GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After a strong fall campaign, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team will begin a jam-packed spring campaign with a pair of matches at Division I Idaho State University on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks and Bengals will play at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the ISU's Reed Gymnasium.
 
Live results from both duals can be found at the link above.
 
A complete recap will also be posted on www.cmumavericks.com on Sunday evening.
 
The Maverick men are also making the trip and playing the Bengals twice on Saturday.
 
Fall Recap
 
The Mavericks went 2-1 as a team with wins over both of their fellow NCAA Division II foes in CSU Pueblo and Fort Hays State and a host of strong play in their two individual tournaments during the fall non-championship season in September.
 
The Mavs' three team duals all came on Sept. 12 during the Pueblo Duals.
 
The Mavs also played at the Colorado College Invitational the weekend before and then wrapped up the spring with a strong showing at the ITA West Regional Championships in California from Sept. 25-27.
 
Devyn Rodriguez made a deep run to the semifinals at the ITA event and finished the fall with an impressive 9-2 singles record.  Catalina Ballon, who went 6-3 and Delia Maier, who was 6-2 also had impressive falls seasons.  Jade Brilhante, who was 5-4, and newcomers Valentina Gonzalez and Sophie Hartman also had strong seasons. 
 
Gonzalez and Hartman were both 5-2 in singles and teamed to post a 8-1 record in doubles, with their only loss coming in the quarterfinals of the ITA Regional.  Ballon and Maier went one round further in to the semifinals and were 7-2 throughout the fall.
 
As a collective unit, the Mavericks combined for a 20-6 record and .769 winning percentage in doubles matches and were 41-18 (.695) in singles play.
 
ITA Rankings
 
The Mavericks' fall success translated into some strong rankings in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) national and regional rankings.
 
Rodriguez ended the fall ranked 35^th in the national singles rankings and was fourth in the West Region rankings.
 
Jade Brilhante was also slotted 14^th in the regional singles rankings.
 
In doubles, Ballon and Maier are ranked fourth in the West region while Hartman and Gonzalez are tabbed seventh.
 
Probable Lineup
 
Here's a look at the Mavs' probable lineup for this weekend's matches, which mirrors the lineup 21^st year Head Coach Dan MacDonald used throughout the Pueblo Duals weekend on Sept. 12-13.
 
Each players' overall record and their Pueblo Duals record is included in parentheses.
 
Singles
 
1. Devyn Rodriguez (9-2, 2-1 in duals)
2. Jade Brilhante (5-4, 1-2)
3. Valentina Gonzalez (5-2, 3-0)
4. Catalina Ballon (6-3, 2-1)
5. Delia Maier (6-2, 3-0)
6. Sophie Hartman (5-2, 3-0)
Alternate/Exhibition: Taylor Nokes (3-0)
 
Doubles
1. Brilhante/Rodriguez (3-2, 2-1 in duals)
2. Ballon/Maier (7-2, 2-1)
3. Gonzalez/Hartman (8-1, 3-0)
 
Know Your Foe
 
The Bengals are off to an 0-3 team start this season and will play at Utah State in Logan on Saturday before returning home to take on the Mavs in Sunday's doubleheader.
 
Their losses have come at Boise State (5-2), at Utah (6-1) and at home to BYU (5-2).
 
Veronika Zarovna has two singles wins thus far in the No. 5 and 6 spots of the lineup.
 
However, they have struggled at the top, going 0-9 in the top three flights combined.  Millie Day has played at No. 1 in all three matches.
 
However, the Bengals have been strong in doubles play combining for a 6-2 record while sweeping both Boise State and BYU.
 
The Bengals finished 10-12 as a team last year and went 3-5 in Big Sky Conference affairs.  They dropped their conference tournament opener to Montana State.
 
They were picked fifth out of nine teams in this year's Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Series History
 
The Division I Bengals have dominated the all-time series with the Division II Mavs, winning  all eight previous matches, seven of which have been played in the previous five seasons.
 
CMU has regularly made the trip to Pocatello early in the season in recent years and placed twice last year on Feb. 1 and 2 to open up the spring.
 
The Mavs had also played one match against the Bengals on Mar. 18, 2002 in Flagstaff, Arizona.  The other seven have all been played at Idaho State.
 
Ms. Independents & South Central Path
 
After playing as associate members of the PacWest Conference in recent years, the Mavericks will be without a conference home in 2026. 
 
Although the Mavs attended the ITA's West Regional Championships in the fall, the Mavs will play as an independent and will be fighting for a NCAA Tournament berth out of the South Central Region against Lone Star Conference squads and fellow independent CSU Pueblo.
 
CMU is a member of the South Central Region in many of their other sports and by default are included in that region without any tennis conference affiliation.
 
The PacWest was and continues to be the only tennis conference in the West Region.
 
Four of the South Central Region teams will receive a NCAA Tournament bid through the regional ranking process.
 
The Schedule Ahead
 
The Mavs will play a mixed schedule of team matches this spring, including 12 against South Central and West Region foes.  They also have two other matches scheduled against Midwest Region foes next week in Northwest Missouri State and Nebraska-Kearney.  The Valentine's Day dual at Nebraska-Kearney will also count as an "in-region" match under the NCAA's Division II contiguous state policies for regional rankings.  All seven of their matches against PacWest foes in trips to California and Hawai'i later this spring will also count on the Mavs' "in-region" record under those same policies.
 
The Mavs are also slated to face four Lone Star Conference foes, all of which will have massively important impacts on the NCAA selection process.  Three of those matches will come in two days during their trip to Lubbock, Texas on Mar. 6-7.  The Mavs will also take on Western New Mexico in two weeks during their Phoenix Duals trip on Feb. 20-21.
 
The Mavs will also close out the season with a home and regional match against CSU Pueblo on Apr. 18 and are already 2-0 "in-region" with wins over the ThunderWolves and Fort Hays State.
 
CMU also has matches scheduled against a host of NCAA Division I, Division III and NAIA opponents.  The results of those affairs will go on CMU"s overall record but will have no impact on the NCAA Tournament selection process, which only factors results against other NCAA Division II opponents.
 
The complete Maverick schedule can be seen here: https://cmumavericks.com/sports/womens-tennis/schedule
 
The schedule is quite heavy at the start with the Mavs slated to play 13 matches over the next five weekends, with ten of those coming in the four weeks of the month of February alone.
 
The Mavs will then make the aforementioned regional trip to Lubbock, Texas to begin  the month of March before taking an extended Spring Break trip to southern California for four matches between Mar. 15-18.  They will then play twice in Colorado Springs on Mar. 27 and 28 before a trip to Hawai'i for three matches in Honolulu from Apr. 4-6.
 
The Mavs then wrap up the season with a road trip to Division I Utah Tech on Apr. 11 and the season finale against CSU Pueblo on Apr. 18.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will head to Kearney, Nebraska for three matches inside the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center.  They are slated to face NAIA Hastings College and NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State University on Friday, February 13 before playing the host Nebraska-Kearney Lopers next Saturday (Feb. 14).