SURPRISE, Ariz. – The 35^th-ranked MSU Denver men's tennis team bounced back from an emotionally draining loss on Friday, starting slow before eventually coming from behind to beat Fresno Pacific (Calif.) 4-3 in the consolation bracket of the Pacific West Conference Tournament.
 
MSU Denver now plays 37^th-ranked Biola (Calif.) in Saturday's fifth-place match.
 
Meanwhile Friday, upstart Stanislaus State (Calif.), the 12^th-seeded and final team to make the PacWest women's field, pulled its second upset of the weekend by coming from behind to beat the ninth-seeded Roadrunners 4-3.
 
The MSU Denver men (15-4) lost the doubles point and dropped four of the six first sets in singles before turning it back on.
 
No. 1 singles player Jeanloup Auzias, ranked 61^st nationally, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. At No. 3, Alejandro Jimenez won 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. Stephen Kossifas rallied to win at No. 4 by 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. And Carlos Pinedo won at No. 5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
 
"Our guys came out really sluggish in doubles and we put ourselves in a tough position out of the gate," MSU Denver coach Josh Graetz said. "Singles was not our best tennis today, but we did fight hard and the result came down to a couple of points."
 
Considering that third-seeded Azusa Pacific (Calif.), which beat MSU Denver on Thursday and then knocked off second-seeded Point Loma (Calif.) in a Friday semifinal, has advanced to the final, there is perhaps a longshot chance that MSU Denver could earn one of four spots in the NCAA Division II West Regional field with a fifth-place finish at the conference tournament.
 
That would require an MSU Denver win Saturday and Concordia-Irvine (Calif.) losing the third-place match to Point Loma. Perhaps then the NCAA regional and national committees would choose MSU Denver over the Eagles as the fourth team. The choice would have been clearer, but Concordia canceled a scheduled regular-season match in March with the Roadrunners three days ahead of time due to the threat of rain.
 
Meanwhile Saturday, the Roadrunners' women (14-9) will play Academy of Art (Calif.) in the seventh-place match.
 
On Friday, MSU Denver took a 3-1 lead by winning the doubles point and getting victories from Isabel Heras at No. 1 and Kinsey Fields at No. 3.
 
Stanislaus State bounced back for three-set wins at Nos. 4 and 5 against a Roadrunners team playing without one of its top five singles players.