The Arizona men’s tennis team is headed to the NCAA Tournament where they will play Michigan in round one on Friday, May 7.
The Wildcats ended the season No. 18 in the country as a team according to both ITA and USTA. The Wolverines found themselves ranked No. 49 according to ITA and No. 12 according to USTA heading into the tournament, which is quite an odd disparity.
Arizona finished the season with a 19-7 overall record and 5-2 record in conference play, falling in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament against a USC team that they defeated during the regular season.
Freshman Gustaf Strom, who finished his first year in Tucson ranked as the No. 45 singles player in the country according to ITA, finished second in the conference in singles wins (17) and was selected to compete in the 2021 NCAA Singles Championship.
Strom is two wins away from tying Filip Malbasic and Andres Carrasco for the program record in singles wins in a spring season in program history.
Senior Carlos Hassey led the team in doubles wins with 14 this season, which was tied for the fourth-most in program history in a spring season.
This won’t be an easy matchup for the Wildcats against a Wolverines team that went 15-4 overall, picking up a big win over No. 8 Ohio State early in the season. Like Arizona, they lost in the semifinals in their conference tournament against No. 13 Illinois who went on to win the Big Ten Championship. They do not have singles players ranked in the top-125 according to ITA, while the Wildcats have two in Strom as well as junior Jonas Ziverts who finds himself ranked No. 90 in the country.
Senior Alejandro Reguant enters this tournament one win away from tying Roger Matalonga for the program’s overall wins leader.
The winner of this round one match between Arizona and Michigan will face the winner of Kentucky and Cleveland State in round two.
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