Feb. 13, 2016
BRADENTON, Fla. - The Penn State men's golf team wrapped up the Big Ten Match Play Championship at the Hammock Beach Resort Saturday with a final record of 2-2, losing to Michigan State 5-1-0 before rallying to secure fifth place by defeating Minnesota 3-2-1 in the final round.
Senior Chris Houston (Gilford, N.H.) picked up Penn State's only point in its 5-1-0 loss to Michigan State in the third round. The Lions began the day atop the East division and fell to third with the loss, which set up a fifth place match in the final round against the third place finisher in the West division, Minnesota.
Senior Geoff Vartelas (Cromwell, Conn.) won, 3 and 1, in his final match of the weekend, while Houston (Gilford, N.H.) picked up his second win of the day, 2 and 1.
Junior Christian Elliot came out on top against his Minnesota counterpart, 3 and 2, and freshman Evan Santa (Edgewater, Md.), who replaced senior JD Dornes (Lancaster, Pa.) in the lineup for his first match of the weekend, ended up halving a point with John Du Toit of Minnesota.
Michigan State went on to win its first Big Ten Match Play Championship, avenging their first round loss to Northwestern by defeating the Wildcats 5-1-0 in the teams' second matchup of the tournament.
The Blue and White will return to action on February 27 for a rematch with Michigan State in The Challenge at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.