LOS ANGELES— Sophomore
Devyn Rodriguez claimed a lopsided 6-1, 6-1 No. 2 singles win over a nationally-ranked opponent while two other Mavericks went 2-0 during Colorado Mesa University's 5-2 road women's tennis win over Cal State LA on Sunday morning.
The win was the Mavs' first over a fellow Pacific West Conference opponent near the start of their massively important 6-day, 7-match Spring Break slate through California and moved the Mavs to 7-8 overall and to 1-1 in matches against conference foes.
The Golden Eagles fell to 1-7 in all matches and against conference opponents.
The Mavericks were able to take the doubles points with victories in both the second and third flights and then won four singles matches, including three in straight sets to clinch the victory.
Catalina Ballon Marin and
Jane Steur won their No. 3 doubles match over Courtlyn Lam and Summer Roybal by a 6-3 score. The Maverick juniors then posted comfortable singles wins as Ballon Marin defeated Charlotte Downs, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 singles before Steur clinched the dual with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Lam at No. 6, putting the Mavs ahead 4-0.
In between, Rodriguez defeated Sofia Pavlova, ranked 54
th in the latest ITA NCAA Division II Singles Rankings.
The Golden Eagles did answer back with a No. 1 singles win from Maldini Simic and a 3-set, No. 4 singles triumph before
Jade Brilhante ended the dual on a high note, taking a tight No. 3 singles match over Hideka Takamura.
Brilhante won the first set, 6-2 but lost a 10-8 tiebreaker in the second. With the dual already wrapped up, she then won the match tie-breaker 10-7.
CMU's
Makenna Livingston and
Delia Maier also contributed to the Mavs' victory, as they won their No. 2 doubles match over Sarah Olmos and Takamura, 6-2 to clinch the doubles point right after the Golden Eagles won 6-3 in the top flight to even the doubles score.
The Mavericks continue their swing through the Golden State playing at Westmont in Santa Barbara on Monday at noon PDT (1 p.m. Mountain). The Maverick men will then take on the Warriors at 3 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. Mountain).
A live stream of those duals can be found here. The Warrior womoen, 4-10, will be looking to snap a 7-match slide.
