Feb. 25, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - The UNLV women's golf team opened the spring season on Monday at the Wildcat Invitational and was led by Alejandra Guacaneme, who shot an opening-round 2-over-par 73 at Arizona National Golf Club (par 71, 6,166 yards).

As a team, UNLV shot 325 for the day and is in 16th place. Arizona State leads the field after a 3-over 287 and is followed by Arizona, Oklahoma State, Duke and UCLA, who are all in a fourth-place tie at 4-over.

The Wildcat Invitational features one of the top fields of any event in the country with no less than seven of 16 teams ranked in Golfweek's latest rankings, including teams No. 1-4 in the country in UCLA, Duke, Arizona State and USC. Other top-10 teams include No. 7 Auburn, No. 8 Arizona and No. 9 Cal. In all, 12 teams are currently ranked in the top 25.

Guacaneme, who is tied for 19th, is five shots back of tournament leader Amanda Blumenherst of Duke, who shot a 3-under 68. Stanford's Mari Chun is second at 2-under, with six golfers tied for third at 1-under.

Other Rebel scores and places: Nicole McGirr (77, T50th), Therese Koelbaek (83, T82nd), Melissa Mabanta (83, T82nd), Tonya Choate (86, T86th) and Kasi Lee (86, T86th).

The tournament will continue on Tuesday and conclude on Wednesday with 18 holes each day.

Full tournament results, may be found at Golfstat.com or by clicking here.