The Arizona Wildcats sat under the lights of Libbey Park in Ojai, California last week, tired, disappointed and frustrated.
 
The Wildcats had just dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 12 Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament and couldn't shake the feeling of discouragement after a tough-luck loss.
 
And for the last eight seasons, that would have been the ending scene to the season for the Arizona Men's Tennis program. But not this year.
 
Under the direction of third-year coach Clancy Shields, the Cats went 17-7 in the regular season, 3-5 in Pac-12 play and spent much of the season ranked inside the ITA Top 25. This for a program that hadn't qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2010 and hadn't won a Pac-12 match since 2014.
 
So as the team sprawled out on the courts at Libbey Park, Shields stood over his team and reflected on his own experiences as he delivered a key message.
 
"Let's go attack this next goal of ours," Shields told his team. "I told the guys when I was a player at Boise State, we were losing in the conference tournament in a very tough match one week, and then the next week, we were advancing to the Sweet 16."
 
For the squad, the disappointment and frustration quickly turned to excitement and hope because for the first time in any of their careers, their season was extending to the postseason. They knew they had four days to fully flush the loss to Stanford before finding out where their postseason journey would start.
 
In a simple twist of fate, four days later, the Wildcats filed into McKale Center to watch the NCAA Selection Show. Quickly, their name was called. The Cats were headed to College Station, Texas to take on Oklahoma. The fun part? Exactly 10 years ago, Shields and his Boise State Broncos won two matches at Alabama to advance to the Sweet 16 in...College Station, Texas.
 
"When our names were called, you start realizing the enormity of the work you've done," Shields said. "Making the NCAA Tournament is not easy. We've just grinded it out. When it all happens, and they tell you that you're going to the tournament, for me, it was expected because I don't think anyone has outworked us."
 
The coach continued: "Ten years ago, I ended my college career at Boise State in the Sweet 16 in College Station. I went out with an unbelievable band of brothers that were my teammates. I'm super thrilled to bring my team back to that same place. And I bring them back knowing that the team I played on in college has the same fundamental beliefs that our team has now. They are incredible human beings and they're going to fight until the last ball is hit."
 
Shields is in his third season with Arizona and is no stranger to turning around a program. Prior to his time in Tucson, Shields served as the head coach of Utah State. He took over an Aggie program that was last in the conference and eventually turned them into back-to-back Mountain West Champions, while earning Wilson/ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year.
 
So when he took over at Arizona prior to the 2016-17 season, Shields wasn't daunted by the challenge ahead of him. He immediately accessed the roster and determined that the majority of his early recruiting moves would have to take place overseas because the top-tier American players were already spoken for.
 
He and his staff would have to take some chances on some players who flashed upside on the court, while displaying the type of grind-it-out, relentless attitude Shields wanted all of his players to have.
 
As a result, this year's roster features seven players representing six different countries outside the United States. They've come together as one strong team, thanks in large part to the leadership of Shields.
 
"He means everything to all of us," said sophomore Filip Malbasic, who hails from Stockholm, Sweden. "What Clancy has done for me and the program, we can't thank him enough. He's a great person. The amount of knowledge he has and the energy he puts in all of us, it's beyond what he has to do.
 
"All of us can see his vision and how much this means to him and how much he cares about the players as people...He brought us to where we are now."
 
And that's the NCAA Tournament, which opens on Saturday, against Oklahoma.