Shields Named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Wildcats Rack Up Pac-12 Annual Honors

TUCSON - Arizona Men's Tennis tallied eight Pac-12 annual accolades, as announced by the league office on Thursday.

Clancy Shields was named Pac-12 Head Coach of the Year and Colton Smith and Jay Friend were named Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year. Smith, Friend and Gustaf Strom each tabbed All-Pac-12 First Team laurels, and Nick Lagaev and Herman Hoeyeraal earned spots on the All-Pac-12 Second Team. Casper Christensen rounded things out with All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors.

The Coach of the Year honors are the third of Shields' career after he garnered the award in 2019 and 2021. In the 2023-24 season he has led Arizona to the program's first Pac-12 Tournament Championship and its third-straight Pac-12 Regular Season Championship. The Wildcats have compiled a 24-3 record under Shields' guidance and reached a program-best No. 5 national ranking on March 12, 2024. Arizona is set to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships for the second consecutive season March 3 and 4.

Smith and Friend are the first Wildcat duo to win Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year, and additionally they are the first pair from a school outside of California to win the award in conference history. The pair has tallied an overall doubles record of 24-9 and a dual match record of 18-7 with 15 of those wins coming at No. 1 singles. They have defeated four ranked opponents over the course of the year, and the pair is ranked 29th in the nation.

Smith has compiled an impressive 29-9 record at singles, playing the entire season at the No. 1 position and tallying 13 wins there in dual match play. He has defeated 14 ranked singles opponents in the 2023-24 season and has four wins over ranked doubles foes. He has played with Friend for most of his doubles matches. Smith checks into the national singles rankings at 22nd.

Friend, who has played most of his singles matches at the No. 2 spot, is currently ranked 35th in the ITA rankings. He has a 24-10 record in singles play this year and has won 13 competitions in dual match play. He has the second-most ranked singles wins on the team this season with eight.

Strom's First Team accolades are the third of his career. The senior tallied the honors in 2021 and 2023 and was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team in 2022. He has put together a 23-10 record on the year in singles and a 22-12 record in doubles, and he is currently ranked 70th nationally in singles. Sixteen of his doubles wins and 13 of his singles wins have been in the dual match part of the season. Strom was named 2024 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and ranks fourth in program in career singles wins with 78.

Lagaev's All-Pac-12 honors are the first of his career. The graduate student is Arizona's all-time leader in career singles wins with 93, 25 of which he has won this year. He has four wins over ranked singles opponents and two over ranked doubles opponents this season and clinched the match for the Wildcats' Pac-12 Tournament Championship.

Hoeyeraal's honors are the third of his career after he was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team in 2023 and tabbed Honorable Mention recognition in 2022. With his singles win against Oregon in the Pac-12 Championships semifinal, Hoeyeraal tied the program record for single-season dual singles wins with 19. He has defeated a pair of ranked singles opponents during the year, and he has won 15 doubles matches in dual match play in his senior campaign.

Christensen has tallied a 28-6 singles record this season and has put together an impressive 15-2 record in singles during dual match competition. He has gone undefeated at No. 3 and No. 5 singles and totaled nine wins at the No. 6 position. The sophomore has additionally won five doubles matches this year.

Arizona will take on Boise State in the first round of the NCAA Championships Friday, May 3 at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. The match will start at 1:00 p.m. MST, and tickets will be sold on-site for $5 each.