The men’s golf team finished second in a sudden-death tie-breaker at the May 1 SoCal Regionals, propelling them to the state championships in Temecula, Calif. Monday.

“We were really happy that we played well,” said coach Chuck Melendez. “We thought we had won when all of a sudden we were thrown into this sudden death.”

The Vaqs lost to Laguna Beach in the sudden-death, one-hole match.

Three of the men finished in the top six in the 36-hole match. Kyle Nicolson finished second overall with a combined two-round score of 142. Chris Satterlee finished fourth with a combined score of 144. Eric Romero, who usually finishes fifth on the team, finished sixth overall in the field with a score of 145.

“He stepped up and took it to a different level,” said teammate Brandon Gama. “He did great.”

Satterlee said he was happy that the team played well, but felt that he could have played better.

“I think I scored better than I actually played,” Satterlee said.

Monday’s match will require the same solid play for the Vaquero’s to place well in the state.

“If we can do what we did last week, I think have a pretty good chance of winning,” Satterlee said.