NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship: Arizona sweeps Harvard to reach Sweet 16

For the third consecutive season and the fourth time in five years, Arizona men’s tennis is headed to the NCAA Championship Sweet 16.

To get there, the No. 10 seed Wildcats relied on the two All-Americans who have propelled the program to new heights under coach Clancy Shields.

Arizona’s Colton Smith and Jay Friend, two of the top ranked players in the country, won singles points as the Wildcats swept Harvard 4-0 on Saturday in a match that was more competitive than the final score indicates. Arizona will face either No. 7 seed Virginia or Princeton in the Round of 16 next weekend.

Arizona is looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

“This is the third appearance (in a row) we’ve had in the Sweet 16 so we’ve been here before,” said Smith. “I’m looking forward to going a little farther this year. I know we can take it a little bit farther and it’s something I’m looking forward to.”

Arizona opened the match by taking the doubles point behind wins from Friend and Eric Padgham on court No. 2 (7-5), and Casper Christensen and Filip Gustafsson on court No. 3 (6-3). The Wildcats’ top court pair of Smith and Inaki-Cabrera-Bello lost their match.

Shields said he didn’t expect Arizona to win the doubles point based on how Harvard’s doubles pairs played the day before in the Crimson’s win over Washington.

“If I’m being honest, I didn’t count on us getting that point,” said Shields. “I kind of told our coaches, ‘We’re not gonna doubles point. The pathway is these spots.’ So when we got the doubles point, it really took a little bit of pressure off us to say ‘okay now we only have to go get three.’”

Arizona got off to an ideal start in singles play, winning the first set in four of six matches.

Christensen, a senior, gave Arizona a 2-0 win with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Harvard’s Mitchell Lee on court No. 6.

Moments later, No. 5 Smith defeated No. 34 Daniel Mivalsky of Harvard 6-3, 6-3 on court No. 1 to push the Crimson to the brink. Smith was competing in what could be his last match in Tucson unless Virginia falls to Princeton on Sunday,

“it was more emotional for sure,” said Smith. “You know the stakes of it. It’s probably your last match here in front of everybody. It was how I wanted to go out, and I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

While Smith was closing out Mivalsky on the top court, Arizona’s Gustafsson came agonizingly close to ending the match but was denied time and again. Gustafsson led 6-1, 5-1 and had nine match points in the second set. He couldn’t close any of them out, and Harvard’s Valdemar Pape rallied back to force a third set.

“I’ve lost matches where I’ve had nine or 10 match points and it haunts you,” said Shields. “The thing is, out of all the guys on our team, (Gustafsson) cares so much. And when you care so much and you’re right at the finish line, you want to get over the hump, it’s hard. You start thinking about winning and then the body starts tightening up, and your opponent has nothing to lose.”

Shields commended Gustafsson for responding in the third set by winning break and putting himself in position to win at 4-2.

“That’s one of the coolest things about this is anybody who had lost nine match points would have thrown the towl and it would be over quick in the third. That speaks a lot to that kid’s character.”

Ultimately Arizona didn’t need the point from Gustafsson.

Friend, the nation’s No. 6 ranked singles player, rallied from a set deficit to force a third set against Harvard’s Benjamin Privara on court No. 2. Friend took the decisive set dominantly for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win that clinched the match.

Shields said he challenged Friend to be the guy to win it for Arizona.

“I’ll be honest, I told him, ‘Do you trust these other guys to get it done?” a half-joking Shields recounted. “‘Like, you’re the most experienced guy out here. We’re gonna need you to get the job done.’

“He just locked in, and he’s been doing it all year.”

Arizona now awaits the result of UVA-Princeton. If the Cavaliers prevail, the Wildcats will travel to Charlottesville. If Princeton pulls the upset, Arizona will host next round.