GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's tennis teams will play in Colorado Springs this weekend, facing a pair of NCAA Division III opponents.
 
The Maverick men and women will take on the University of the Ozarks at Friday at Noon before facing the Colorado College Tigers on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
All of the matches will take place at Life Time Fitness, located at 4410 Royal Pine Drive in the northeastern portion of the city.
 
CMU's women will enter the weekend with a 9-11 record and trying to get back to .500 while the men are 5-12 and looking to snap a 7-match slide.
 
Last Times Out
 
Both Mavericks squads spent a good portion of the CMU spring break in Southern California, where they played four matches in as many days between Mar. 15-18.
 
The Maverick women went 2-2 with a 7-0 victory at Westmont to begin the trip and a 4-2 neutral-site win over Menlo two days later on Mar. 17 in Azuza.  The Mavericks also fell to Biola, 5-2 and nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific, 6-1.
 
Jade Brilhante and Catalina Ballon both went 3-1 in singles play throughout trip while Ballon and Delia Maier were 3-1 together at No. 2 doubles.
 
The Maverick men went 0-4 during the trip, but had some positive results.
 
Emil Hultman went 2-2 at No. 3 singles while all three of the Mavs' doubles teams won a match.
 
One milestone down, another nearing
 
Maverick senior Delia Maier went 3-1 with doubles partner Catalina Ballon during the trip to California and in the process reached and surpassed the 50-win milestone for doubles.  Maier now has 51 doubles victories to her credit.
 
She could also reach the 100 overall win milestone on Saturday and will enter the trip to Colorado Springs with 97 total victories, including 46 singles wins.
 
Maier and Ballon have put together an impressive 17-9 doubles record this year, including a 12-8 dual record.
 
Nationally-Ranked Win
 
Maverick senior Jade Brilhante went 3-1 during the trip to California at No. 3 singles and ended the trip on a high note with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Azusa Pacific's Karola Suviste, who was nationally ranked at No. 72 at the time.
 
The win was the first over nationally ranked opponent for any Maverick this season and was the first for Brilhante in her 2-year Maverick career.
 
Continuing the Climb
 
The Maverick men's doubles duo of William Leschig and Henry Scheck continues to rise in the ITA's NCAA Division II rankings.  The Maverick pair now sits 11^th in this week's rankings after residing in the No. 13 spot last week (Mar. 18) and at No. 14 the week before that (Mar. 11).
 
They have a 13-9 record together, including a 9-7 record in duals at No. 1.  They have faced a brutal schedule, taking on five other nationally-ranked teams in their Mavs' last seven matches, going 2-2.  Their match with Biola's top-ranked pair of Angel Guerrero and Alejandro Flores Monteverde was left unfinished.
 
Stellar Singles
 
Maverick senior Emil Hultman has a 17-8 singles record this season and has won six of his last ten decisions.  With two wins in California, Hultman has moved in to a tie for ninth on the Mavericks' single-season wins chart this year after claiming 18 wins last season, the eighth most in program history.
 
If he were able to win in all five of the Mavs' remaining duals, Hultman could match the program record of 22 wins, set by Jordan Lyden in 2013-14.
 
With three more wins, Hultman could become the first Maverick to reach the 20-win mark since Lynden won 21 singles matches in 2014-15.
 
Know Your Foes (Men)
 
University of the Ozarks (Noon – Friday)
 
The Eagles, who hail from Clarksville, Arkansas, have won two straight and three of their last four decisions to raise their record to 7-5 overall.  They are 4-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play and will take on the CC Tigers on Friday evening in a key conference match-up after facing the Mavs.
 
Senior Kento Iwahara was named as the SCAC's Men's Tennis Player of the Week after he won both of his No. 1 singles matches against LeTourneau's Zach Farris and St. Thomas' (Texas) Raja Pandya.
 
He and Perry Guidry were also named as the conference's doubles team of the week after they went 3-0 at No. 1 double, including a win over a nationally-ranked Division II pair from Arkansas-Fort Smith.  They have a 9-2 record in the top flight and have won eight straight.
 
Guidry is also 8-1 in singles at No. 4 and 5 while Iwahara is 4-4, having played in the top three flights.
 
Colorado College (1 p.m. – Saturday)
 
The Tigers are currently 4-6 overall and have lost five straight matches during a stretch in California but had won four straight SCAC matches during a Mar. 12-15 swing through Texas.
 
One of their official matches came against the Mavs on Feb. 28, a dual the Mavs squeaked out 4-3 with three third-set wins.
 
They Tigers take on the University of Ozarks on Friday night before facing Hendrix on Saturday night with the encounter with the Mavs in between.  Hendrix leads the SCAC standings at 5-0, sitting just ahead of the Tigers, who are 4-0 in conference play.
 
Lenny Lehmitz has a team-best 8-7 singles record and is 5-4 in duals, playing in the No. 2 and 3 spots.  Sam Lessard is also 7-4 overall, including a 6-3 dual mark, playing mostly at No. 5 with spot starts at No. 4 and 6.
 
Dominik Kaminski is 4-9 overall and 3-6 in duals in the top flight.
 
Lehmitz and Sam Dilworth are 4-4 in doubles and have played on the top of the Tiger doubles lineup five times.  Justin Boder and Kamisnki are 4-5 but have a strong 4-1 record at No. 2 doubles.
 
Know Your Foes (Women)
 
University of the Ozarks (Noon – Friday)
 
The Eagle women have a 2-10 record and have lost their last five matches by 7-0 margins since picking up a SCAC win by forfeit at McMurry on Mar. 12.
 
Their other win was on Mar. 5 at Bellhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi.
 
Kelsey Smith leads the Eagles and is 2-8 in the top flight.  She and Brooke Humphrey have their lone doubles win of the spring.
 
Madison Humphrey and Jayden Vazquez also have two singles wins.
 
Colorado College (1 p.m. – Saturday)
 
The Tigers have a strong 10-3 overall record and lead the SCAC standings with a 4-0 mark.  They are ranked 25^th in the latest ITA NCAA Division III rankings and swept their three opponents during last week's trip to Southern California.
 
They have won eight of their last nine matches since falling 5-2 at CMU back on Feb. 28.
 
They swept this week's SCAC Player of the Week honors with Kala Komanduri and Ally Lowe winning the Doubles Team honor while Aspen Young claiming the singles award.
 
Young is 12-4 overall and 9-3 in duals at the No. 1 position while Lowe has 13-4 overall and 10-2 dual records while playing at No. 2.
 
Lucia Moravek also has a strong 10-2 dual mark and has won eight straight matches at No. 4 and 5.
 
Lowe and Komanduri are 7-1 in doubles at No. 2 while Young and Moravek have a 8-4 record at No. 1.

The Tigers have won the doubles point in seven of their last nine duals.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks have never played the University of the Ozarks.
 
The Maverick women have a 23-13 advantage over the Tigers in the rivalry and have split two matches this season after doing the same last spring.  The Tigers won a 4-3 decision in the fall at the Pueblo Duals before the Mavs avenged that with a 5-2 win last month at home.
 
Both teams won by 4-3 margins at home in 2025 with the two matches taking place just seven days apart.
 
The Mavs had won 18 straight duals before the recent splits.
 
CMU is 13-6 against the Tigers in Colorado Springs.
 
The Maverick men have dominated the rivalry with the Tigers, winning the last 25 match-ups since 2009, when the Tigers last won.

Two of those wins came back on Feb. 28, when the Mavs won by 5-2 and 4-3 margins.  The Tigers had pre-declared the second duals as an exhibition, but CMU counted the match.
 
The Mavs are 15-3 against the Tigers in Colorado Springs.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will spend Easter in Paradise, playing three matches in Hawai'i between Apr. 4-6.  They will play Hawai'i Pacific next Saturday (Apr. 4), Hawai'i Hilo on Easter Sunday (Apr. 5) and will wrap up the trip against Point Loma on Monday, Apr. 6.
 
That trip will conclude the Maverick men's season. 

The CMU women will play at Division I Utah Tech on Apr. 11 and will then wrap-up the season on Apr. 18 with a home match against CSU Pueblo.