MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  – Junior Max Sear was named the Player of the Year for the third straight season, as the West Virginia University golf team celebrated the 2017-18 season at its annual banquet on Tuesday at the Erickson Alumni Center.
 
Sear, who was named the Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017, led the team this season with a 73.03 scoring average. The Unionville, Ontario, native posted six top-20 finishes in tournament play, including four top-10 finishes. After ending the regular season with a runner-up finish at Penn State's Rutherford Intercollegiate, Sear concluded the 2018 season as the Mountaineers' leader in first round average, last round average, eagles, birdies and subpar strokes per round.
 
Sophomore Philipp Matlari earned the team's Academic Achievement award. A native of Leiman, Germany, Matlari transferred to West Virginia from Columbus State in the fall of 2017. Majoring in business, he posted the team's highest grade-point average of the year. Matlari played 16 rounds in six tournaments for the Mountaineers, posting a top-10 finish and a scoring average of 74.63.
 
Senior Avery Schneider was named the program's Most Improved. A native of New Albany, Ohio, Schneider posted a scoring average of 74.36 as a senior, shaving nearly three strokes off his sophomore year average of 77.00. Schneider played 22 rounds in seven tournaments for WVU, most recently participating in the 2018 Big 12 Men's Golf Championship.
 
Schneider and classmate Drew Dewald were presented with plaques as graduating seniors. Dewald joined the Mountaineers last season out of McLennan Community College in Texas and has played 16 rounds in six tournaments for WVU.
 
Along with Matlari, freshmen Matthew Sharpstene, Logan Perkins and Mark Goetz were honored as first-year letterwinners, while Papineau and Dewald were second-year letterwinners. Sear, Schneider and junior Tristan Nicholls were honored as the program's first-ever third-year letterwinners