What a few years ago had been history has now become the standard.

Arizona advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row and third time in four years on Saturday, sweeping Auburn 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament at the Lanelle Robson Tennis Center.

The ninth-seeded Wildcats (26-3) will visit No. 8 Columbia (22-3) next weekend in New York City, seeking the program’s first trip to the NCAA quarterfinals.

A day after sweeping Boise State, but admittedly not playing its best, Arizona made quick work of the Tigers by winning the doubles point without a tiebreaker and then taking a trio of singles in straight sets. Only one singles match got to a third set, a big difference from Friday when all three doubles teams needed to win in tiebreakers and half the singles matches went to three sets.

“I think this was a lot closer to our kind of standard, and what we expect from our team,” said junior Colton Smith, who clinched the match at No. 1 singles with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. “There’s still a lot more room for improvement.”

Added coach Clancy Shields: “We took an L yesterday, without taking an L.”

Shields felt his team didn’t play inspired in the first round, and while he was expecting a bit of a letdown after the Pac-12 Tournament win the previous weekend he was hoping they would put on a good performance for the crowd.

“This is the first time people paid to watch you play; give them a show,” Shields said.

Arizona’s other two wins were from a pair of seniors. Nick Lagaev won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 6 for his 95^th career singles victory, passing Filip Malbasic for the school record, and Herman Hoyeraal won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 and finished his match first.

“I’m just a big guy who plays big. Just big serves, big forehand, trying to finish points early,” said Hoyeraal, a native of Norway who had his father and two brothers in attendance for the final home match of his college career.

It will be on different courts, but Arizona’s matchup with Columbia will allow it to return to the scene of a huge moment in the 2023-24 season. In February the Wildcats took third in the ITA National Indoor Championship in Flushing, NY, beating ranked Texas and Texas A&M teams along the way.

“That was where we found out how good this team is,” Shields said.

Read it at Fox 10 Phoenix

The Arizona Cardinals have had a busy offseason. They re-signed, signed in free agency or traded for a total of 19 players by the end of April. On top of that picked 12 players in the 2024 NFL draft.

Head coach Jonathan Gannon prepares for his second season leading the team. The Cardinals finished the 2023 season 4-13 under him, so there is plenty of room to improve. The team should have the benefit quarterback Kyler Murray to start the 2024 season. He missed the first nine games of last season while recovering from a torn ACL, which required surgery at the end of the 2022 season.

Now, their attention turns toward offseason key dates, camps, the schedule release and more. Here’s what you need to know about the Cardinals’ offseason and what’s next.

When is the Cardinals’ schedule release for 2024?

The NFL will release the 2024 schedule in May, and perhaps as early as the second week of the month. We know the Cardinals’ opponents already, just not the dates. Here is who Arizona will face this season: San Francisco twice, Seattle twice, Los Angeles Rams twice, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Green Bay, Washington, Carolina, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo, Miami, New England, New York Jets.

Cardinals’ opponents in 2024 NFL schedule

Home opponents: Rams, Seahawks 49ers, Bears, Lions, Patriots, Jets, Commanders, Chargers

Away opponents: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Vikings, Packers, Bills, Dolphins, Panthers,

When is Cardinals rookie camp and what is their offseason mini-camp schedule?

The Cardinals will first host their draft picks and undrafted free agents on May 10 for a mini-camp. There will be voluntary organized team activities for veterans and rookies over six days in May and four in June. A mandatory minicamp for veterans and rookies is set for June 11.

Mini-camps are short windows of time to start building chemistry with on-the-field football work. Most, if not all veterans, attend the voluntary sessions although they are technically not required to.

When do the Cardinals start training camp?

The Cardinals typically start camp at State Farm Stadium in the final week of July. Dates should be known by mid-May.

When will Cardinals make 53-man roster cuts?

Those typically happen over the final two weeks in August as teams pare down from 90 to 53 players, after training camp practices and preseason games.