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April 20, 2008 BURLINGTON, N.C.- The USA South Athletic Conference held their annual Spring Sports Festival in Burlington, N.C. April 17-20 with Methodist sending six teams to compete. Men's golf and women's tennis took top honors with Tournament Championships on Sunday. The men's golf team captured its sixth straight USAS South Golf Championship title and 27th overall at the Stoney Creek Golf Club on Sunday. The Monarchs won the title based on the first two days of the tournament (297-303—600) as Sunday’s final round was cancelled. The individual medalist for the event was Methodist’s Tom Cooper. He shot a two day 147 (75-72) for a plus 3 score. Teammate Jake Pleczkowski was second as a he carded a 151 (72-79). Averett’s Brad Hartman (74-78—152) was third. Methodist earned the last two USA South tournament team slots with the finishes of Josh Schrader (79-74--153) in fourth and Matt Bova (76-78--154) in fifth. MU finished 30 strokes ahead of second place Averett (306-324—630). Christopher Newport placed third (327-321--648) and Greensboro was fourth (338-315--653). Placing fifth was Shenandoah (344-335--688) and NC Wesleyan (344-344--688) was sixth followed by Ferrum (358-381--739). With the
win, the Monarchs earn a bid to the 2008 NCAA
Division III Championships. Methodist, the
top-ranked The women's tennis team defeated Mary Baldwin on Friday before knocking off Greensboro on Saturday to take on second seeded Christopher Newport for the championship. In the doubles competition, the Methodist number three doubles team of Lauren Hulse and Shannon Vivian won 8-2 to start things off for the Monarchs. Tiffany Tucker and Jenny Smith lost 8-3 at number one, but Kaitlin Flaherty and Leighton Bull broke the tie with an 8-5 win at number two doubles. In singles competition, number six, Lindsey Davis won 6-1, 6-1 and Flaherty won 6-3, 6-3 at number two. Shannon Vivian's win was the match decider with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at number four. Number three Jenny Smith won 6-4, 6-3 and number five Leighton Bull won 6-2, 4-6, 13-11. Tucker dropped the first set 6-2 but came back and won the second 1-6 before falling 6-3 in the third set. With the 7-2 win, the Monarchs qualify for the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year. Flaherty, Smith, and Vivian were named to the All-Tournament team. The men's tennis team advanced to the Tournament Championship against Christopher Newport but dropped nine matches to lose 9-0. Senior Chris Fletcher forced a first set tiebreaker and won his previous two matches at singles to earn All-Tournament honors. Head coach Tom Austin's baseball team won their first two games of the tournament over Shenandoah and Christopher Newport but dropped two on Saturday to finish third in the tournament. Scott Russell led the team at the plate with a .500 batting average while Brad Davis led with five RBI. Landon Jordan and Alex Sholar picked up wins on the mound for the Monarchs. The team will travel to Birmingham-Southern Apr. 23, host an alumni game Apr. 26 and finish up at home with a series against regional rival Piedmont College May 5 and 6. Over at softball, the nationally ranked Monarchs opened up with a 6-3 win against Ferrum on Friday to set up a game against Christopher Newport Saturday. The Captains sent Methodist to the loser's bracket with an 8-4 loss but the team bounced back with an 8-1 victory over Peace. Greensboro took an early 2-0 lead in the late game Saturday, but the Monarchs tied it at two. Greensboro went ahead 5-2 before Methodist made a seventh inning rally but came up short 5-3. The Monarchs will await the NCAA Tournament selection announcement May 4 with hopes of participating in the First Round Tournament May 8-12 in Fayetteville. First baseman Crystal Metzger was named to the All-Tournament Team. The lacrosse team took the third seed into the tournament to face #2 Greensboro in the second semifinal on Friday. The Monarchs took the lead early on, but Greensboro took a 12-4 lead at halftime and went on to win 22-11. Chrystal Bradley scored six goals in the game to earn All-Tournament honors. USA South All-Tournament Selections: Men's
Golf Lacrosse Men's
Tennis Women's
Tennis Tournament
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