SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The UIndy men's golf team concluded a lengthy stay in Springfield, Ill., with a runner-up finish at the 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships, held at Panther Creek Country Club Sunday through Tuesday. The Greyhounds battled through 90 holes of competition (as well as a practice round on Saturday) to advance all the way to the medal/match play finals, but fell just shy of repeating as champs as Maryville University won the finals via tiebreaker.
 
FINALS
No. 2 UIndy vs. No. 4 Maryville
Match 1 – Spencer Klimek, UIndy, (73) vs. B. Karpick, MU (78) | UIndy 1, MU 0
Match 3 – Erik Edwards, UIndy (79) vs. J. Williams, MU (70) | All Square
Match 5 – Oliver Mast, UIndy (72) vs. A. Locke, MU (72) | All Square
Match 4 – Ian Carroll, UIndy (69) vs. K. Flemming, MU (71) | UIndy 2.5, MU 1.5
Match 2 – Cam Carroll, UIndy (72) vs. J. Newman, MU (70) | All Square
Maryville wins via five-score tiebreaker (361-365)
 
The Greyhounds and the Saints evenly split the five points in Tuesday afternoon's final. Spencer Klimek (+1) and Ian Carroll (-3) won their respective pairing, while Oliver Mast (E) tied his, but with both teams all square after five pairings, the conference invokes a five-score tiebreaker, which Maryville won, 361-365, to earn its first-ever GLVC men's golf crown.
 
Maryville earned a spot in the final by besting top-seeded Missouri-St. Louis in the morning semifinal, also via tiebreaker.
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds await the announcement of the 2019 NCAA Midwest/Central Regional field, which is set for Friday, April 26. The regional itself is set for May 9-11 in Hot Springs, Ark. The Greyhounds were ranked No. 1 in the final set of regional rankings.
 
TUESDAY MORNING
The Greyhounds advanced to the final with a 3-2 win versus Bellarmine in the morning semis.  The win secured UIndy its sixth appearance in the league finals since the current format was adopted in 2012.
 
SEMIFINAL
No. 2 UIndy vs. No. 3 Bellarmine
Match 1 – Spencer Klimek, UIndy, (77) vs. Billy Cason, BU (74) | BU 1, UIndy 0
Match 2 – Cam Carroll, UIndy (67) vs. Seth Phulpager, BU (89) | All Square
Match 3 – Erik Edwards, UIndy (70) vs. Spencer Hackerd, BU (68) | BU 2, UIndy 1
Match 4 – Ian Carroll, UIndy (72) vs. Corey Teaford, BU (74) | All Square
Match 5 – Oliver Mast, UIndy (68) vs. James Inman, BU (81) | UIndy wins, 3-2
 
Two of UIndy's three points in the semifinals were earned in decisive fashion, with sophomore Oliver Mast topping GLVC-champion James Inman by 13 strokes and freshman Cam Carroll earning an even more convincing 22-stroke win against Seth Phulpager.
 
Mast avenged his playoff loss to Inman yesterday (more on that below) by crafting his third consecutive score of 68. Carroll did him one better, carding a five-under 67 to run away with the win in his pairing.
 
The Hounds' third and decisive point came from Cam's older brother Ian Carroll, who finished with an even-par 72 to top Corey Teaford by two strokes.

MONDAY
Behind a runner-up performance from sophomore Oliver Mast, UIndy (296-287-283) was one of only four teams to advance to Tuesday's semifinals, earning the No. 2 seed with a team score of +2 through 54 holes of stroke play. Individually, Mast matched the lowest 54-hole score ever at the conference tournament (-7), before falling to eventual-GLVC-champion James Inman of Bellarmine in a sudden-death playoff.

"I'm extremely proud of this group," said Head Coach Nicoson. "They knew what was at stake and went out and played with heart. They got the job done today and now we have a chance to play for the conference title."
 
Mast capped stroke play with back-to-back 68s to finish at -7 and share the top spot with Inman. The duo became the third and fourth players, respectively, to finish a GLVC Championships at seven-under par, with the other two being Justin Hueber (UIndy, 2009) and David Shearer (Northern Kentucky, 2006). No other student-athletes have shot better at a conference tournament.
 
Mast and Inman would need a sudden-death playoff to see who took home the individual trophy, with Inman prevailing with a par on the 18th hole. Both men earned All-GLVC honors, along with the other three top-five finishers. Five additional all-conference honorees will be announced in the coming days.
 
2019 All-GLVC
1. James Inman, Bellarmine
2. Oliver Mast, UIndy
T3. Craig Stefureak, Drury
T3. Clayton Larsen, Drury
T3. Reilly Ahearn, Missouri-St. Louis
 
"Oliver has been great all season and he continues to become more and more comfortable going low," added Nicoson. "He's worked hard and his scores are showing. I'm really proud of his effort this week."

Meanwhile, sophomore Ian Carroll (73-74-70) worked his way into the top 10, with his 54-hole tally of +1 good for a share of ninth. He finished one stroke ahead of teammate Erik Edwards (78-72-69) who vaulted up 14 spots in the final round to tie for 10th. Both Hounds recorded a pair of eagles Monday, with Edwards closing with a birdie on both 17 and 18.
 
Junior Spencer Klimek (73-73-78) fell back to 23rd place at +8 after a third-round 78, and freshman Cam Carroll (77-75-76) settled in 32rd at +12.