DENVER – MSU Denver's men's and women's tennis programs will be competing with some of the top teams in NCAA Division II as it was announced Thursday that the Roadrunners will join the Pacific West Conference as an affiliate member for tennis beginning in the 2020-21 academic year.
 
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, in which all other MSU Denver sports compete, no longer sponsors tennis as a championship sport.
 
"The most important thing is having that automatic-bid opportunity into the NCAAs," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Josh Graetz said. "We haven't had that since 2014. So this is huge for having the program moving in the right direction."
 
Also joining the PacWest as an affiliate member for tennis is Colorado Mesa of the RMAC. Having two Colorado schools in the fold provides increased opportunities for scheduling league matches in the state, and particularly at the Roadrunners' Regency Athletic Complex, due to the ease of travel to Denver.
 
The Pac West will now have 10 members for men's tennis and 16 for women's tennis.
 
"We're thrilled to bring in the outstanding tennis programs at Colorado Mesa and MSU Denver into the PacWest," PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue said. "Their affiliation with us strengthens our already strong tennis championships and makes our conference even more competitive than it already is."
 
PacWest schools sponsoring both men's and women's tennis are: Azusa Pacific (Calif.), Biola (Calif.), Concordia-Irvine (Calif.), Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii Pacific, Holy Names (Calif.), Point Loma (Calif.) and Sonoma State (Calif.). Six other schools sponsor only women's tennis: Academy of Art (Calif.), Cal State Los Angeles, Chaminade (Hawaii), Dominican (Calif.), Fresno Pacific (Calif.) and Stanislaus State (Calif.).
 
"Playing the teams who have both men's and women's tennis will be my top priority," Graetz said. "Then, for the women, I'll try to add in a few more (conference) matches."
 
The Pac West has no set schedule for regular-season tennis, but has a conference tournament in Surprise, Ariz., that will have eight men's and 12 women's teams. Four men's and four women's teams from the PacWest will advance to the NCAA Division II West Regional as the PacWest will make up the West Region.
 
The PacWest has produced 10 national champions in tennis (seven women's champions, three men's champions).
 
Last year, Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii-Hilo both made the national semifinals, while on the women's side both Azusa Pacific and Hawaii Pacific made the national quarterfinals.
 
Currently in the ITA national men's rankings, Azusa Pacific is No. 7, Hawaii Pacific is No. 9 and Hawaii-Hilo is No. 10. On the women's side, Hawaii Pacific is ranked eighth, Azusa Pacific is 14^th and Academy of Art is 19^th.
 
Joining the PacWest offers multiple advantages for the Roadrunners.
 
"We haven't been in a conference, on the men's side, in three years, and now we aren't on the women's side either," Graetz said. "So it's a long time coming. I'm pretty excited that we get to go to California – that's obviously great for recruiting.
 
"So, really excited from the recruiting side, from the travel side, from the weather side. There's a lot of really positive things about this."
 
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners are back in action this weekend at the Regency Athletic Complex.
 
The 3-0 men play host to NCAA Division I Montana State at 10 a.m. Friday. Montana State is 2-2, with its losses coming to Utah and Boise State. It's a rare home match against a Division I foe for MSU Denver, as Montana State was looking for another match while traveling to play at Air Force.
 
"It works out really well for the guys, because we haven't played a match in a few weeks," Graetz said. "And we head to Texas next week for some big regional matches. It's great to be able to have this match before we head out."
 
Daniel Llorente and Billy McDermott are each 8-1 in singles play this year, while Mateo Besada and David Kijak are both 7-2 and Alejandro Martinez-Morilla is 5-2.
 
The women (4-1) have what could be a key South Central Regional match against Texas A&M-Kingsville (2-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday as the Roadrunners try to reach the four-team regional tournament while playing an independent schedule. All of Texas A&M-Kingsville's matches have come against Division I teams.
 
Brooklyn Ross leads MSU Denver with a 10-2 record in singles, while Tabitha Porter is 8-3, Ainsley Winterrowd is 7-3, and both Helena Steenberg and Gala Castello are 6-4.
 
"It's a huge match," Graetz said. "We almost never get to play those Texas schools in Colorado, and that should be an advantage for us."