DENVER – The MSU Denver men's and women's tennis teams are set to travel to Colorado Mesa on Friday for their final regular season duals of the season.
The men's are set to start at 1 p.m., with the women beginning play at 1:30.
Then men, 6-9 on the season, and the women, 10-9, have spent the majority of the week improving their doubles play to get off to a more efficient start against Colorado Mesa the second time around.
"We need to start stronger in doubles," said coach
Josh Graetz about improving for the rematch. "We have focused on doubles work this week in practice. We have worked on our play around the net and having shorter points."
The only point the women lost in the previous meeting came as a results of the doubles matches. Both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches came down to the wire, with the Roadrunners losing 7-5 each time.
Brooklyn Ross and
Isabel Heras, ranked No. 17 in Division II, will look to take the lead in setting the tone for establishing the doubles point for both squads at the No. 1 position. The duo is 13-3 on the season, including a 6-2 win against their Maverick opponents last weekend.
"I think they complement each other very well," Graetz said. "They both have a big game around the baseline, and Brook's big serve sets Isabel up nicely around the net."
The men also dropped their only point of the match on the doubles court with No. 1 and No. 2 doubles losing 6-1 and 6-3. This is going to be a major area of emphasis going into the weekend as MSU Denver looks to get some final preparation in before the Pacific West Conference Tournament.
They are coming in on a four-match win streak with one of those matches coming against Northern Arizona, a respectable team in a strong Division I conference.
Senior
Daniel Llorente will look to get his fifth straight singles win at the No. 1 spot. In his last match against Colorado Mesa, he won 6-4, 6-2 to get the Roadrunners on the board, which set the trend for the rest of the day.
The men and women were able to seal a 6-1 victory in the previous meeting, but there are areas of their game Graetz has emphasized needs to be improved before the start of the PacWest Tournament.
"We want to make sure we execute on the big points and get the doubles point early," Graetz said.
