May 4, 2009
ARLINGTON, Tx. - The UTA golf team is having one of its best seasons in the program's history and those results were rewarded Monday with the announcement of the Southland Conference All-Conference teams.
Bobby Massa, Zack Fischer and Michael Van deVenter were named to the first, second and third team respectively while Bryce Easton earned honorable mention honors. Mavericks head coach Jay Rees was honored for his work as he was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year.
Massa has posted a 71.97 stroke average this season which is a school record. He is currently ranked 27th in the nation by Golfstat.com.
This is the second consecutive year the junior from Irving, Texas has been named a first team all-conference performer. He now becomes just the fourth UTA golfer to earn multiple first team all-conference honors joining Greg Gregory (1993, 1995), Harry Singh (1996, 1998) and Shad Muth (2001-02).
Fischer, a sophomore from Texarkana, Tex., has posted a 73.11 stroke average this season. He was a co-medalist at the Southland Conference Championship where he fired a career-low round of 67 in the first round.
Van deVenter earned third team honors for the second consecutive season after posting a stroke average of 73.73. He won the UTA/Waterchase Invitational earlier in the year.
Easton, a junior from Durban, South Africa, has a 74.00 stroke average and his best finish this season was a tie for 8th at the Saint Mary's Invitational.
The Mavericks were one of just two schools to have a player on each of the all-conference teams. Lamar was the other team to be honored.
Rees was honored with his second SLC Coach of the Year award as he also won in 2005. This year he has led his team into the top 50 in the nation and to a second place finish at the conference tournament. That was the best finish for the team since their victory in 2005.
The Mavericks are headed to the NCAA Regionals and will find out where they are playing later Monday afternoon.
ALL CONFERENCE First Team Cedric Scotto, SLU Bobby Massa, UTA Justin Harding, LU Fergal Rafferty, SHSU Gideon Pienaar, UCA
Second Team Hugues Joannes, LU Zack Fischer, UTA Jeff Gerlich, TXSTn Matt Carvell, SLU Kyle Collins, UTSA
Third Team Corey Roberson, TXST Lecroux Ferreira, LU Scott Kelly, SHSU Michael Van deVenter, UTA Steven Lecuyer, UCA
POY: Cedric Scotto, SLU NOY: Jeff Gerlich, TXST FOY: Xavier Feyaerts, LU COY: Jay Rees, UTA
Honorable Mention All-Conference Bryce Easton, UTA Graham Benson, SLU
