing through from Feb. 17-19, overlapping their time with the Mavs, who went 3-0. The two teams shared common opponents and results in Arizona Christian and Ottawa University of Arizona, squads that both CMU and Utah Tech were able to beat. The Trailblazers also recorded a pair of 7-0 wins at Mesa Community College.
However, the Trailblazers have lost all six of their match-ups against Division I opponents and had their Saturday dual at UNLV postponed.
Ana Gutierrez Sampere has played in the No. 1 position of the Trailblazers' singles lineup all season, going a combined 3-6 this spring. Mariana Zurita also holds a 3-6 record, having gone 3-1 at No. 2 but 0-5 in the third flight.
Rachel Mellor has a 3-0 record in that flight while Laura Coulome is 3-1 overall, including a 3-0 mark at No. 5. Raquel Roshak has also posted a perfect 3-0 mark when getting starts at No. 6.
Gutierrez Sampere and Ya-Chi Hsu both have 4-5 records in doubles with various partners. They are 3-1 together. Mellor and Mariana Zurita have been the most consistent pair and have gone 3-5 overall, including a 2-5 mark in the top flight.
Series Histories
The Mavs hold a 17-11 lead in the all-time series with the Trailblazers, formerly nearby Division II rivals when Utah Tech was known as Dixie State. The Mavs have won the last three meetings, claiming a 5-2 decision on Mar. 12 of last year after sweeping a pair of 4-3 decisions during a Mar. 12 doubleheader.
The Trailblazers had swept a Mar. 27, 2021 doubleheader in their first year at the Division I level.
CMU is 9-6 all-time against the Trailblazers in St. George.
CMU holds a 3-2 lead in the series since the Trailblazers moved to the Division I ranks.
Up Next
The Mavericks will begin a stretch of five matches against PacWest foes in four days from Mar. 18-21 when they visit California for the second time this spring during CMU's spring break.
