Dec. 10, 2009

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team won two tournament titles as a team during the fall season and are ranked 15th, 18th and 21st, in the various college golf polls as Golfstat, Golfweek and Golf World have released their final fall rankings.

UNLV was victorious at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., and at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate in Las Cruces, N.M. The Rebels had two other top-five finishes as they tied for third at the Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo., and also tied for third at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in Vestavia Hills, Ala. Over its five fall events, UNLV turned in a scoring average of 285.77 and recorded nine of 13 rounds at par or better.

Rebel sophomore Derek Ernst, who won two individual titles over his five events during the fall, is ranked as the sixth-best individual in the country in the Golfstat rankings. He finished in the top 10 in two other tournaments (third place and a tie for seventh) and he leads the Mountain West Conference with a 70.31 scoring average. Additionally he played 10 of his 13 rounds during the fall at par or better.

"I am very pleased with the consistency we had during the fall," UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said. "It is nice to have the two wins. Derek really had an incredible performance this fall and we had a lot of help from every member of the team as well. It is a great foundation to start our spring season from."

The Rebels will open the spring season on Feb. 1 at the PING Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Ariz.