ST. GEORGE, Utah— The Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team claimed three doubles victories and three singles wins during valiant battles with the NCAA Division I Utah Tech University Trailblazers in a Friday doubleheader.
The Trailblazers won both duals by 5-2 margins and improved to 11-11 overall while the NCAA Division II Mavericks, who declared the second dual an exhibition, fell to 11-15.
Six different Mavericks were able to win throughout the day.
The Mavs were able to seize the doubles point in the official morning dual as
Catalina Ballon and
Delia Maier were able to register their 20
th win of the season by a 6-0 margin at No. 2 before freshmen
Valentina Gonzalez and
Sophie Hartman claimed a 6-4 third flight win.
Maier then also recorded a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles over Cameron Hendrix.
Ballon and Maier are the first Maverick women in 14 years to reach the 20-win mark for doubles.
Gonzalez was also able two win the first set in her No. 2 singles match before her Trailblazer opponent Ana Gutierrez Sampere rallied for the 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Jane Steur also came up just short in her No. 6 singles match against Raquel Roshak dropping a pair of tie-breakers by 7-5 and 7-4 margins.
In the afternoon exhibition dual, CMU's
Jade Brilhante led the way.
She and
Devyn Rodriguez played at No. 2 doubles to avoid re-matches and were comfortable 6-1 winners at No. 2 over Hendrix and Nicole Kells.
However, the Trailblazers were able to win by the same margin at No. 1 and 3 doubles and took the overall doubles point
In singles, Brilhante beat Hendrix by a 6-3, 6-1 score at No. 3 singles while Ballon dropped to No. 6 to win 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 over Ilse Fernanda Elechiguerra Ortega to give the Mavs their two team points.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez played in the top flight against Mariana Zurita Berdecio and took the Trailblazer leader to a pair of set tiebreakers before falling 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-1).
The Mavericks will wrap up their season at home on Saturday, Apr. 18 against CSU Pueblo while the Trailblazers will play in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament next weekend.
