The Seattle University men's golf team looks for a positive end to their season in the America Sky Conference Championships held at Lake of Isles Golf Course in Ledyard, Conn., Sunday, April 29 to Tuesday, May 1.
The Redhawks have seen success this year, winning Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Cup, a match play event held March 22-23. The win was the squad's first team tournament victory in over 30 years. Seattle U also finished in the top five twice in stroke play events, The McLaughlin Sept. 16-17, and the Kauai Collegiate Invitational Oct. 30-Nov. 1. The Redhawks took ninth in their most recent competition, the OGIO UCSB Intercollegiate in Santa Barbara, Calif. April 2-3, with a team score of 900 (+36).
Individually, Rob Seibly (Spokane, Wash.) is second on the team with a 73.7 stroke average and two top-10 finishes, plus an additional top-25 result. Seibly also won two matches at the Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Cup, helping the Redhawks advance to the finals with a 1-up win in the first position against Cal Poly in the semi-finals. He will compete as the Redhawks' number one golfer during the America Sky Conference Championship.
Paul Pavlos (Woodinville, Wash.) will tee off in the second position during conference championships. He's compiled a 74.4 stroke average throughout the year and was the only Redhawk to win all three of his matches at the Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Cup. Pavlos has previous experience in the conference tournament, tying for 20th in last year's America Sky Conference Championship.
Ian Dahl (Longview, Wash.) will provide plenty of championship experience as well as he tied for 12th in last year's America Sky Conference Championship. Averaging 74.7 strokes per round, Dahl has one top-10 finish, one top-25 finish, and won 3&1 during the finals of Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Cup. He'll be the in the three spot for the Redhawks during the three-day tournament.
Preston Matchett (Billings, Mont.) has competed in three of the last four tournaments for Seattle U, his first tournaments of the season. He was the top-ranked Redhawk at the Thunderbird Invite Feb. 13-14, and he also won two matches during the Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Cup. Matchett is the Redhawks' fourth golfer of the America Sky Conference Championship.
Rounding out the Redhawks' roster will be Will Holdridge (Lynden, Wash.). He leads the team with a 73.67 stroke average and finished tied for sixth at the Cal Poly Firestone Grill Invitational, the highest individual finish for SU this year. Holdridge also has two other top-30 finishes this season, at the BSU Dash Thomas Memorial Sept. 26-27 and the Kauai Collegiate Invitational.
As a team, the Redhawks took sixth in the 2011 America Sky Conference Championships, shooting 920 (+68). They return four of the five golfers who played in last year's tournament including Dahl, who led the team with his T-12 finish. Weber State won last year's conference tournament, while the Wildcats' Nick Despain is the reigning individual title holder.
Seattle U will face 11 other teams at Lake of Isles Golf Course: Binghamton, Chicago State, CSU Bakersfield, Hartford, Houston Baptist, Northern Colorado, North Dakota, Sacramento State, Texas-Pan American, Utah Valley, and Weber State.
Tee times for the first two days of competition will begin at 8:10 a.m. EST (5:10 a.m. PST) off the first tee. The conference tournament will be Seattle U's last tournament in the America Sky Conference as the men's golf team and 16 other sports will join the Western Athletic Conference July 1st, 2012 and will compete in the WAC next season.