March 9, 2004

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's golf team climbed into the top 20 in the latest edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, ranking 20th after posting two impressive finished this spring.

The Rebels finished fifth at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., at the end of February, then turned around to post a runner-up effort at the Spartan Invitational in Salinas, Calif., last week. Over the course of the spring, UNLV has defeated a number of powerhouse women's golf programs, including No. 3 Arizona, No. 4 California and No. 11 Washington. Twice the Rebels defeated Stanford and Pepperdine head-to-head.

"I'm really excited about how we started the spring, but we're still looking to go further," said head coach Missy Ringler. "We're got some great players here and we're shooting for some great things, and it's nice that we're doing well right now, but hopefully we are not peaking right now. I think we still have a lot of really good golf to play."

The Rebels began the year ranked 20th in the preseason edition of the rankings, but slipped despite a victory at the Northwest Invite in Sunriver, Ore., and a seventh-place showing at the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Since then, the team has been steadily climbing its way back into the top 20.

At last week's Spartan Invitational, the Rebels matched the school record for best team round, shooting a three-over-par 291, and shattered the squad's best ever tournament score by 10 strokes, carding a 15-over-par 879.

The ranking is the team's highest-ever during the regular season.

The Rebels continue their season in just less than two weeks when they compete at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, on March 21-23.