GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- After some time off, the Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team travels to the Sunflower State to play in the Washburn Invite. Matches are set to begin at 9 a.m. at Kossover Tennis Complex in Topeka, Kan.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks made the five-hour trip out to Pueblo to play in the Colorado College Invite. Josema Fas, Manu Ferreira and Diego Foncillas all placed in the top four of the A Flight and Gavin Hutter placed well in the B Flight.
Fas and Ferreira paired up for doubles made a run to the semifinals while Hutter and Daniel Blanch also made it to consolation final but came up short in their last match.
The Three Fs Ball Out
Fas, Ferreira and Foncillas all displayed great results as all three players made it to the semifinals in both singles and doubles. Fas and Ferreira played against each other in semis while Foncillas waited for the winner in the final. It was Fas who got the better of Ferreira, and he booked his ticket to the final. The success continued in doubles as Fas and Ferreira paired up to make a run all the way to the semis.
Invite Format
The invite will see both singles and doubles action. Singles scoring will be two out of three sets with a ten-point tiebreaker for the third set. Doubles will be one set to six with a tiebreaker at six-all. All matches will be no-ad scoring, and players will play out lets off serves.
Lineup
Singles
Daniel Blanch
Luke Burriesci
Manu Ferreira
Josema Fas
Diego Foncillas
Gavin Hutter
Andrew Lock
Doubles
Fas/Foncillas
Ferreira/Blanch
Burriesci/Lock
Back in the PacWest
After a hiatus from a conference, the men's and women's tennis teams will rejoin the PacWest for the upcoming spring season. The conference will now feature eight teams on the men's side and 13 teams on the women's side with the addition of the Mavs. They will join Fresno Pacific, Menlo, CSU Los Angeles and Stanislaus State as affiliate members. The team will still be apart of the ITA West Region and will play against teams in the region during the spring season.
Men's Teams
Biola
Colorado Mesa
Fresno Pacific
Hawai`i Hilo
Hawai`i Pacific
Menlo
Point Loma
Westmont
The Competition
The invite is hosted by Washburn University and will feature six Division II teams from three different states. The teams competing alongside CMU will be Southwest Baptist, Northwest Missouri State, Emporia State, and of course Washburn. Missouri State, UMKC and Central Oklahoma will also compete but only on the women's side of the draw.
Washburn is coming off another impressive season where they went 20-6 and won the MIAA/GAC Tournament Championship for the fourth straight season. They qualified for the national tournament and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to West Florida. They started out the 2026-27 campaign by hosting the Washburn Invitational and then traveled to Omaha to play Creighton, where they won 5-2.
Northwest Missouri State closed out last year's campaign with a 12-10 record with their biggest win coming against #44 ranked Drury. They made it the NCAA Tournament but lost in the first round to Ouachita Baptist. This season they've played the Drake Tournament hosted by Drake University and then came up short in a 5-0 loss to Creighton.
Emporia State owned an 8-9 record last season and faced off against seven ranked opponents including Washburn and Northwest Missouri State. This season they hosted the George Milton Chicken Dinner Invitational and went 29-5 overall in the tournament.
Southwest Baptist had a 6-9 record with wins against Texas Permian Basin and Rockhurst being the highlights. They played the Drury Invitational to open their fall campaign.
Take a Look Ahead
The men will join the women as they travel to the Golden State to play in the ITA West Regional Championships. Play will begin on Oct. 15 at Haak Tennis Complex in Fresno.
