NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship: Arizona falls to Virginia in Sweet 16

Arizona men’s tennis will have to wait at least another year to get over the hump of advancing past the Sweet 16.

The No. 10 seed Wildcats lost to No. 7 Virginia 4-2 on Saturday in Charlottesville, marking the third straight year Arizona has fallen in the third round of the NCAA Championship.

Arizona (26-5) had a chance to win the match had the last two singles points gone its way, but the Cavaliers (23-7) closed out strong.

Arizona senior star Colton Smith went out with a win, defeating UVA’s Rafael Jodar 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) in a battle of two of the country’s top singles players. Smith finishes his senior season with a perfect 17-0 record in dual matches on the No. 1 court.

Smith’s point got the Wildcats on the board after the UA fell to a 3-0 hole to start the match. Arizona’s other point came from Filip Gustafsson on court No. 5, where the freshman took down his opponent 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.

Trailing 3-2, Arizona appeared in position to even the match when junior All-American Jay Friend took a 5-2 lead in the third set on court No. 2. Friend lost the next five points, however, as UVA’s Dylan Dietrich took the point 1-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5.

Even if Friend had hung on, Arizona was on track to lose the last remaining point on court No. 6. Arizona senior Casper Christensen was trailing 6-3, 4-6, 3-5.

UVA opened the match with a win on doubles point, taking courts No. 1 and No. 3.

The Cavaliers went on to take singles points on courts No. 3 and No. 4 in straight sets.

Arizona will enter its 10th season under coach Clancy Shields with a different look after saying farewell to Smith. Assuming the Wildcats don’t lose any key players to the portal, they’ll return singles starters Friend, Gustafsson, Zoran Ludoski and Alexander Rodin.

Friend, the No. 6 ranked singles player this year, will assume the top court spot that Smith held the last two seasons.