The UNLV men’s golf team will begin its quest to reach the NCAA Tournament at a regional in Urbana, Illinois, where the Rebels are the sixth seed in the 13-team event.
The Rebels, ranked 34th in the nation, will face a stacked field at Atkins Golf Club, starting with No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 10 North Carolina and No. 14 Illinois, which will be playing on its home course.
Other teams in the bracket include No. 23 Texas Tech, No. 26 Long Beach State, No. 38 Houston, No. 47 Marquette, No. 51 Troy, No. 60 Pacific, No. 64 N.C. State and two conference champions that earned automatic berths in Illinois State (Missouri Valley) and Wright State (Horizon).
Six regionals will be held May 12-14, with the top five finishers in each advancing to the national championship May 23-28 in Carlsbad, California.
The Rebels come into the regionals after one of their strongest seasons in several years. They won twice at the Trinity Forest Invitational outside Dallas in October and the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii in February. They also finished second to a record-breaking performance by San Diego State at the Mountain West Championship last week and at the stacked Southern Highlands Collegiate in March. Thirteen of the 15 teams in that event qualified for the NCAA regionals.
The Rebels also had a pair of individual champions this season, with senior Caden Fioroni winning at Southern Highlands and sophomore Zach Little capturing the John Burns title.
Fioroni, who is ranked 26th in the nation, believes the Rebels can get to the national championship.
“I believe in this team,” Fioroni said. “And we keep proving people wrong. So, you know, why don’t we just keep proving people wrong and say we’re a national championship contending team?”
The men aren’t the only UNLV team chasing a title. The UNLV women begin play in their regional Monday in Columbus, Ohio, where they are the seventh seed.
Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at [email protected].
