Sept. 25, 2006

RICHMOND, Va. - UT Arlington junior Zack Reeves rebounded from a morning round of three-over-par 75 to shoot three-under 69 to lead the Mavericks to a 12th-place finish after the opening day of the VCU/Mattaponi Springs Shootout here Monday.

The Arlington, Texas native, is tied for 17th in the tournament at even-par 144 after birdies on two of his final four holes of play Monday. Reeves was inconsistent during the afternoon round with eight birdies, three bogeys and one double-bogey in the round.

Freshman Bryce Easton (Petoria, South Africa) had rounds off 73 in the morning and afternoon on the par-72, 6,911-yard Mattaponi Springs Golf Club layout. In the afternoon, Easton shot one birdie (par-5, 12th hole) and two bogeys (par-3, 17th hole and the par-3, third hole) to move into the top 30.

Senior Ryan Zamorano (Dallas, Texas) carded rounds of 75 and 73 Monday. Freshman Michael van de Venter (Centurion, South Africa) had back-to-back rounds of 76 and freshman Travis Watson (Dallas, Texas) carded a 76 and 77 in his collegiate debut.

Kent State's Marc Bourgeois and Dan Woltman of Wisconsin are tied for the lead at nine-under-par 135. Sixteen golfers managed scores under par on the opening day.

As a team, UT Arlington fired an afternoon round of three-over-par 291 and finished the day 14-over-par 590. Louisville (565) leads the tournament by one stroke over Penn State and Kent State (566). Charlotte, Wisconsin and Indiana are tied for fourth at 572. Xavier (573), Maryland (580), Wichita State (582), UNC-Wilmington (589) and Virginia Commonwealth "B" (589) round out the top 10 teams.

UT Arlington follows at 590 with Virginia Commonwealth (596), UNC-Greensboro (600) and Richmond (601) in the 15-team field.

The final round is scheduled to begin at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.

- utamavs.com -