GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will play three of their five home matches of the entire season in the span of just two days as they close out the regular season with weekend home matches against three long-time in-state rivals at the Elliott Tennis Center.
The Mavericks, who will enter the weekend with a 10-13 record, will play host to winless CSU Pueblo on Friday at 11 a.m. before taking on both NCAA Division III Colorado College and Pacific West Conference rival MSU Denver on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
The Maverick men will also play CC and MSUD on Saturday at the same times.
Prior to the match against the CC Tigers at 8 a.m., the Maverick tennis programs will recognize their seniors, including women's standouts
Julianna Campos and
Issy Coman.
The CMU tennis programs will also provide food and drinks to fans for Saturday's 2 p.m. match-up against MSU Denver as part of Community Support Day.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks were on Colorado's front range last weekend, playing MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo on the road. They dropped a 5-2 decision to PacWest foe MSU Denver on Friday before bouncing back for a dominating 7-0 win at CSU Pueblo on Saturday morning.
Julianna Campos and
Delia Maier both went 2-0 in singles play over the weekend.
Recaps of both duals can be found at the links below.
Four Timers
The Mavericks were selected to make their fourth consecutive Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament in a row on Monday. The Mavs have now been picked in all four years that they have been affiliate members of the conference but will still be in search of their first PacWest tournament win as part of the 12-team women's field.
The Mavs remained 12
th in this week's rankings, which determined the final field. The seeding for the tournament will be announced on Sunday and will include results from this weekend's matches.
MSU Denver is still ranked ninth.
Senior Spotlight
The proverbial spotlight will be on the Mavs' two seniors this Saturday as
Julianna Campos and
Issy Coman begin to wrap up their 4-year careers with the Mavericks by playing in their final home matches.
Both players have recorded 83 career wins to date to co-lead all current Mavericks.
Campos, who hails from Grand Junction, is 43-48 throughout her career in singles play, including an 11-13 mark this season and could easily surpass her career-high of 12 wins from the 2021-22 season on Saturday. Campos is also 11-15 in doubles this year with freshman partner
Devyn Rodriguez and has a winning 40-37 doubles record throughout her career. She could also pass her career-high of 12 doubles wins on Saturday.
Coman, who joined the Maverick from her native Auckland, New Zealand, has a 35-46 singles cored throughout her career while playing in the No. 1 and 2 spots of the Maverick lineup. She is also a solid 48-35 in doubles play throughout her career and could reach the 50 win mark on Saturday with partner
Makenna Livingston.
If she is able to, Coman would be just the 16
th Maverick woman to ever reach that doubles milestone.
Know Your Foes
CSU Pueblo – Friday; 11 a.m.
The ThunderWolves are currently 0-11 after falling 7-0 to the Mavs on Saturday morning inside the Pueblo Tennis Center before dropping a decision by the same scoreline to MSU Denver on Sunday in Denver.
The ThunderWolves have won just one total doubles match in their official duals with Margot Aebischer and Mariangel Nunez earning the win at No. 1 against Fort Hays State.
Nunez also has a 4-6 singles record to lead the team, having played mostly at the No. 3 position. Aebischer and Valentia Brienza also have two wins each.
Colorado College – Saturday, 9 a.m.
The Tigers will enter Saturday's match-up with a 5-9 overall record but have dropped their last four decisions. They last tasted victory on Mar. 10 in their only Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference match to date, winning over a shorthanded Austin College team that had just three players. They will play their other three SCAC matches in Texas next weekend.
Christina Heffron and Lindsay Popeo co-lead the team in singles play with 7-6 records in the middle of the Tiger lineup while Kala Komanduri has put up a respectable 5-7 record in the No. 1 spot. Avery Hickman is also 5-8 in duals, including a 4-8 mark at No. 2 and won her lone No. 1 start when Komanduri was out of the lineup.
The Tigers have struggled in doubles and sport a combined 10-30 record in that phase of the game. Hickman and Komanduri have three of those wins and are 3-6 at the No. 1 spot while Heffron and Popeo are 3-7 across all three flights.
MSU Denver – Saturday, 2 p.m.
The Roadrunners are currently 9-11 overall and have won four straight heading into a Friday morning exhibition match against Division I Oral Roberts, which will also serve as their Senior Day match.
They were able to go 3-0 at home last week, including a 5-2 win over the Mavs.
They have been playing strong tennis, winning six of their last seven duals, and were named as the PacWest Team of the Week on Monday while also securing a post-season spot in the PacWest Tournament.
Emily Hafner, who has a 19-12 overall record, moved up six spots to No. 22 in this week's ITA NCAA Division II National Singles rankings. She is 9-7 in duals at the No. 1 spot and has won four straight decisions.
Hanna Haber, who is 8-8 overall and 8-5 in duals and Courtenay Leonard (7-13) have also won four straight for the Roadrunners.
Hafner and Lilly Stienemeier have also fared well in doubles, racking up a 15-9 record as partners, including a 12-6 mark in duals at the No. 1 and 2 spots. Haber and Kambra Roles are also 9-4 overall as a duo.
Series Histories
The Mavericks defeated CSU Pueblo for the 50
th total and 41
st consecutive time last Saturday and now hold a 50-11 all-time lead in the series. The last ten victories since 2019 have come by 7-0 margins, including on Sept. 30 when CSU Pueblo came to Grand Junction in CMU's final dual of the fall season.
The Mavs are 26-3 at home against the ThunderWolves, who last won a road match over CMU back in 2004.
The Mavs have also dominated the rivalry with CC as of late, winning 16 straight duals over the Tigers since and including 2012. The Tigers' last win was in 2009. CMU leads the all-time rivalry 20-11 and has a winning 6-5 record over the Tigers at home thanks to six straight wins since and including 2015.
The Mavericks will then renew their most played rivalry in program history on Saturday, matching up with MSU Denver for the 63
rd time. MSU Denver holds a 33-29 advantage, largely thanks to a 14-match winning streak from 2016-22, which the Mavericks snapped last season by sweeping the regular season series with a pair of 4-3 wins. However, the Roadrunners avenged that loss in the opening round of last year's PacWest Tournament and have now won two straight match-ups after last Friday's victory.
The Mavs are 10-11 at home against the Roadrunners.
Up Next
The Mavericks will learn their seed and first round opponent for next week's Pacific West Conference Tournament on Sunday and will then begin that 12-team tournament in Surprise, Arizona on Wednesday with a first round match-up. The top four seeds receive first round byes and begin play on Thursday.
