Arizona senior men's tennis player Jonas Ziverts had a day to remember Thursday.
Early Thursday, Ziverts was named the 2023 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Ziverts, from Solna, Sweden, is studying Economics. The fifth-year captain has been named to the Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll three times in his career.
Then, Ziverts was the clinching victory as the No. 14-ranked Wildcats earned some payback against Washington with an emphatic 4-0 win in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Championships.
The No. 2-seeded Wildcats (21-5) captured the doubles point and got singles victories from Jay Friend (6-1, 6-2) at No. 5 and then Herman Hoeyerall (6-2, 6-3) at No. 4 in Ojai, California. Ziverts then clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 2.
Washington ends its season at 12-11. A year ago, the No. 8-seeded Huskies stunned the top-seeded Wildcats in the quarterfinals, which most likely cost UA a chance to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
UA will face either Utah or UCLA in the semifinals Friday. Those teams were in action late Thursday.
UA women's tennis team falls to Cardinal
The No. 9-seeded Wildcats women’s season ended at 17-13 with a 4-1 loss to top-seeded Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals in Ojai, California, on Thursday.
UA’s only point came from freshman Tanvi Narendran at No. 6 singles. She routed Stanford’s Emma Sun 6-2, 6-0.
Arizona beat No. 8-seeded Utah 4-1 in the opening round Wednesday.
Cats' beach volleyball team ousted
Arizona's beach volleyball season likely came to an end with a 3-0 loss to No. 1-ranked UCLA in an elimination match at the Pac-12 Championships in Stanford, California.
The Wildcats stayed alive earlier Thursday with a 3-1 win over rival Arizona State.
The UA team of Alex Parkhurst and Sarah Blacker won 21-13, 21-15, while Abby Russell/Hope Shannon won 21-10, 21-14 and Alana Rennie/Grace Cook won 21-12, 21-8.
The Bruins notched victories at the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 positions to advance and knock out the Wildcats.
Although ranked 20th in the latest AVCA collegiate beach coaches poll, Arizona is not expected to qualify for the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship. The selections will be announced Sunday.
