Wildcat Wrap: Arizona men’s tennis to host NCAA Tournament this weekend

Arizona men’s tennis will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament Friday and Saturday as the No. 14 national seed, with matches being played at LaNelle Tennis Center.

Arizona will play Boise State in the first round at 1 p.m. MST Friday, while Florida will face Oklahoma State in the other first round match at 10 a.m. The winners of those matches will play Saturday at 1 p.m.

Arizona (21-6) enters the NCAA Tournament having won nine of its last 11 matches. Both losses came to Utah, the most recent in the Pac-12 Championship semifinals.

The Wildcats opened the Pac-12 Championship with a 4-0 sweep over Washington in the quarterfinals. Jay Friend, Jonas Ziverts and Herman Hoeyeraal each won their singles matches in straight sets.

Arizona fell to Utah 4-3, dropping the doubles point before falling short in singles play. Hoeyeraal, Gustaf Strom and Colton Smith each won singles points in straight sets.

The UA managed to earn a top-16 national seed on the strength of their non-conference schedule and their share of a Pac-12 regular season title. In facing Boise State in the opening round, Arizona coach Clancy Shields has the unenviable task of coaching against his older brother, Luke.

Boise State (21-7) earned an automatic qualifier berth after winning the Mountain West Tournament last week. The Broncos are ranked No. 72.

Regardless of how far Arizona goes, Ziverts and Smith will compete for the Wildcats in the NCAA singles championship in Orlando, May 22-27. This is Ziverts’ third appearance and Colton’s debut in the singles tournament.

Men’s golf

Arizona earned the fourth seed in the NCAA Morgan Hill Regional, a draw that puts the Wildcats back in the Bay Area for the third time this season. Play runs from May 15-17, with the top five teams advancing.

No. 18 Arizona is coming off a seventh-place finish at Pac-12 Championships where it shot 14-over par. The UA has had an up-and-down spring season, earning three finishes of second place or better and three results finishing out the top five.

Arizona is led by Chase Sienkiewicz, who boasts 70.56 stroke scoring average over 11 tournaments. The Wildcats are looking to advance to NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year.

Women’s tennis

The women’s tennis program’s season came to an end at the Pac-12 Championship last week, where the Wildcats won an opening round match over Utah 4-1 before falling to Stanford 4-1 in the quarterfinals.

In the loss to the Cardinal, Arizona received a singles point from Tanvi Narendran, who beat her opponent in straight sets.

Arizona finishes the season with a 17-13 record.

Beach volleyball

Arizona beach volleyball’s season also likely came to an end last week at the Pac-12 Championship, where the Wildcats went 2-2.

The UA opened the tournament with a 3-0 loss to USC, then staved off elimination with a 3-0 victory over Oregon. The following day, Arizona took down ASU 3-1 before being eliminated by UCLA 3-0.

Arizona likely ends the year with a 21-12 record.

Track and field

Arizona’s Jordan Geist broke the Penn Relays shot put record last week with a throw of 20.92m (68-7.75).

Geist, a Pennsylvania native, broke a 17-year-old record in his return to his home state. Geist was Athlete of the Meet.