Clancy Shields Named Pac-12 Coach of the Year; Strom Named Freshman of the Year
TUCSON, Ariz. - After a historic season for the men's tennis program at Arizona, the individual accolades rolled from the Pac-12 Conference.
For the second season in a row, Clancy Shields was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year award after a record breaking season. In his fifth season as head coach, Shields became the only coach in program history to be a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Shields is also the first coach since Billy Martin of UCLA to win Coach of the Year two seasons in a row (2013 & 2014). Leading the Wildcats to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history with a 21-8 record, Shields continues to take his team to higher levels of competition.
Freshman star Gustaf Strom was named the 2021 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year for the Pac-12, as well as being named First Team All-Pac-12. Strom is the first Wildcat ever to win the Freshman/Newcomer of the Year in program history and is the first since Roger Matalonga in 2006 to be named to the All-Conference First Team. Strom is also set to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship starting on Sunday. Strom put up a team-high 18 singles wins throughout the season along with five ranked victories.
Jonas Ziverts made his second All-Pac-12 Second Team appearance after going 11-9 in singles, with five of the wins being against ranked opponents. One of the ranked wins came against No. 8 Johannus Monday in the Round of 16. In doubles, Ziverts went 12-10 on the season.
Alejandro Reguant and Filip Malbasic round out Arizona's incredible season being named honorable mention All-Pac-12. Malbasic had the second-most singles wins on the team with 15 wins and notched 12 doubles wins to place third best among the team. Reguant, who became the winningest player in Arizona history with 144 overall wins. He also broke the record for most singles and the most spring singles wins in program history. He finished the season with 15 singles wins and 13 doubles wins.