April 2, 2004
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STORYLINE: The No. 21 UNLV women's golf team heads out for the final time of the regular season this week to compete in the 18th Annual BYU Dixie Classic in St. George, Utah. The first two rounds of the 54-hole tournament will be played on Monday, April 5, at Entrada at Snow Canyon (Par 72, 6,150 Yards), with the final round slated for Tuesday, April 6. The Rebels are the tourney's defending champs, earning the program's first-ever team victory there a year ago. They have climbed to No. 21 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels return four starters and eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA Regional-qualifying team. UNLV began the 2003-04 campaign in improbable fashion, winning the Northwest Invite in Sunriver, Ore., by 12 strokes over TCU. Sunny Oh, who held a share of the lead after two rounds, tied for third and was joined in the top 10 by Hwanhee Lee and Seema Sadekar. The Rebels opened the spring portion of the schedule strong as well, finishing fifth at the Wildcat Invitational and defeating four top-25 teams, followed by a runner-up showing at the Spartan Invitational. UNLV closed March with a fifth-place effort at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational.
THE DIXIE CLASSIC: UNLV returns to the site of its first-ever team win. Both Sunny Oh and Elena Kurokawa tied for sixth place in their first appearance at the BYU Dixie Classic in helping the Rebels leap seven spots on the leaderboard on the final day of competition.
THE FIELD: BYU hosts: Colorado, Colorado State, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Montana State, Nevada-Reno, Portland State, San Diego State, San Francisco, Weber State, Wyoming and UNLV.
THE LINEUP: The Rebels' five-player lineup for the BYU Dixie Classic will be Elena Kurokawa, Hwanhee Lee, Sunny Oh, Young Pak and Seema Sadekar. Additionally, Ayeesha Kosugi, Christine Hentzner and Erin McGough will play as individuals.
HEAD COACH Missy Ringler: UNLV women's golf head coach Missy Ringler is in her second year at UNLV. The Bloomington, Ind., native guided the Rebels to their first postseason appearance last season, sent a player to the national championship and produced the school's first All-American in the sport. An All-Big Eight golfer at Iowa State from 1990-95, Ringler spent three years as the head coach at the University of Minnesota before taking over the UNLV program in its second year. She and her husband, Lance, welcomed their new son, Landon, on January 11, 2003.
