UNG teams win conference titles

The University of North Georgia is celebrating Peach State Conference championships in three spring sports: UNG’s men’s golf, softball, and tennis teams have all won conference titles.

From Clark Leonard, UNG…

The University of North Georgia women’s tennis and softball teams have added to a banner spring with Peach Belt Conference regular-season first-place finishes.

In addition to these two teams, three others from UNG are nationally ranked this spring: men’s tennis, men’s golf and women’s golf.

Ranked third in the nation, the UNG women’s tennis team tallied a 5-1 conference record to finish in a three-way tie for first place in the PBC ahead of the April 26-28 PBC tournament, which will be hosted by Columbus State University. UNG is the No. 1 seed thanks to its place in the ITA rankings ahead of its PBC rivals and will have a first-round bye before opening tournament play at 10 a.m. April 27 against the winner between PBC No. 4 seed Georgia College and State University and No. 5 seed Augusta University.

Sporting a 20-1 overall record heading into the PBC and NCAA Division II postseason, the UNG women’s tennis team has already set a school record for regular-season victories and is in striking distance of the full-season mark of 22 wins set by the 2019 team that reached the NCAA Elite Eight.

With its sights set on the postseason, the UNG softball team has wrapped up a 10th consecutive PBC regular-season championship and its 13th in the past 15 seasons. Ranked fourth nationally, the Nighthawks will host one of two four-team, double-elimination quarterfinal pods in the PBC tournament April 26-28 at Haines and Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park. UNG begins its portion of the event against No. 8 seed Augusta University at 2 p.m. April 26. No. 4 seed Flagler and No. 5 seed USC Aiken are also in UNG’s pod.

The UNG softball team tallied a 21-3 PBC mark this spring in PBC play, with a 43-8 overall record. Now the Nighthawks will take aim at a 10th straight PBC tournament title before embarking on the NCAA postseason, where they will look to add a third national championship after earning NCAA crowns in 2023 and 2015.

Pitching has been an integral part of UNG’s success once again, with Tybee Denton tallying 175 strikeouts, a 1.48 ERA and a 23-2 record in 147 innings and Kristen Davis recording 108 strikeouts, a 2.14 ERA and a 17-5 record in 124 1/3 innings.

A balanced offense has tallied a .342 batting average with 58 home runs, 99 doubles and 7.2 runs per game.

The men’s tennis team is ranked eighth nationally with a 12-6 record and 3-2 PBC mark and will also compete April 26-28 in the PBC tournament in Columbus, Georgia.

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