Arizona’s pair of stirring victories over UCLA and USC last week really meant something to Wildcats men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields.
“For me, it’s personal,” Shields said. “I think our guys take it personally, and also just in the scheme of things (with) our record against these guys, we’ve never really done much over the course of the years against them, and then ... the last three years to be undefeated in the regular season against those guys feels really good.”
The weekend opened against the Bruins on Friday with the entire football team showing up for the doubles matches. The energy and noise generated by not only the football players and coaches but also a huge overall crowd helped propel UA to winning the doubles point as Nick Lagaev and Colton Smith defeated their opponents 7-6 (5).
“The football players were like, ‘Man this is fun, I want to come back to more matches,’ ” Shields said. “We (have) got to keep drawing more people to the matches. It’s fun, it’s entertaining and we got interesting guys. That’s my mission ... we get more and more people to the matches, have big crowds, have an electric energy, and the guys are going to practice that much harder knowing people are going to come to watch.”
Jonas Ziverts, Gustaf Strom and Dominique Rolland each won their respective singles matches to lead UA to a 4-0 sweep.
On Sunday came an even bigger match against a top-10 opponent in the Trojans. The Wildcats dropped the doubles point to fall into an early 1-0 deficit. The two teams went back and forth in singles action. Colton Smith defeated No. 32 Stefan Dostanic 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, while Ziverts and Jay Friend also won their singles matches to tie the match score 3-3.
It all came down to Strom’s court, where he won 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 to clinch another huge win.
“I love it,” Strom said. “Those are the matches that you want to play in. Those are the matches that you’re going to remember for a very long time. ... To be here playing at home in front of such an amazing crowd it is the best feeling, and to win on top of that is even better.”
UA showed the fight it needed against the Trojans, battling back from multiple deficits.
“Even USC’s coach told me that we outcompeted them,“ Shields said. “Maybe you don’t have a better forehand or backhand or serve, but to outcompete and outhustle them, there’s not a greater compliment.”
Moving up
The new ITA rankings were released Tuesday, and UA jumped from No. 18 to No. 12 in the country. If they can remain in the top 16, the Wildcats would be in line to host during regionals, something Arizona just missed out on last year.
“If you look at our four losses, we lost to Texas, who is No. 1 in the country, twice; we lost to Auburn in an away match in Alabama; and then we lost to Stanford 4-3 on the road,” Shields said. “I think we have a pretty good résumé.”
It can sometimes be easy to have a letdown after two big wins, but the Wildcats have no room for error.
“What I told the team yesterday is, now we’re in the fourth quarter,” Shields said. “This is the most important time of the year, the most important of all of this, and now we have to really sacrifice.”
The focus for Arizona remains staying in the present — one practice and one match at a time.
“We need to respect the game and every opponent we play and not think about where we rank right now or where we can be in the future,” Ziverts said.
The final two home matches of the year are against No. 48 Oregon on Friday and No. 51 Washington on Sunday. UA fell to Washington last season in the Pac-12 Tournament, providing a source of motivation heading into this weekend.
“We got to come out like the big dogs and not the puppies,” Shields said. “There are big dogs and puppies, and if you walk out there with a puppy mentality, you’re going to get eaten up and we did. Last year, we were the better team at the Pac-12 Tournament. We were the big dogs, but we showed up as the puppies and they ate us alive.”
Arizona's Jonas Ziverts hits a shot vs. UCLA at Lanelle Robson Tennis Center on March 31, 2023. The Wildcats close out the home portion of the regular season Friday and Sunday.
Celebrating the seniors
It’s senior week for the Wildcats. Fifth-year seniors Ziverts and Jared Horwood, as well as Hiroki Sakagawa, will be recognized on Sunday.
Over the course of their years at Arizona, the program has completely turned around, leading to many memorable moments for all of them.
“The cool thing is every year I’ve been here, we’ve done something special,” Horwood said. “My first year we made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in forever, sophomore year we started to build a ranking, and unfortunately that happened through COVID. And then junior year we made the Sweet 16. So every year we did something special.
“Last year to win the Pac-12 regular-season championship for the first time in program history is something that us as brothers are going to (be) bonded together with for the rest of our lives.”
The players credit Shields for the program’s turnaround — not just his ability to recruit but also coach his players to be the best they can be on and off the court.
“He means a lot,” Ziverts said. “We’ve gone through everything, lots of ups and downs, and he has always been there for me no matter what. ... That’s what I respect the most, that no matter what happens, he is always trying to be there for me and trying to help me in the best way possible. I’ve never had a coach like that before.”
On the mend
Junior Herman Hoeyeraal did not play in either match last weekend due to foot inflammation and soreness.
“He is cleared to play, he is good to go,” Shields said. “I think it’s one of those things where, do we want to play him now or do we want to save him for the most important time of the year?”
In a show of Wildcat solidarity, members of the Arizona football team were on hand March 31, 2023, as the No. 18 Arizona men's tennis team defeated UCLA at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. Video courtesy Arizona Athletics (via Twitter)
