DENVER – The MSU Denver men's and women's tennis teams will welcome a handful of visiting teams to the Regency Athletic Complex with the women kicking matches off on Friday.
The Roadrunners are coming off a tough California road trip against Pacific West Conference competition where both teams ran up against nationally- and regionally-ranked opponents. Although the Roadrunners won a total of one match among the two programs, the final scores did not dictate how competitive the play was.
"Our goal is to always stay on our toes and come out and compete," MSU Denver coach
Josh Graetz said. "I don't think any team has blown us out, but we are just losing the big points."
Both teams will look to execute on the big points this weekend to turn their fate around in a jam packed tennis weekend.
The women will host CSU-Pueblo (0-4) and Division I Nebraska-Omaha (8-9) on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. The Roadrunners have a 26-4 record over their first opponent, CSU-Pueblo, and they have won the last 11 meetings.
The Roadrunners and ThunderWolves have faced three of the same teams this season with CSU-Pueblo going 0-3 and MSU Denver going 1-2 in those matchups. The Roadrunners were able to string together two points in each of the losses, while the ThunderWolves were shut out in all three.
Nebraska-Omaha is the third Division I opponent that the women will take on during the regular season. The two programs have never met before on the court, nor do they have any common opponents from this season. The women will look to get their first win over a Division I opponent this year.
The women close out the weekend with two more matches on Saturday starting with Seward CC (Kan.) and ending with Division III Colorado College. Seward CC is 5-6 on the year, and they have fared very similarly to the Roadrunners against the two opponents they share on the season.
The Roadrunners will close the weekend against a 1-2 Colorado College team. The two programs have split the overall series 4-4 with MSU Denver winning the last meeting 5-2 on Apr. 14, 2019.
Helena Steenberg will look to build off her strong performance on the California road trip as the team enters a match-heavy weekend. Steenberg went 2-2 in California in singles, and one of her losses occurred in the third set. She was also asked to take over as No. 1 singles for the final two matches.
"We have talked a lot this week about turning the losses from California into lessons rather than look for excuses," Graetz said. "The team morale is great, and we just need to focus on capitalizing at home in the back half of the season."
The men will look to grow from the lessons they have learned over the last few weeks.
They have a less hectic weekend as they do not have any matches slated for Friday. They will be taking on Seward CC and Colorado College on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Although they only have two matches, they will have a challenging weekend ahead of them.
Seward CC is 9-2 on the year, and they are ranked No. 3 nationally at the junior college level. The two programs have not met historically, but they have two common opponents this season.
The men will end their weekend against Colorado College (0-2). The Roadrunners own a 7-1 all-time record against the Tigers, and they won the last matchup on Apr. 14, 2019, 6-1. The Roadrunners will have four of the players from that match back to compete this Saturday, and all four won their singles and doubles matches.
David Kijak has been on a tear over his last four matches this season. He has a 3-1 record over that span, and he has managed to hold off his opponents during grueling three-set matches. Three of those four matches went three sets, and he only lost one of those. Kijak will look to build on that momentum against the strong competition coming into town.
