GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After playing their first 12 matches away from home in five different states, the Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team will have a rare home opportunity when they host the University of Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans in a Sunday doubleheader at the Elliott Tennis Center.
The first dual between the Pacific West Conference rivals will begin at 11 a.m. while the second in scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Live results of both can be found here.
CMU men's will enter the day with a 5-7 record while the Vulcans are currently 0-2 heading into Friday and Saturday encounters at MSU Denver.
The CMU women will play a single match on Saturday at Division I Utah Tech.
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.
Last Time Out
The Maverick men played their first two PacWest opponents of the season last week in California, facing Azusa Pacific last Thursday in Azuza and Biola in nearby La Mirada on Friday.
APU, the defending PacWest Champions, were receiving votes in the ITA NCAA Division II Rankings at the time and are now ranked 20th in the organization's computer rankings. The Cougars won all nine played matches and improved to 7-0.
The Mavs also fell 6-1 to Biola, who moved to 6-2 with the win, but received some strong play from
Emil Hultman, who won his No. 2 doubles match alongside partner
Philemon Jabin before claiming a 7-5, 7-5 No. 5 singles victory during that wave of matches.
Henry Scheck also won a set in his No. 4 singles affair.
Getting to Ten
Maverick sophomore
Emil Hultman could reach the 10-win mark in both singles and doubles play on Sunday. The Sweed is 9-6 in singles play and has the team's lone winning dual meet mark at 6-5. He and junior partner
Philemon Jabin are also an impressive 8-2 in doubles this spring, playing in the second flight. Hultman also has a 1-2 tournament record and is 9-5 in overall doubles play, including one dual start alongside
Jorge Abreu. Jabin is 9-6 overall.
Rare Home Weekend, Past Success
The Mavericks will play two of just four home matches this season on Sunday when they host the Vulcans, who will be the first team from outside of Colorado to visit Grand Junction since Mar. 9, 2021. The Mavs other two home matches will come on Apr. 13 when the Mavs will host in-state rivals Colorado College and MSU Denver.
The Mavs went 1-1 at home last season, defeating CC and falling to MSU Denver. The Mavs were 2-1 at home during the 2021-22 campaign, defeating the Tigers in both the fall and the spring.
In the spring of 2021, the Mavericks also went 2-1 at home, claiming wins over Dallas Baptist, the last non-Colorado school to play the Mavs at the Elliott Tennis Center, and CC while falling to MSU Denver.
The Mavericks have posted a .500 or winning home-court season every year since 2005-06, when they lost their lone home match of the season.
Know Your Foe
The Vulcans are currently 0-2 in their young season, having dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions to Hawai'I Pacific on Feb. 17 and 18 in Oah'u.
They are playing two matches at MSU Denver on Friday and Saturday before making the trip over the Mountains to Grand Junction.
The Vulcans were ranked 22
nd by the ITA at the time of the matches against the then 10
th-ranked Sharks and were ranked 25
th as of last week.
In singles play, Ryo Minikata and Lamar Bartley were able to claim victories on Courts 1 & 3 in both duals. Luca Matheiowetz and Cian McDonnell were also able to win their No. 3 doubles match-up in the first dual.
They were picked third in the PacWest's preseason poll and return Third Team All-PacWest pick Agustin Gentile to their roster this year, which has six new faces this season.
Former Vulcan player Kellen Mizuguchi was named as the program's interim head coach in 2019 and led the team to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Championships before having the interim tag removed. The Vulcans played just four matches prior to COVID in 2020 and then went on go to 11-3 while winning the PacWest title and again reaching the NCAA Championship semifinals in 2021. They were 9-10 last year and 5-12 in 2023.
Series History
The Vulcans and Mavs split two neutral-court matches last season. CMU was able to get a 4-0 win over the Vulcans on Mar. 20, 2023 in Fresno, California but could not complete the sweep, falling 6-1 on Apr. 7 in Denver.
Hilo also won a Mar. 22, 2022 decision by a 7-0 score in Fresno, the first match-up between the teams since 2007, when the Vulcans won a 9-0 decision on Mar. 29, 2007 in their only previous trip to Grand Junction nearly 17 years ago.
Hilo leads the all-time series, 3-1.
Up Next
The Mavericks will The Mavericks will begin a stretch of five matches in four days from Mar. 18-21 when they visit California for the second time this spring during CMU's spring break. The Mavs will take on the Vulcans again on Mar. 19 in their second of those matches. That contest will take place at Azusa Pacific's Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex after the Mavs begin the trip in San Diego against Poina Loma Nazarene. The Mavs will also place at Westmont in Santa Barbara before heading to Fresno for contests at Fresno Pacific and against Jessup on Mar. 21.
The CMU women will also play five matches on the same trip.
