When the Arizona men’s tennis team made the NCAA Tournament in 2019 it was the program’s first postseason berth in nearly a decide. Five years later, the Wildcats are hosting for a second year in a row, doing so as Pac-12 tourney champions for the first time, and have a real shot at their first trip to the NCAA quarterfinals in school history.
“We’re getting closer and closer to the mountaintop., and it’s hard to keep climbing the closer you get,” head coach Clancy Shields said Wednesday. “The bar has been set. How high can we take it?”
The UA women’s tennis team is a little further down the mountain, but just hit a significant milestone: making its first NCAA appearance since 2014.
“This is our start, and this is exactly where we want to be and start,” coach Ryan Stoland said. “And then from here, it’s just where can we go from here.”
The UA men open play Friday at 1 p.m. PT at the Robson Tennis Center against Boise State, coached by Shields’ brother, Luke. It’s the second year in a row the siblings have been matched up in the opening round in Tucson.
“We played each other a lot in the juniors,” Shields said. “He beat me I think for a good 17 years of my life and I’ve seemed to have gotten the nod—obviously being in Arizona helps—I’ve gotten upper hand lately. They’ve done so well this year, they’ve won back-to-back (Mountain West) championships. They’re a really good team. I’m rooting for them, but can’t really do that when they’re playing us.”
Auburn and Pepperdine are the other teams in the Tucson Regional, with Arizona the No. 9 national seed. Wins Friday and in Saturday’s second round would match the Wildcats against the winner of the regional hosted by No. 8 Columbia in the Sweet 16, which could be in Tucson if there’s an upset.
“I can never look ahead or let these guys feel like we’re looking ahead, because if we … take our eyes off what’s important we can slip up and anyone can beat us,” Shields said. “And we found that out a couple of years ago.”
In 2021 the UA knocked off preseason Top 5 Michigan and then regional host Kentucky en route to its first Sweet 16.
“There’s lowly old Arizona, comes in and wipes the court with them,” Shields said. “It’s competition. No one cares about your national ranking. No one cares about that. You got to go out and perform and get it done on any given day. I think our team knows that. They know how to prepare. And I kind of put the the vibe out this week, like hey, how are we feeling? And everyone’s like, school is done? All about tennis. Let’s go.”
The men’s team is 10-1 at home this season, its only loss to the Stanford team it shared the regular season title with but then beat on Saturday in Ojai, Calif., for its first Pac-12 Tournament title.
“I think the environments, the courts and having that home crowd with us are all going to be an advantage,” said junior Colton Smith, a captain who is 29-9 this season including 19-9 in dual matches as the No. 1 singles player. “We’ve played here all year long, and so being able to continue doing that in the first couple of rounds, it will definitely be an advantage, but you can’t really take any of that for granted.”
Senior Gustav Strom, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2021, said he saw the foundation of this year’s team build as far back as his first season.
“You could definitely see it, especially with the new guys coming in,” he said. “There’s been a lot of talent in those guys. I think that it takes some time also for a program to get good. It’s not something that you just can do overnight. I think it takes confidence to believe in that you can go far and the big stages.”
For the UA women, who open play Saturday at 8 a.m. against Oklahoma in the College Station Regional, the goal is to win that match but not lose sight of what’s been accomplished this season. The program hadn’t won more than 15 games since 2014 before going 16-11, 17-13 and now 17-12.
“I just want them to enjoy it, because I’ve been here plenty of times before and I think the most important thing is that you have a good time and you don’t have put too much pressure on yourself,” Stoland said. “Our goal all year has been to stick together as long as possible. And so don’t think about the end. That’s that’s kind of the motto I’m trying to preach them is let’s just focus on what’s ahead. We deserve this. Just play one point at a time no matter the situation. Don’t think about the ending.”