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…