GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Enjoying a strong season to date, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's tennis team will begin its most important stretch when they head to California for a series of six matches in the same number of days against fellow Pacific West Conference opponents.
The Mavericks are 7-6 overall and are ranked 29
th in the latest ITA NCAA Division II Team Rankings. They have a 4-4 record against Division II opposition.
The Mavs' Spring Break trip will begin in La Mirada, where they will face Biola on Saturday afternoon. They will then have Sunday off but will support the Maverick women that morning against Cal State LA.
The action then resumes on Monday when the Mavs will take on Westmont in Santa Barbara.
The Mavs will then head East to play at No. 37 Fresno Pacific on Tuesday morning before taking on Jessup in a neutral-site match late that afternoon in Fresno. On Wednesday, CMU will play again in Fresno, taking on Menlo in another neutral-site match-up.
The Mavs then wrap up the trip on Thursday against Azusa Pacific, currently ranked seventh nationally in Azusa.
Please visit the Mavs' full season schedule for all of the details.
Follow the Mavs
Biola and Westmont plan to produce live streams, which can be accessed at these links.
Biola and Azusa Pacific will also have live results at these links.
Full results and daily recaps will be posted on
www.cmumavericks.com each evening.
Last Time Out
The Maverick men opened up PacWest play and played at home for the first of just three times this season when they hosted Hawai'i Hilo in a doubleheader this past Sunday the Elliott Tennis Center.
The Mavs dropped a tight 4-3 decision in the morning dual but came back to take the second match-up, 4-2.
Emil Hultman won both of his No. 5 singles matches while three other Mavericks went 1-1 in singles against the Vulcans.
The Mavericks also won the doubles point in both duals, going 4-1 in the finished matches.
William Leschig and
Henry Scheck went 2-0, coming from behind to win the first match at No. 2 before moving up to the top flight to claim another victory in the second dual.
Romain Payan and
Jamison Pfingston also went 2-0 at No. 3 doubles.
Everyone Contributes
The depth of the Maverick program was on full display on Sunday as all seven Maverick players who played against the Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans contributed at least one win to the Mavs' doubleheader split.
Romain Payan led the Mavs with three total victories, picking up two doubles wins with partner
Jamison Pfingston at No. 3 doubles while also contributing a singles win at No. 4. Pfingston only played doubles while
Diogo Manzano only played a pair of singles matches, going 1-1 at No. 6.
One from matching
With seven team wins already, the Mavericks will enter the California trip just one way from matching their 2022-23 and 2023-24 win totals of eight and are just two away from matching their 2021 season mark of nine wins, the best in their four previous years in the PacWest.
The Mavs are also 1-1 against PacWest foes after last week's split and can set a new program record for conference wins with just a single win during the California trip after winning just one PacWest match in each of the past three seasons.
ITA Rankings
The Mavericks sit 29
th as a team in the
ITA's latest NCAA Division II Team Rankings, published on Wednesday (Mar. 12). The Mavs are the second of five PacWest teams in the top 50 rankings.
Azusa Pacific is ranked seventh while Concordia University Irvine is 36
th. Fresno Pacific is 37
th while Hawai'i Hilo moved into the rankings in the No. 45 spot after their trip to Colorado.
Four other non-conference opponents, who the Mavs have played are also ranked. The Mavs defeated No. 4 Lubbock Christian in the fall and have split two matches with now 33
rd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney. CMU also played 41
st-ranked Rockhurst and 48
th-ranked Western New Mexico earlier this year.
The Mavs have a 3-4 record against other current nationally-ranked teams this season and have played just one team (Newman) outside of those rankings.
An explanation of the rankings algorithm, can be seen here -
https://wearecollegetennis.com/ita-rankings/rankings-explained/
California Guys
Four Maverick players, all of whom are regulars in the CMU lineup, have California connections.
Junior
Henry Scheck hails from Camarillo in Ventura County. He and his family will host the Maverick teams in their home on Sunday afternoon and evening fore some relaxation. The Maverick men are off that day while the CMU women have a morning match at Cal State LA in the.
Scheck is one of three Maverick players who prepped at the nearby Weil Tennis Preparatory Academy in nearby Ojai. German
William Leschig and Brazilian
Diogo Manzano also attended there before all three came to CMU for the 2022-23 season.
Meanwhile, Belgian
Philemon Jabin also has connections to California having played junior college tennis at Ventura College before transferring to CMU for the 2023-24 campaign.
Double Digit Wins
Emil Hultman and the doubles team of
William Leschig and
Henry Scheck both reached the double-figures win total in Sunday's doubleheader against Hawai'i Hilo.
After going 2-0 against the Vulcans, Hultman is now 11-6 in singles, including an 8-3 dual meet mark.
Leschig and Scheck are now 10-8 after going 2-0 on Sunday. They have a 6-6 dual meet mark and began the spring ranked fourth in the ITA's West Region Doubles rankings from the fall season after reaching the semifinals at the ITA West Regional Championships which were played in California as well.
Scheck and
Romain Payan are both a single win away from reaching double digits as well as both enter the Spring Break trip with 9-9 records.
Know Your Foes
Biola (Saturday – 1 p.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Mountain)
Watch |
Live Results
The Eagles are 4-6 on the season and dropped a 4-3 decision to Hawai'i Pacific in their last outing on Wednesday. They were due to play Western New Mexico on Friday evening but that match was canceled.
They are 3-5 against PacWest foes.
Thiago Canessa leads the team with a 7-2 singles record this spring in the bottom half of the line up with Alejandro Flores Monteverde has a 6-3 mark, including a 5-3 record in the top flight. He and Jules Zanarelli are 3-3 at No. 1 doubles.
The Eagles finished 16-9 last year and made the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Westmont (Monday – 3 p.m. Pacific/4 p.m. Mountain)
Watch
The Warriors are currently 1-9 and are slated to play Menlo and Jessup over the weekend after having two previous matches at Jessup cancelled on Thursday and Friday. Their lone win came on Feb. 22 over California Lutheran. Eight of their losses have been to PacWest foes.
Austin Stone has a 5-1 record at No. 1 singles in the Warriors' posted season statistics, although those are missing three of their matches.
Fresno Pacific (Tuesday- 9 a.m. Pacific/10 a.m. Mountain)
The Sunbirds are currently 5-4 heading into a Saturday home dual against American River. They lost their last two decisions on a 3-match trip to Florida but have a 3-1 record at home this season.
They are ranked 37
th in the nation as a team in this week's ITA Rankings.
Ben Cronau and Sven Bangert are ranked 43
rd nationally as a doubles duo and are 3-3 together this spring.
Ravi Nelson is 6-3 in singles play and has a 5-2 mark in the top flight.
Jessup (Tuesday – 4 p.m. Pacific/5 p.m. Mountain in Fresno)
The Warriors are 0-7 on the season and are slated to host Westmont on Sunday after those teams had a Friday match canceled.
They have a combined 3-33 record in singles play this spring and are 3-14 in doubles affairs. Caleb Poling and Vadim Francois have all three doubles wins and are 3-2. Poling, Chen Clark and Tanner Sitanggang have the singles wins.
Menlo (Wednesday- 12:30 pm. Pacific/1:30 p.m. Mountain)
The Oaks got off to a 4-0 start in February but lost their last match to Biola on Mar. 7. They are slated to host Westmont in Atherton, California on Saturday before heading to Fresno to play the Mavs.
Azusa Pacific (Thursday- 1 p.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Mountain)
Live Results
The Cougars are currently 10-2 and ranked seventh in the ITA National Rankings. They are slated to play three home matches before facing the Mavs next Thursday, including a Saturday encounter with No. 4 Lubbock Christian.
Last year's team went 23-1 winning the PacWest title before falling two matches later in the Round of 16 of the national tournament, their only defeat.
Their only two losses this season have home to Division I opponents UC Riverside and Weber State.
Soeren Grandke is ranked 22
nd in the nation for singles while he and Elias Walter sit 24
th in the doubles rankings.
Grandke is 11-1 in singles play, including an 8-0 mark at No. 2. He is 3-1 in the top flight when filling in for Walter, who is 6-1. David James Brownlee is 10-1 in singles as well.
Series Histories
The Mavs are 2-4 all-time against Biola. All six matches have been played in La Mirada over the past seven seasons. CMU won the first two in 2018 and 2019 before the Eagles have won the last four.
The Mavs won 5-2 at Westmont last year (Mar. 20) in the only previous match-up against the Warriors.
Fresno Pacific holds a 3-1 series lead over the Mavs and has won the last three match-ups, all in Fresno. CMU won a Mar. 11, 2022 decision by a 5-2 score in Colorado before the Sunbirds avenged that loss just ten days later.
The Mavs are 1-0 all-time against Jessup, having won 4-1 on Mar. 21 of last year in Fresno.
The CMU men have never played Menlo.
The Mavs are 0-9 against Azusa Pacific. They have played in Azusa in each of the last four seasons and also dropped a PacWest Tournament match in 2021 in Arizona.
Up Next
After the busy Spring Break trip, the Mavs will return home and will be off of competitive action until Apr. 4, when they will host MSU Denver.
