KELLY MURPHY | STAFF REPORTER
The men’s golf team will play in the Cleveland State Invitational this weekend, looking to improve on last year’s 12th place finish at Aurora, Ohio.
“I think we’ll have a better tournament this year than last year; we know the course,” said head coach Bill Mattingly.
Senior Logan Holt will return to his home state of Ohio to play in this tournament. He said he looks forward to how he thinks the team will perform.
“Most of our team went up and played the course last year and we all really liked it, so I would say we have pretty high expectations,” he said.
This will be the team’s second invitational of the year.
At the D.A. Weibring Invitational in Normal, Illinois, the team tied with Missouri State University for ninth.
Connor Dudley was the top-performing Bulldog, finishing 16th overall.
Mattingly expects Dudley to do well in this tournament because of his strong finish at the Weibring Invitational.
“I have high expectations for all six players. Our two seniors, I have high expectations for every tournament,” Mattingly said.
Seniors Logan Holt and Andrew Eiler finished 39th and 54th last tournament.
Holt feels confident about his ability to live up to Coach Mattingly’s expectations.
“I’m from Ohio, around Ohio State, so I’m feeling pretty good going back,” Holt said. “I definitely want to compete for the title so I think I should be in the top.”
The tournament participants include Appalachian State University, University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State University, University of Dayton, Detroit University, University of Evansville, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Loyola University, Oakland University, Robert Morris University, Wright State University and Youngstown State University
The Bulldogs should try to keep up with their competition, Mattingly said.
“Cleveland State is always very good,” he said. “We’ve played them a lot in the Horizon League and this is one of their home courses. Evansville has a good team. They are up there again this year. Appalachian State out of North Carolina is also very good. If we hold our own with them, I think we’ll do very well”
The team will tee off Sept. 29.
