Men’s golf falls short of cut at national championship

Despite a strong showing on the first day of the NCAA Championship, the No. 20 UCF men’s golf team was unable to make the cut of the final eight teams that would move on from stroke play to match play Thursday, finishing 19th and ending the team’s successful season.

Led by Greg Eason, who tied for 13th individually at 215 (2), UCF finished the three rounds of stroke play at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at 885 (33).

“Our program continues to get better each and every year,” head coach Bryce Wallor said in a release. “Being here is great for our team and our university.”

UCF finished the first day of play tied for sixth and entered Thursday’s final round of stroke play in 17th. While the Knights had their highlights over the three-day tournament, it wasn’t enough to keep up and advance onward.

“We certainly had some great stretches of play,” Wallor said. “This is a golf course where you seem to play well in spurts.”

While the defeat is still fresh, the future is optimistic for UCF. Four of the five Knights who played in last week’s national championship were sophomores, with Brad Schneider, a senior and leader on the team, the lone upperclassman. The strong returning lineup is an encouraging prospect for the program going forward.

“We have such a young team,” Wallor said. “I am so excited about the future, to continue to build and get better.”

Volleyball 2012 schedule released

The 2012 schedule for the UCF Knights volleyball team has been announced, and it is one that will feature five postseason teams from 2011 and 14 opponents that finished in the top 100 in RPI a season ago.

It should make for a challenging schedule but also a potentially rewarding one, as head coach Todd Dagenais explains it.

“The NCAA Selection Committee sent a very clear message last year,” Dagenais said in a release. “Schools and conferences that were very smart in how they scheduled were rewarded with bids in the NCAA Championship. 

“Our 2012 schedule reflects our effort to build the necessary RPI that allows us to be selected if we continue to build on our recent success.”