Arizona men’s and women’s tennis teams selected for NCAA Tournament
The Arizona men’s and women’s tennis programs are headed back to the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona men’s tennis earned the No. 8 overall seed in this year’s the field, its highest seed in program history. The Wildcats (21-4) will face NAU (12-5) in the opening round on Friday at 1 p.m., then face the winner of Clemson (16-12) and Ole Miss (19-9).
As the No. 8 seed, Arizona would host the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history should it advance past the opening weekend. Arizona has never advanced past the Sweet 16.
Clancy Shields’ program is coming off a fifth consecutive conference championship by winning the Big 12 regular season title. Arizona won 16 straight matches before falling to TCU in the Big 12 Tournament final.
Arizona edged No. 9 Oklahoma for the final top eight seed, giving Arizona a significant home court advance should it make the Sweet 16. Arizona is 12-1 at home this year.
The Wildcats, who are making their seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance, have lost in the Sweet 16 in three of the past five seasons.
To get that round, Arizona must get past NAU and then either Ole Miss or Clemson. The Rebels are ranked No. 28 and the Tigers are No. 33.
The UA is led by senior Jay Friend, the No. 5 ranked singles player in the country.
Women’s tennis
Arizona women’s tennis (20-9) is heading to Columbus, Ohio, where it’ll face Notre Dame (18-9) on Saturday at 7 a.m. PST. The winner will take on either No. 3 Ohio State (23-4) or Youngstown State (12-11) on Sunday.
Arizona enters the postseason as the nation’s No. 26 ranked team, while Notre Dame is ranked No. 34. Arizona is 7-4 on the record.
Arizona went on an nine-match winning streak to end the regular season before winning its quarterfinal match at the Big 12 Tournament and then falling to UCF in the semifinals.
Coached by Ryan Stotland, the Wildcats are making their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The UA is looking to make it past the first round this year.
Arizona is led by Martyna Ostrzygalo, who has a 15-11 record at No. 1 singles.
