GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's & women's tennis teams will have the rare opportunity to play in front of their home fans this weekend when the Mavs host a series of matches against their biggest in-state rivals at the Elliott Tennis Center.

Both Maverick squads will take on MSU Denver at 12:30 p.m. on Friday in critically important Pacific West Conference matches.  That start time is two hours earlier than originally planned.
 
On Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., the Maverick women will take on CSU Pueblo before both teams will take the courts again at 1:30 p.m. to play Colorado College.
 
The Mavericks will also honor three seniors in between Saturday's matches at approximately 12:15 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Maverick squads have been off from competitive action for two weeks after a marathon swing through California over CMU's Spring Break.
 
The Maverick women went 5-2 against PacWest foes while playing seven matches and at least once each day during a 6-day stretch from Mar. 15-20.  They won five straight during that stretch.
 
CMU's men played on five of those six days, matching up with six PacWest foes, and went 3-3.
 
Jane Steur led the Mavericks with a 6-1 singles record throughout the trip while Makenna Livingston and Delia Maier both went 4-3.  Steur and doubles partner Catalina Ballon Marin also went 4-1 in doubles action.
 
Emil Hultman led the CMU men, going 4-2 in singles play.  Romain Payan was 3-3.
 
Full recaps and results from each day of the trip are accessible through the Mavs' schedule pages: MEN | WOMEN.
 
Senior Day
 
The Mavericks will recognize three seniors on Saturday.  That list includes Makenna Livingston and Audrey O'Rear on the women's side and Philemon Jabin on the men's.
 
Livingston, who hails from Huntington Beach, California, has been in the No. 1 and 2 spots of the Maverick lineup throughout her 4-year career with the Mavs.  She is the only Maverick women to have earned All-PacWest honors since the Mavs joined the conference as affiliate members in 2021 and has racked up 94 career wins, including 47 singles and 47 doubles victories.
 
O'Rear hails from Lone Tree, Colorado and has also been with the Mavs for four years.  She has been a spot starter and like Livingston, has shined in the classroom, earning three Academic All-PacWest and two ITA Scholar-Athlete awards.
 
Jabin joined the Maverick men's program in 2023-24 and played in the No. 1 singles spot after transferring from Ventura College.  Originally from Brussels, Belgium, Jabin has gone 9-12 in singles play this season, playing mostly in the No. 3 and 4 spots of the lineup.    He and Emil Hultman have also played in the No. 1 and 2 doubles flights this season.
 
Men reach 10
 
With their 10-9 record thus far, the Maverick men have already reached the 10-win mark for the first time since 2017, when they went 13-12.  The Mavs have four regular season matches remaining, including this weekend's two.
 
On track for a winning season
 
The Maverick women currently hold an 11-9 record and are poised to record their first winning season since 2016, when CMU went 16-13.  The women have six regular season matches remaining plus any additional post-season matches they have the opportunity to play.
 
Colorado Time
 
In addition to being at home for the first and only time this season, the Maverick women will also be playing their first matches in the state of Colorado all spring.  The Mavs have traveled to Idaho, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah and California this season but will get to play their final six regular season matches within the state.
 
After hosting their three opponents this week, the Mavs will be on the Front Range next weekend facing the same three foes in MSU Denver, Colorado College and CSU Pueblo on the road over consecutive days from Apr. 11-13.
 
CMU's men have been at home for just one day this spring, splitting a Mar. 9 doubleheader with Hawai'i Hilo.  They will also play at MSU Denver and Colorado College next Friday and Saturday.  The CMU men are 4-1 inside Colorado this season as a whole, going 3-0 in the fall at the Pueblo Duals.
 
National Rankings
 
The Maverick men continue to be nationally-ranked and sit 36^th as a team in the latest ITA NCAA Division II Computerized Rankings, which were last released on Wednesday.
 
Makenna Livingston sits 50^th in the women's singles individual rankings.
 
PacWest Rankings
 
Although the PacWest has no official standings and no conference mandated playing schedule, a committee of administrations from around the league representing each geographical pod has compiled sets of team rankings over the last two Wednesdays.  Those rankings will be compiled one more time on Monday, which will determine the qualifying teams for the upcoming Apr. 16-19 PacWest Championship Tournament in Surprise, Arizona.
 
Twelve of the conference's 17 women's teams will be selected while eight of the 12 men's teams will earn a trip.
 
The Maverick women, who have qualified in each of their four previous years as members of the conference, are ranked seventh in the latest edition of the rankings after debuting in the No. 8 spot. 
 
CMU's men, who have only qualified in 2021, have been ranked ninth and just outside the necessary top-8, in each of the first two sets of rankings.
 
Seeding Week
 
Although the official tournament qualifications will be determined on Monday and announced later that day, the selected PacWest teams will have one more week to impress the committee, which will conduct one more rankings call to determine the tournament seeding.  The results of CMU's away matches at MSU Denver on Apr. 11 be a part of that process.
 
Men's Must Win
 
Sitting just outside the top-8, the Mavericks desperately need a win over MSU Denver on Friday.  The Roadrunners are ranked fifth in the Pac West with Hawai'i Pacific, Biola and Hawai'i Hilo sandwiched in between.  The Mavs lost to Biola and split with Hawai'i Hilo but have not played Hawai'i Pacific, which split with Hilo on Oah'u last week.  The Sharks and Vulcans are also slated to play two more times this weekend on the Big Island.
 
Seeding on the line
 
Although the Maverick women appear to be safely in the PacWest Tournament the upcoming matches with MSU Denver will have a large say in where the Mavs will be seeded.  They have been one spot ahead of the Roadrunners in each of the first two sets of the rankings.  MSU Denver is currently ranked ninth after debuting in the No. 10 spot.
 
Men's Opponents
 
MSU Denver (Friday- 2:30 p.m.)
 
The Roadrunner men have a 9-10 overall record and have gone 5-3 against PacWest foes this season.  Like the Mavs, they went 3-3 on a recent trip to California after sweeping two duals against Hawai'i Hilo on Mar. 7-8 in the days before the Mavs split with the Vulcans on Mar. 9.
 
They are ranked 50^th as a team in the ITA's national rankings.  Lluc Limogni Ollers is 35^th in the national singles rankings.
 
Colorado College (Saturday - 1:30 p.m.)
 
The NCAA Division III Tigers are 3-9 this season but won their last two and three of their last four matches during a stretch in California.  They are ranked 61^st in tie ITA's Division III rankings.
 
Lenny Lehmitz, who is 5-2, and Dominik Kaminski, who is 5-7 have the best records in the Tigers' singles lineup, which features Lucas Pastor and Aiden Little in the top two spots.  They are 3-9 and 4-7, respectively.
 
Kaminski also leads the Tigers in doubles with a 4-6 record compiled with three different partners.

Women's Opponents

MSU Denver (Friday- 12:30 p.m.)
 
The Roadrunners are 10-10 overall and went 4-3 in their recent trip to California to face PacWest foes.  They started the Mar. 20-25 stretch with three straight wins over Menlo, Westmont and Fresno Pacific before dropping three of the last four to Point Loma, Biola and Azusa Pacific surrounding a 4-2 win at Cal State LA.

CSU Pueblo (Saturday - 9:30 a.m.)
 
The ThunderWolves have a 1-8 record this season, with their lone win come over NAIA Sterling College on Feb. 27 in Kansas.
 
Marta Garcia has a 4-5 record to lead the Pack individuals.  She has played most often at No. 3 but has made starts at No. 2 and 4.  Valentina Brienza also has three wins for the Pack, all in the top half of the lineup.
 
In doubles, Margot Aebischer and Yelena Travica are each 2-6 and have a 2-2 record when playing together.  The ThunderWolves have just three doubles wins in 26 total matches.
 
Colorado College (Saturday - 1:30 p.m.)
 
The Tigers hold a 5-6 overall record and won their last two matches by 5-2 scores over Cal Lutheran and UC Santa Cruz at the end of 5-match swing through Southern California.    They went 2-3 on that trip but lost only to teams ranked amongst the top 30 of Division III.  The Tigers are now ranked 40^th in the ITA's Division III team rankings.
 
Aspen Young is a perfect 9-0 this season for the Tigers, playing in the No. 2-4 spots of the lineup.  However, a trio of players have yet to win at No. 1 singles.  The Tigers are a solid 6-5 at No. 2 and 7-4 at No. 3 singles.
 
They have won the doubles point just four times but have claimed at least one doubles match in seven of their 11 duals to date.
 
Series Histories (Men)
 
The Mavericks have dominated the rivalry with Colorado College, winning the last 21 and 28 of the 32 all-time match-ups.  The Mavs are also a perfect 9-0 against the Tigers at home.
 
CC's last win in the rivalry came back in 2009, when they won a 5-4 decision in Colorado Springs.
 
However, the MSU Denver Roadrunners have had the Mavs' number in recent year, winning the last 16 match-ups between the long-time rivals, who both played in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference before the RMAC ceased men's tennis sponsorship.  MSU Denver leads the overall series, 38-15 and has a 14-8 record against the Mavs in Grand Junction.
 
The Mavs' last win was by a 5-4 score in Denver on Apr. 8, 2017.  The Roadrunners then avenged that victory with a 5-4 win in the 2017 RMAC Tournament.
 
Series Histories (Women)
 
The Mavericks will then renew their most played rivalry in program history on Friday, matching up with MSU Denver for the 65^th time.  MSU Denver holds a 35-29 advantage, largely thanks to a 14-match winning streak from 2016-22, which the Mavericks snapped in 2023 by sweeping the regular season series with a pair of 4-3 wins.  However, the Roadrunners avenged that loss in the opening round of that year's PacWest Tournament and have now won the last four match-ups, including both regular season contests and another 2024 PacWest Tournament meeting.
 
The Mavs are 10-12 at home against the Roadrunners.
 
The Mavs have dominated the rivalry with CC as of late, winning 17 straight duals over the Tigers since and including 2012.  The Tigers' last win was in 2009.  CMU leads the all-time rivalry 21-11 and has a winning 7-5 record over the Tigers at home thanks to seven straight wins since and including 2015.
 
The Mavericks defeated CSU Pueblo for the 51^st total and 42^nd consecutive time last year and now hold a 51-11 all-time lead in the series.  The last 11 victories since 2019 have come by 7-0 margins.
 
The Mavs are 27-3 at home against the ThunderWolves, who last won a road match over CMU back in 2004.

Up Next
 
The Mavericks will learn whether they get into the PacWest Championships on Monday and then will wrap up the regular season next week with road matches on the Front Range next weekend against the same opponents.
 
CMU will play at MSU Denver next Friday (Apr. 11) at 2:30 p.m. before heading to Colorado Springs to play Colorado College on Saturday, Apr. 12 at 11 a.m.  The Maverick women will also play at CSU Pueblo on Sunday, Apr. 13 at 9:30 a.m.