College Roundup: Toledo trio 2d at Marshall tourney

By John Manley

Toledo relies heavily on an Irish trio to cut a swath to the top of the Div. I college golf heap and the Ohio university nearly pulled off a coup in the Marshall Invitational at the Guyan Golf and Country Club in Huntington, W.Va. The Rockets finished second, two strokes behind Northwestern in a 20-team field that was heavily populated with Big Ten schools.

Ricky Elliott, a junior from Portrush, Co. Antrim, was low man for Toledo. His 219 (72-74-73) was good for a fourth-place tie, and was seven shots off the 212 posted by Illinois’ D.A. Points, the medalist. Elliott’s number was six strokes over par. Helping to carry the load were Alan Murray, who tied for 34th at 226 (76-75-75), and Tim Rice, who tied for 37th at 227 (77-79-71). Murray is a freshman from Dublin, while Rice is a junior from Rosbrien, Co. Limerick.

Eamonn Brady earned another top 10 finish in the BellSouth Yellow Pages Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary, N.C. The East Tennessee State senior from Dublin stood alone in second place after an opening round 68. He couldn’t sustain his momentum over the next two rounds, however, shooting 76 and 74. Still, his 218, which was two over for the event, tied him for eighth place, six strokes behind New Mexico’s Wil Collins, who topped the leaderboard at 212 at tourney’s end.

Two strokes behind Brady was Clemson’s Michael Hoey at 220 (73-74-73). The Belfast frosh tied for 16th place with his consistent play. Clemson and ETSU finished in a tie for fourth place in the team scramble. Nevada-Las Vegas were the champions.

Alabama-Birmingham’s Chris Devlin tied for 23rd place in the Billy Hitchcock Intercollegiate at the Saugahatchee Country Club in Opelika, Ala. The County Antrim junior was four over par for 54 holes at 220 (76-69-75).

Mississippi’s Haymes Snedeker was leader of the pack at 208. UAB placed 10th among teams.

Tennis

Seton Hall’s women posted victories over Pittsburgh, 8-1, and Villanova, 5-0. Judy McAuley, a junior from Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, had victories in both matches. She defeated Pitt’s Kate Warden, 6-1, 6-0, at fifth singles, and did likewise with Villanova’s Coleen Obsitnik, 6-0, 6-1, in a third singles match. Laura McCracken, a junior from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, triumphed over Pitt’s Sarah Austin, 7-6(8-6), 6-2, at first singles. McCracken and Kyli Lasalle also took a first doubles match over the Pitt tandem of Erin Sharbrack and Lindsay Carlson, 8-1.

California’s Claire Curran earned a singles victory in the number four position when she won both sets over UCLA’s Elizabeth Schmidt by 6-2 scores. California won the match, 6-0. The Dublin junior was then limited to doubles action against Southern California. Curran and Anita Kurimay lost their match at second doubles to Karolina Bakalarova and Veronika Safarova, 8-6, in a match won by USC, 5-4.

Mississippi State’s Eimear Sloan had a tough week, losing twice. The Dublin junior fell at fifth singles to South Carolina’s Lynn-Yin Tan, 7-5, 6-2, then stepped up to fourth singles against Miami, where she won the first set but lost the match. Eva Jiménez had her number, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. MSU lost to South Carolina, 7-2, and Miami, 5-4.

Rice’s Robert Collins posted a victory at second singles in the Owls’ 7-0 thumping of Lamar. Collins, a junior from Dublin, defeated Mike Ferraro, 6-4, 6-3, and also joined Prakash Venkataraman at first doubles to knock off Ferraro and Chris Chapman, 8-4. Later in the week, Collins came out on the short end of a 6-2, 7-5 decision that went to Southern Methodist’s Toby Hansson. Collins and Venkataraman upended Hansson and Jon Wallmark at second doubles, 8-3. SMU won the match, 4-3.

Harvard came away with victories over Ivy League rivals Princeton and Penn last week. The Crimson handled Princeton, 7-2, with Dublin junior John Doran earning the point at second singles after a hard-fought match with An An Liu. The score was 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Fellow junior Joe Green, also a Dubliner, was paired with Scott Clark at second doubles, where they won, 8-5. Doran and Mike Passarella registered an 8-3 third doubles win over Scott Baughams and Jeff Schacter.

The Penn match, a 7-0 triumph, found Doran prevailing over Jordan Szkelly, 6-3, 7-5, at second singles, and joining Passarella for an 8-4 win over Eric Sobotka and Tyler Anderson in the third position. Green and Clark were 8-2 winners over Uday Garg and Joe Zupan in the second slot.

Indiana’s George McGill rolled along to two victories last week, improving his Big Ten record to 8-0. The Castleroy, Co. Limerick junior recovered from a first set defeat against Northwestern’s Martin Bengtsson to win the match, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3. Indiana won the match, 5-2. They were less fortunate against second ranked Illinois, losing 5-2 to the Illini. McGill, however, provided a point at third singles again, where he defeated Jeff Laski, 7-6, 6-2.