SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) – Led by junior
Yuki Moriyama's career-best tied-for-second finish, the UNLV men's golf team had two individuals place inside the top 10 to close the regular season Wednesday at San Jose State's Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club (Par 70, 6,514 yards).
Moriyama (68-67-69), who was the only player to avoid a bogey on the back nine this week, weathered a windy final round with a 1-under 69 to finish one-shot off the lead at 6-under 204. Joining Moriyama atop the Rebel scorecard, junior
Caden Fioroni tied for sixth for his fifth top-10 finish of the season at two-under 208.
Taking the individual medalist honor, Derek Hitchner from No. 8 Pepperdine ended the three-day event at 7-under as he sank his putt for par on the 18th hole to hold off Moriyama's chance for a playoff. Also landing one shot back of Hitchner was Owen Avrit (-6) from No. 22 Oregon, with Pepperdine's Sam Choi (-5) in fourth and Cal's Sampson Zheng (-4) in fifth.
The team victory went to the Waves at 16-under through 54 holes. Behind them were the Ducks in second (-7) as the only other team to shoot below par, while Cal broke even (E) to place third, No. 7 Stanford finished (+18) fourth, and BYU (+19) and Colorado State (+19) tied for fifth. On the team leaderboard, the Rebels (+26) notched their second straight 7th-place finish.
Rounding out the Scarlet & Gray lineup were junior
Ben Sawaia (+12) and freshman
Brett Sawaia (+12) tied for 62nd, senior
George Leigh (+19) and freshman
Inigo Izuzquiza (+25).
UP NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV will now prepare for the 2023 Mountain West Championship, which is set to be held at the OMNI Tucson National Resort Catalina Course in Tucson, Arizona, from April 28-30.
