Spartan Golf, Tennis look to improve from Fall in Spring seasons

With the first half of the 2009-10 Golf season in the books, the UNCG Men's Golf team would probably like to wipe the slate clean and start all over again. So far this season, the Spartans have played in five invitational tournaments, and have finished near the bottom of all but one of them. But like any team that struggles to start a year, the only way to go is up.

The Spartans started the season by making a trip to Wayzata, Minnesota to play in the Gopher Invitational. It was a rough start to the year as the Spartans finished 10th out of the twelve teams that participated. The Spartans followed that up with an eighth place finish in the VCU Shootout two weeks later, and followed that up with a disappointing 15th place finish out of sixteen teams in the La. Tech/Squire Creek Classic. In those three tournaments, the Spartans were led by Will Bowman and Robert Hoadley, who shot a team low 73 in the Gopher Invitational, and Colin Chapman, who shot a 71 in the VCU Shootout to finish in the top-20, and shot a team-low 72 in the La. Tech/Squire Creek Classic.

The Spartans were able to turn things around in the Georgetown Intercollegiate, as they won their first tournament of the year. Ryan Heisey shot a team low 69 as UNCG rallied from an 11-shot deficit to win. In the final tournament of the year, the Spartans hosted the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate, where they finished 12th out of fifteen teams. The Spartans have six more tournaments left in the season, starting on February 21 when they will travel all the way to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico to compete in the Puerto Rico Classic.

The UNCG Men's Tennis team started off strong. The Spartans kicked off the season by sweeping all five individual titles in the UNCG Fall Tennis Invitational. Arsel Kumdereli and Orcun Seyrek won the Flight A Doubles titles, while Yaroslav Litus also won a double. Jacob Wright won the Flight A3 singles crown, while Timion Meijs won the Flight A2 singles crown.

The Spartans followed up an impressive start to the season by having Andrew Clark and Yaroslav Litus win their consolation finals in the UTC Baras Intercollegiate. In the Spartans next tournament, the ITA Regional, Orcun Seyrek carried the team as he advanced to quarterfinals of the tournament.

In the Spartans final tournament of the fall, they traveled to Wilmington to take part in the UNCW Invitational. In that tournament, Timion Meijs won his consolation match, while Orcun Seyrek and Jacob Wright both fell in their flight finals matches. The Spartans will continue their schedule in the spring when they face Gardner Webb on February 6 at Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro.