UNLV’s men’s golf team is headed to the national championship.
The Rebels finished third in their NCAA regional in Urbana, Illinois, securing a spot next week at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, to chase the school’s second national title.
UNLV finished at 6 under at Atkins Golf Club on Wednesday, nine shots behind both No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 14 Illinois. Sun Belt champion Troy (2 under) and No. 23 Texas Tech (1 under) earned the final two spots in the regional. ACC power North Carolina, ranked 10th in the nation and featuring the top college player in golf, David Ford, were left out of the mix after finishing sixth.
“Today was a big, big moment for our program,” coach Jean-Paul Hebert said. “To go toe to toe with teams like Oklahoma State and Illinois was really great. And every time you do something like that, our guys, they believe a little bit more and get a little bit more comfortable with it.”
UNLV senior Caden Fioroni fell just short in his bid for medalist honors, finishing at 9 under in a tie for second. He was behind Michigan senior Hunter Thomson, who birdied four holes on the back nine Wednesday to reach 10 under and claim individual honors.
Sophomore Zach Little tied for 18th at even-par, with junior Wyatt Plattner in 21st at 1 over and senior Trevor Lewis in 26th at 2 over. All four played roles in helping the Rebels punch their ticket to the national championship, which begins May 23.
“Caden is kind of our leader, but if we didn’t have several good players, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did today,” Hebert said.
The Rebels will be making their first appearance in the NCAA championship since 2018, which was the last of their record 21 consecutive appearances in the tournament under Hall of Fame coach Dwaine Knight. The accomplishment is not lost on Herbert, now in his third year leading the Rebels.
“We felt good about our chances because we’ve done a lot of the little things well this year,” Herbert said. “We did some things this year to prove to ourselves that we’re a team that can compete on a national level, and that’s what we’ve been working for.”
The men are following in the footsteps of the UNLV women, who are also headed to the NCAA championship starting Friday at La Costa.
Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at [email protected].
