Sept. 24, 2009

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team is ranked No. 13 in the nation as the first Golf World/Nike Golf Division I Coaches' Poll of the fall was released Thursday. The Rebels were the lone team outside of the top 25 to jump into the top 15 of the poll.

UNLV opened the season with a decisive victory at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this month, and then finished third at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo., last week. UNLV's next tournament will be this Sunday-Monday, Sept. 27-28 at the PING/Golfweek Invitational at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.

Oklahoma State remained the nation's top-ranked team in the poll, earning 14 of the 25 first-place votes. Rounding out the top five were Washington, Stanford, Alabama and Arizona State.

Tennessee made a big move in the poll as well, jumping from No. 18 to No. 6. Illinois (No. 7) and Georgia Tech (No. 8) also moved into the top 10 after being ranked No. 12 and No. 11, respectively, in the preseason coaches' poll. USC and Florida have the final two top-10 spots.

Other new entries into the top 25 were Chattanooga (No. 21) and Augusta State (No. 25).

The Golf World/Nike Golf poll combines the resources of Golf World magazine, Nike Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).