Clancy Shields Named Pac-12 Coach of the Year; Ziverts and Malbasic Also Honored

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(TUCSON, AZ)  Head men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year on Tuesday, while freshman Jonas Ziverts was named second team All-Pac-12 and sophomore Filip Malbasic was named honorable mention All-Pac-12. Ziverts is the first Wildcat to be named first or second team All-Pac-12 since 2009.

Shields, who is Arizona’s first Pac-10/12 Coach of the Year since 2009, led the Wildcats to a 17-8 record and their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010. In years two and three at the helm, Shields has guided Arizona to 16 and 17 wins, respectively. Prior to taking over as head coach, the men’s tennis program hadn’t won more than 15 matches in a season since 2009.

Throughout the year, the Wildcats were consistently ranked in the top 40 and also won the Blue/Grey Championship, which included wins over Auburn, Texas Tech and Ole Miss in a matter of days. Shields also guided Arizona to their first win over a Pac-12 school since 2014 when they swept Washington 4-0 back in early April.

Ziverts, who was one of four freshmen to be named All-Pac-12, finished the season with 12 singles wins, 10 of them coming from the No. 1 position in the lineup. The freshman is currently ranked No. 66 in the country and also won five matches alongside Igor Karpovets at the No. 1 spot in doubles play.

Malbasic, who is currently ranked No. 79, spent the majority of the season ranked as a singles player as he led the Wildcats with 18 singles wins while dropping just six matches. Thirteen of those 18 wins came at the No. 2 spot in the lineup while he and Alejandro Reguant led Arizona with nine doubles wins from the No. 2 spot as well.

Singles Player of the Year: Brandon Holt, USC

Freshman/Newcomer of the Year: Yuta Kickuchi, CAL

Doubles Team of the Year: Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith, UCLA

Coach of the Year: Clancy Shields, ARIZ

 

All-Conference First Team

Maxime Cressy, UCLA

Daniel Cukierman, USC

Axel Geller, STAN

Brandon Holt, USC

Thomas Laurent, ORE

Keegan Smith, UCLA

 

All-Conference Second Team

Yuta Kikuchi, CAL

Dan Little, UTAH

Govind Nanda, UCLA

Nathan Ponwith, ASU

Alexandre Rotsaert, STAN

Laurens Verboven, USC

Jonas Ziverts, ARIZ

 

All-Conference Honorable Mention

Will Genesen, STAN

Dominik Kellovsky, ASU

Filip Malbasic, ARIZ

David Micevski, UTAH

Tanner Smith, USC

Enzo Sommer, WASH

Courtesy of Arizona Communication Services