March 3, 2005
A Mountain West Conference title, a second-place finish at the East Regional, the Rebels first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament and a No. 14 ranking to close the 2004 season. There wasn't a lot that the UNLV women's golf team didn't accomplish last season, as the Rebels won three team titles and developed into one of the top women's programs in the country.
What is the next step for a program that in just three years has emerged from infancy and grown into a contender both in the MWC and on the national level?
Simply put: Continued excellence.
Third-year head coach Missy Ringler wants the Rebels to defend their conference crown and in the process, become a permanent fixture in the top-25 and at the NCAA Tournament.
Although the Rebels lost All-American Sunny Oh to the lure of professional golf, there is little doubt that the players returning to UNLV have the ability to continue to take the program to higher levels.
As the program enters its fourth year, a group of five seniors and one junior have become seasoned veterans, capable of leading the team. Joining those five are a sophomore and three freshmen, all with the ability to step into the starting lineup at any tournament.
"Going into my third year and being here for two years, I feel as though I have been able to mold the team, not only as golfers, but also as people," Ringler said. "It has been just amazing what the program has already accomplished."
Seniors Hwanhee Lee, Young Pak, junior Elena Kurokawa and sophomore Seema Sadekar all return from last year's MWC Championship squad, which ended New Mexico's four-year reign as league champions. Ringler is counting on someone emerging from the group to become the team's number one player.
The leading candidate for the role is Lee, who has played in every tournament that the Rebels have entered and was the team's first individual champion, winning the Lady Aztec Invitational in 2002. Lee finished in a tie for fifth at last year's MWC Championships and followed that with a 36th-place finish at the East Regional. Lee had two top-five finishes last season and fired three rounds at par.
Pak is another player who has a vast amount of experience and ability for the Rebels and the senior has played the third-most rounds in school history with 49. Pak finished in the top-20 twice last season and had one even-par round.
Kurokawa is a junior who stepped into the starting lineup as a freshman and hasn't been out of it since. She carded five sub-par rounds last season, the second-most on the team, and had three top-20 and one top-10 finish.
Rounding out UNLV's top four is Sadekar, who is emerging as one of UNLV's top players despite only being a sophomore. As a freshman last season Sadekar's 76.11 stroke average was second on the team, four top-20s, four top-10s and one top-five finish. She had three rounds at par and two sub-par rounds during her strong freshman campaign.
"My goal is to have somebody to rise above out of this group and do better than what they did last year," Ringler said. "We need someone to step up and become our number one player."
A trademark of any successful team is depth, and one of the strength's of this year's squad is the number of quality players on the roster.
Pushing the top four are four seniors who have played at conference tournaments before and have the ability to contribute when called upon.
After battling tendonitis in both wrists through most of last season, Tina Mabanta is healthy again heading into this season. She played in every round as a freshman but since then has only played in 10 rounds the past two years. She has two top-20 finishes in her career.
Christine Hentzner is another player vying for the fifth spot in UNLV's lineup. Hentzner played in 12 rounds last season, after 49 rounds during her first two seasons as a Rebel. During her sophomore season she finished sixth at the Mountain West Conference Championships.
Erin McGough and Ayeesha Kosugi are two former walk-ons who provide great leadership and work ethic to the team. Kosugi played in the Rebels' first-ever tournament and both have been with the program since it first started.
Four newcomers will join UNLV's roster this year, as freshmen Allison Chell, Nicole McGirr and Chelsea Pendleton and transfer Ellen Dow come to town.
Chell, a native of Queensland, Australia, could have an immediate impact. One of the top junior players in Australia, Ringler believes that Chell has the ability to crack the Rebel lineup as a true freshman.
McGirr and Pendleton are two local athletes who both played for Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nev. Ringler said that both will redshirt. Dow, who is a senior, is a transfer from Berry (Wash.) University.
UNLV's toughest schedule to date awaits the Rebels, as they will play in some of the top tournaments in the country. The fall season begins at the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., where the Rebels will face league-rival New Mexico for the first time since the MWC Championships. From there the Rebels will play in two prestigious West Coast Tournaments, the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Seattle, Wash., and the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., before hosting their own Las Vegas Founders Showdown. The fall season wraps up with the Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
The Rebels' spring schedule begins on Feb. 7 with the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, followed by the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., and the Spartan Invite in San Jose, Calif. UNLV will then host its second tournament of the year, the UNLV Spring Invitational, before closing the regular season at the BYU-Dixie Championship, a tournament that the Rebels have won the past two years. UNLV will then defend its league title at the MWC Championships, at Sunriver, Ore., starting on April 18.
"I wanted to improve the schedule, which is somewhat difficult when you are a new program. Getting invited to big tournaments that have been around year to year, teams do not drop out of them and I feel fortunate to get into some of the tournaments we have been this year," Ringler said. "Our schedule this year will get us used to competing in tough conditions that we will see in regionals and nationals."
