GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- After a week off from competition, the Colorado Mesa University women's tennis team head out to Colorado Springs for two dual matches against Fort Hays State and Colorado College. Both matches will occur on Sept. 26 and take place at Memorial Park. The Mavericks will take on Fort Hays at 11:00 a.m. and then play Colorado College at 2:30 p.m.
Last Time Out
The Mavs competed in the Colorado College Invite and placed six in the top four for both singles and doubles. In the A flight, Devyn Rodriguez finished third while Valentina Gonzalez and Eva Muraske battled in the consolation final. The B flight saw Sophie Hartman and Luciana Del Carlo make the semifinals with Hartman finishing second and Del Carlo third. Ruby Robbins ended up winning the back draw.
They also saw three of the four doubles team make the semifinals; the duos of Catalina Ballon/Muraske and Hartman/Del Carlo made it to the final setting up an all-Mavs battle that was played at home.
About Fort Hays State
The Tigers come to Colorado Springs with some with some fall matches under their belt. They traveled to Lindsborg, Kan. to play in the Bethany Invitational, where they had five singles champions and two doubles champions. In that tournament, the Tigers finished 20-7 in singles and 8-5 in doubles.
The team then went back to central Kansas to play their first dual match of the season against Bethel College, where they picked up the 5-2 win. They got the doubles point after winning at the one and three spots and earned singles wins at two, four, five and six.
Historically, the Mavs own a 25-3 record over Fort Hays with the Mavs winning the last eleven matches against them. Last season, the Tigers finished their season with a record of 8-11 and a 0-9 conference record. The last time these two teams played was last fall where the Mavs dominated 6-1 to hand head coach Dan MacDonald his 300th career win.
The Tigers feature a much bigger team than last season with five new freshmen and a transfer to round out their depth. Ines Latorre returns as the team's leader in singles wins with 12 and Janae Montoya is the returner with the most doubles wins with eight.
About Colorado College
The Tigers of Colorado College haven't been as busy this fall but have still gotten good results. They hosted the Colorado College Invite where they saw two singles champions and one doubles team reach the final four.
Last season, the Tigers capped off a historic campaign going 20-4 overall and an unbeaten 10-0 record in conference play to win the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title. They then went on to capture their first SCAC tournament title in program history and book a spot in the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Tournament. The Tigers fell short in the second round to Pomona-Pitzer but achieved a team ranking of 25th in the country.
The Mavs have a 25-14 overall record over Colorado College with both teams going 1-1 against each other last season. The four matches between these two teams have all come down to wire resulting in either 4-3 or 5-2 scores.
Much of the squad returns for this season including Aspen Young, who qualified for the NCAA Division III Singles Tournament and broke the program record for most singles wins in a season with 22. Two of her returning teammates, Ally Lowe and Lucia Moravek, also won 22 matches. Avery Hickman and Kala Komanduri also return as they both made significant contributions in both the singles and doubles lineups.
Take a Look Ahead
Both Mav tennis squads will head to Fresno, Calif. to play in the ITA West Regional Championships. The four-day event will take place from Oct. 15-19 at Haak Tennis Complex.
