The Colorado Mesa tennis teams traveled to Denver, Colo. this past weekend to take part in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships.
The men, who earned a share of the conference title last weekend with a win over CSU-Pueblo came into the tournament with an 8-9 record and 5-1 in conference play. They were given the second seed and the one seed was awarded to Metro State.
The women entered the tournament with a record of 7-8 with a 4-2 record in conference play. They were also awarded the two seed, with the one seed going to Metro State.
The tournament opened play on Saturday with the men playing CSU-Pueblo and the women playing Colorado Christian.
The men swept the Thunderwolves as Colorado Mesa won all three doubles matches.
Cody Freischlag and Nicholas Farmen won at No. 1’s against CSU-Pueblo’s David Mould and Steven Alcala by a score of 8-6. Farmen would go on to win No. 2 singles against Rafael Abreu by way of straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Oliver Lindqvist and William Agritelley beat Nick Wade and Marcelo Rodriguez 9-8 to give the Mavericks a 3-0 match lead.
Lucas Martin and Alain De La Bastide won 8-6 over James Ryan and Dante Alcala. De La Bastide would go on to defeat D. Alcala in No. 6 singles to seal the match for the Mavericks.
The women defeated Colorado Christian by a score of 5-1. The Maverick women also swept all three matches of doubles on the afternoon. Katie Kirby and Kristen Kirby defeated Jennifer Perkins and Carrie Alberson of CCU by a score of 8-1. Emily Beckley and Taylor Hershey won 8-3 over Paige Crews and Maddie Andersson. Nicole Kitsuse and Georgia Hansen beat Ryanne Ritchey and Taylor Westrom by a score of 8-1.
Katie Kirby fell to Carrie Alberson of CCU in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Hershey defeated Andersson 6-1, 6-3 to give the Mavericks a 4-1 lead with Beckley having a chance to seal a shot in the title match. Beckley beat Perkins 6-1 and 6-1 to seal the match for Colorado Mesa.
Both teams faced off against Metro State in the championship match.
The men put themselves in a favorable position as they dropped all three of their double matches to the Roadrunners. Freischlag and Farmen lost to No. 1’s Josh Graetz and Joey Tscherne by a score of 8-3. Lindqvist and Agritelley defeated No.2’s Sam Stember and Keenan Kaltenbacher by a score of 8-5 and Martin and De La Bastide beat No. 3’s Calum Hayes and A. Martinez-Morilla by way of 8-6.
Graetz defeated Freischlag at No. 1 singles 6-0, 1-6 and 6-0 to tie the match at 2-2. Tscherne gave the Roadrunners the lead when he defeated M. Lindqvist 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2s. No 3’s Martinez-Morilla beat Farmen in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to give the Roadrunners a 4-2 lead with only one match to clinch.
Martin and O. Lindqvist defeated both of their opponents in three sets to tie the match at 4-4 with only Hayes and De La Bastide left to decide the champion. Hayes took the first set 7-5 and De La Bastide took the second set 6-4. In a close third set Hayes was able to pull off the victory for the Roadrunners giving them the RMAC Tournament title in 2017.
The women lost to the Roadrunners by a match score of 5-3. The Kirby sisters defeated No. 1’s Courtney Wright and Emily Kerr 8-6 and Nicole Kitsuse and Georgia Hansen defeated the No. 3’s Linying Xiao and Ana-Jelena Vujosevic 9-7. Beckley and Hershey fell to No. 2’s Tabitha Porter and Valerie Valencia.
Xiao defeated Kitsuse at No. 5 singles in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Porter defeated Becjley in No. 2 singles 6-0, 6-0. Kristen Kirby defeated Valencia in No. 1 singles in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 to keep the Mavericks alive. Ainsley Winterrowd defeated Hanson to clinch the team title for the Roadrunners as well.
