51³Ô¹ÏÍø

The University of North Georgia (51³Ô¹ÏÍø) softball team won its ninth straight Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season and tournament titles and will host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø (54-6) opens the NCAA tournament at 2 p.m. May 11 against No. 8 seed King University (35-22) at Haines and Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park. Other teams in of the double-elimination first weekend of the Southeast Regional are No. 4 seed Columbus State University (44-14) and No. 5 seed Lincoln Memorial University (36-23). Tickets for the regional, which runs through May 13, are available on the .

The team that advances will play in the Southeast Super Regional May 18-19, and Super Regional winners advance to the NCAA championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If it advances from the first weekend, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø will host a Super Regional.

"We are excited to have an opportunity to continue to play together just one more day," 51³Ô¹ÏÍø head coach said. "You can't get caught looking ahead at this point when you have the best 64 teams in the nation competing for an opportunity to get to Chattanooga."

The Nighthawks were ranked No. 2 nationally entering the final weekend of the PBC tournament and spent multiple weeks as the No. 1 overall team this season.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø defeated Columbus State 9-3 on May 5 and 12-2 on May 6 in Columbus, Georgia, to win the PBC championship series. A weekend earlier, the Nighthawks bounced back from a PBC tournament opener loss to USC Aiken with victories against Georgia College and Georgia Southwestern and a pair of wins versus USC Aiken.

"The thing I am most proud of with this team is how unselfish they have been since day one back in August. In the world of athletics there can, at times, be a sense of entitlement with athletes, but this group is quite the opposite," Davenport said. "Their unselfishness has given them the freedom to support each other and to reach their full potential as true student-athletes and in the true essence of being great teammates."

Davenport, in his 23rd season leading the program, earned his 1,000th coaching victory March 6 against Barry University.

Nine softball players were All-PBC performers. Pitcher , pitcher/designated player , catcher , infielder , infielder , outfielder , and outfielder were first-team honorees. Pitcher and outfielder were second-team honorees.

Men's golf team earns regional trip

For the third year in a row and the third time in program history, the No. 4 51³Ô¹ÏÍø men's golf team has earned a bid to the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional. The program will be looking to punch its ticket to the NCAA championship, which it reached for the first time in 2022.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø claimed the No. 2 seed out of the Southeast and will advance to the regional tournament set for May 11-13 at Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Florida.

Other teams earning a bid from the Southeast include, in order, No. 1 Anderson, No. 9 Georgia Southwestern, No. 10 Clayton State, No. 11 Lincoln Memorial, No. 23 Barton, No. 25 Lander, No. 13 Carson-Newman, Limestone, and USC Aiken. 

earned PBC Player of the Year honors, with and honored as first-team All-PBC performers. Head coach was PBC Coach of the Year for the second season in a row.

Ananthasane makes regional, which 51³Ô¹ÏÍø will host

For the third consecutive year, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø women's golfer  has earned an individual spot in the NCAA Division II Women's Golf South Regional.

In conjunction with the Greater Gainesville Sports Alliance, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø will serve as host of the NCAA Division II Women's Golf South Regional at Gainesville's Chattahoochee Golf Club from May 8-10. 

Ananthasane is seeded second in the tournament.

The 12 teams set to convene in Gainesville to contend for a regional title are Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Anderson, Rollins, Tampa, Lee, Limestone, Barry, Flagler, Wingate, Lander, and UNC Pembroke.

Ananthasane was a first-team All-PBC performer, and was second-team All-PBC.

Tennis teams each earn NCAA tournament win

Both the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø men's and women's tennis teams earned first-round NCAA tournament wins before ending their seasons in second-round defeats. The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø women hosted their two postseason matches.

The ninth-ranked 51³Ô¹ÏÍø women (16-7) defeated the University of Mount Olive 4-0 before falling 4-1 to No. 18 Columbus State. A little more than a week earlier, the team reached the PBC championship match against Flagler College.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø's men's team (9-9) earned a 4-0 home victory against No. 22 Augusta University in the NCAA first round before losing 4-0 to No. 4 Columbus State in the second round.

For the women's team,  and  were a first-team All-PBC doubles pairing, with Wojcikova a first-team All-PBC singles player and Lippert and  earning second-team All-PBC singles honors.

On the men's team, was a first-team All-PBC performer in singles and paired with as a first-team All-PBC doubles group.

, who coaches both tennis teams, in March earned his 200th victory with the women's program.

Stoudenmire wins 800-meter PBC title

 won the 800-meter PBC championship with a time of 2:16.74, serving as the top performer as 51³Ô¹ÏÍø finished in sixth overall at the PBC track and field championships April 20-21 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Stoudenmire also finished third in the 1,500 meters.

took second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

was named to the league's All-Sportsmanship team.

Lassiat wins Elite 16 Award

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø baseball team finished its season 29-24 overall and 16-14 in PBC action.

Nighthawks pitcher earned the PBC baseball Elite 16 Award, which is given at each of the 16 PBC championships to the student-athlete competing in the championship with the highest cumulative GPA, for the second season in a row. 

On March 4 against Augusta University, head coach earned his 800th win at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.