BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – Although it's a tough pill to swallow, the Nova Southeastern men's golf team has plenty to look forward to after its lineup featuring two freshmen and a sophomore guided the Sharks to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional on Saturday at Streamsong Resort. Head coach Joey Marino's group missed out on a national championship bid by five strokes, closing the tournament at 17-over par.

INSIDE THE TOURNAMENT:
Tournament Finish: 9th of 16 teams
Tournament Champion: Lee
Location: Streamsong Resort | Bowling Green, Fla.
Par/Yardage: 72/7,139
Get Social: Twitter - @NSU_MGolf | Instagram - @NSU_MGolf | Facebook - /NSUGolfTeam

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Sharks remained in the mix, but couldn't get over the hump on Saturday, posting a final round score of (+7) 295 to wind up ninth at 17-over par for the tournament.
• Matching the low round of the day at (-2) 286, Lee (+4) held off No. 1 West Florida by three shots to win the regional title.
• At 12-over par, Georgia Southwestern and Columbus State both snuck into the Top-4 to earn spots into the national championship.
• Florida Southern and Lynn were left on the outside looking in, both finishing at 13-over par.
• Following a disappointing second round, freshman Joseba Torres rebounded with a sound (+1) 73 on Saturday to lead the Sharks with a tie for 15^th overall at two-over par for the tournament.
• Tomas Millet racked up five birdies throughout the final round, yet faced his shares of ups and down en route to a (+2) 74. The senior finished the tourney tied for 24^th at four-over par overall.
• Javier Calles cruised to a one-under par effort through 15 holes on Saturday. However, the freshman walked away with bogey-par-double bogey on the final three holes to register a (+2) 74. Calles tied for 35^th at six-over par for the week.
• Victor Jimenez and Emanuel Olofsson each tied for 41^st at seven-over par.

STATS OF THE DAY:

• NSU wrapped up play with the second-best Par-5 scoring average (4.78).
• Olofsson ranked tied for fourth this week in Par-3 scoring average (3.00)
• Millet topped the Sharks with 13 combined birdies, which also finished tied for third-most in the field.

BEYOND THE SCORECARD:

• Competing as an individual this week, Erskine's Alberto Avila played his way into the NCAA DII National Championship after collecting medalist honors by two strokes with a 54-hole score of (-7) 209.
• NSU last qualified for the National Championship in 2015.
• Neither of the country's No. 2 and No. 3 teams qualified for nationals, as Lincoln Memorial (+15) finished seventh, while Lynn (+13) earned a share of fifth.

UP NEXT:
NSU will welcome back all but Jimenez from its regional lineup in 2021-22. To stay up-to-date with the program throughout the offseason, visit NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Instagram or Twitter at @NSU_MGolf.

Sharks come up 5⃣ shots short of Nationals...

Incredible effort by the team.

Future is bright for the program!#GoNSUSharks pic.twitter.com/OxftXmsV5B

— NSU_MGolf (@NSU_MGolf) May 8, 2021