DENVER – The MSU Denver men's and women's tennis teams are spending spring break in California.
 
But it's not fun and games for the Roadrunners.
 
Each team will play four duals in four days against tough Pacific West Conference opponents, with potential qualification and seedings for the PacWest Tournament and the West Regional Tournament (which is comprised of only PacWest teams) on the line.
 
"Every match is going to be tough, that's for sure," MSU Denver coach Josh Graetz said. "It's a big week for us. But I'm excited to have some beautiful weather and have a chance to play some good tennis."
 
The trip includes matches Tuesday at Point Loma (women at 1 p.m. MDT, men at 4 p.m.), Wednesday against Fresno Pacific (both teams at 5 p.m.), Thursday at Biola (both teams, 2 p.m.) and Friday at Concordia-Irvine (both teams, 11 a.m.).
 
Both Biola teams are nationally ranked (the women are 10^th, the men 49^th), while the Fresno Pacific women are No. 16 and the Concordia-Irvine men are No. 44.
 
"All of the women's matches in particular are going to be really tough," Graetz said. "But for both teams, we won't be playing against any weak teams."
 
The Point Loma men are 8-7, while the women are 12-5. The Fresno Pacific men are 4-7, and the women are 7-6. The Biola men are 11-5, and the women are 16-1. The Concordia-Irvine men are 5-7, and the women are 7-6.
 
MSU Denver, an affiliate member of the PacWest for tennis, has compiled records of 6-1 (men) and 5-4 (women). The Roadrunners' men are ranked 50^th in Division II.
 
The PacWest invites the top eight of its 10 men's tennis teams and the top 12 of its 16 women's tennis teams to the PacWest Tournament. There is no set conference schedule, so a committee selects and seeds the teams. After that, both the men and women have four teams advance to the regional.
 
That's what could make this week so big. But determining what is needed is a bit of a gray area.
 
"Just saying we need a certain amount of wins … it's not that simple," Graetz said. "The main thing is to keep battling and competing, and the wins and losses will take care of themselves from there.
 
"For us, making the (PacWest) tournament is the initial goal, but we don't want to just be the eight-seed for the men and the 12-seed for the women. We want to be in position to push through to regionals. We do have pretty high goals."
 
The Roadrunners' women defeated both Point Loma and Fresno Pacific en route to a fifth-place finish at last year's PacWest Tournament.
 
This season, MSU Denver's national ranking for the men includes a 5-2 win over Fresno Pacific last week at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
"It will be interesting to see how we do against them at sea level," Graetz said. "They just had a really good win, and I'm sure they'll be tougher at home."
 
Among those playing well for the Roadrunners' men are Carlos Pinedo, who is 8-4 while playing at one of the top three spots in the singles lineup, and Alejandro Jimenez, dominant at 7-1 while playing at lower positions. For the women, Ava Neuburger-Higby is 9-5 while playing near the top, and Monica Guarin is 7-4 and coming on strong lower in the lineup.
 
As always for MSU Denver, playing well in doubles and trying to take the early point is key.
 
"We definitely do better in doubles than singles, and we train at it a lot," Graetz said. "With six singles matches, a lot of time they finish 3-3 and it's decided by doubles. It's a massive momentum builder to go up 1-0."