GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's tennis finished out its season with a 1-1 afternoon from the Elliott Tennis Center, as the Mavericks defeated Colorado College 6-1 before falling to MSU Denver, 4-3.
Jorge Abreu punctuated his Senior Day with two singles wins on the day, while
William Leschig and
Emil Hultman also went 2-0 in singles. All three of CMU's doubles pairings went 1-1 across the two duals, with the Mavericks taking two of three to win the doubles point against the Tigers and winning one of three matches to drop the point against the Roadrunners.
The Maverick men finish the 2023-24 campaign with a record of 8-14, winning three of their final six matches. Since the earlier announcement that CMU was not among the eight PacWest programs selected for the conference tournament, today's two duals conclude the Mavericks' season.
Colorado Mesa clinches the doubles point with the first two matches to finish, as
Emil Hultman and
Philemon Jabin cruised 6-1 on court three while
Diogo Manzano and
Jorge Abreu won 6-4 on court two. Hultman was then the first singles court to finish despite a shaky first set, coming from behind to defeat CC's Nate Beerman 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7) on court four.
William Leschig earned a straight-sets win, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 on court two to extend the CMU lead in the dual to 3-0. Colorado College's Aiden Little delayed the clinch with a win for the Tigers on court three, defeating CMU's
Diogo Manzano 6-4, 6-3.
Philemon Jabin secured the clinch with an emotional win on court one. Jabin also came back from a set down, defeating CC's Andrew Kaelin 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (12-10) with the support of a raucous cheering section comprised of members of the CMU men's soccer team. The Mavericks wrapped things up with further victories on the lower courts, with
Henry Scheck beating CC's Jack Delafield 6-3, 6-3 on court five and
Jorge Abreu knocking off CC's Dominik Kaminski 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 on court six.
After dropping their doubles match against Colorado College, CMU's No. 1 duo of
William Leschig and
Henry Scheck kicked off the MSU Denver dual with a doubles victory, beating the Roadrunner tandem of Marco Jalilian and Alessandro Munoz, 6-2. MSU Denver snatched the doubles point with wins on the other two courts, however, winning 6-4 on court three and pulling out a narrow 7-6 (10-8) victory over Hultman and Jabin on court two.
The two programs went back and forth winning matches when singles play began. MSUD's Alejandro Jimenez got a quick 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jabin on court one, but
Emil Hultman answered with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Maximo Lawlor on court four. MSU Denver took another win on court three as Marco Jalalian defeated
Diogo Manzano, 7-5, 6-4 before Leschig struck back by winning 6-3, 6-3 on court two.
Court five clinched the dual for MSU Denver, with Alessandro Munoz defeating CMU's
Henry Scheck 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4. Fittingly, it was the senior Abreu who was the last CMU player on the court for the 2023-24 season, with Abreu punctuating his Senior Day by beating MSUD's Reed Rainwater 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8).
Aside from Abreu, Colorado Mesa's other senior honored in between duals on Saturday was Grand Junction native
Brandon Keller, who got to play an exhibition set against Colorado College to mark his final appearance in a Maverick uniform.
