The Big Ten named Gophers golfer Matt Doyle freshman of the year on Sunday at the conference championships in University Park, Pa.
Doyle, an All-Big Ten selection, is the only conference freshman who won a tournament this season. He won the Wolverine Invitational title in September.
Behind senior Aaron Barber, Doyle has been the No. 2 player all season for the 24th-ranked Gophers. He has averaged 75.3 strokes through 40 rounds this season. Doyle has placed in the top 30 in 10 of 13 tournaments with three top 10 finishes.
Barber was the other Gopher named to the All-Big Ten team. Indiana’s Randy Leen was named player of the year, and coach of the year honors went to Ohio State’s Jim Brown.
Minnesota plays at the NCAA Midwest Regional this weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Men’s tennis
The Gophers men’s tennis team will play third-seeded Mississippi on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The unseeded Gophers received an automatic bid to the tournament held in Athens, Ga., after conquering the six-team Region IV bracket as the sixth seed. Minnesota has won nine of its last 10 matches en route to its first NCAA appearance since 1989.
UCLA (24-0) is seeded first, and Sanford (19-4) is seeded second in the single-elimination tournament. If the Gophers get by Mississippi, they’ll face the winner of the Texas Christian-LSU match on Sunday.