VALDOSTA, Ga. – Fresh off a fifth-place finish at The Griffin Invitational last week, the Valdosta State men's golf team heads to Albany, Ga., for the Hurricane Invitational hosted by Georgia Southwestern, Sept. 22-23 at Doublegate Country Club.  
 
The stacked field features eight ranked teams in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches Poll, which was released on Friday, and an additional four teams who are among others receiving votes including the Blazers.  The 15-team field features No. 1-ranked North Georgia, No. 3 Georgia Southwestern, No. 7 Florida Southern, No. 9 Wingate, No. 11 Columbus State, No. 12 Lincoln Memorial, No. 14 USC Beaufort and No. 23 Saint Leo.  Anderson, Barton, VSU and Tampa all are among others receiving votes.  Carson-Newman, Georgia College and Shorter complete the field.  
 
Last week, the Blazers finished with a 13-over 877 and a final round 2-over 290 to finish fifth, while junior Alexander Nilehn finished tied for third to pace the team.  Nilehn carded a 5-under 211. (70-70-71), while the team finished with rounds of 293, 294 and 290.  It was Nilehn's best finish of his career at VSU.  Catawba won the 14-team tournament with an 8-under 856, while Palm Beach Atlantic was second at 4-under 860.  Belmont Abbey was third at 866, followed by Saint Leo at 870 and VSU at 877.  
 
This will be the second time VSU has seen Saint Leo this season on Sept. 22-23, while it will be the first time facing everyone else in the field this season.  Nilehn has the top spot in the Blazer lineup this week following his outstanding performance last week, while junior William Carestam is No. 2 in the lineup this week after finishing 16^th last week with a 3-over 219 score.  Senior Joshua Burki is third in the lineup his week after finishing tied for 30^th last week with a 223 score. 
 
Junior Nick Mueller is fourth for the second tournament of the season and senior Elad Sebbag is making his first tournament of the year for the No. 5 spot.  For the second-straight week, freshman Jimmy Cohen is playing as an individual.  Mueller and Cohen each finished tied for 64^th in their first tournaments as Blazers last week.
 
Fans can access links to live results of the tournament by clicking here.  Check back with vstateblazers.com Monday and Tuesday afternoons for complete recaps of the tournament. 
 
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