Feb. 19, 2009
LAS VEGAS - UNLV women's golf gets its spring season underway on Sunday, traveling to play in the Wildcat Invitational, which is being hosted by Arizona and will be held at the Peninsula Golf Club in Sonora, Mexico.
The Rebels will be fielding a lineup of Therese Koelbaek, Natasha Krishna, Kristen Schelling, Alejandra Guacaneme and Melissa Mabanta that will compete against a field of 17 teams. Included in that field are nine top-25 teams in Golfweek's latest rankings, including Arizona State (No. 1), USC (No. 2), UCLA (No. 3) and Duke (No. 8).
"We are very excited to get started this spring," UNLV head coach Missy Ringler said. "The team has been working really hard and I believe that they are focused on having a very productive season. This tournament will be important for us to get off to a good start. It is an extremely excellent field and a strong finish should boost us into the Top-30."
Koelbaek is coming off a strong fall that saw her set the UNLV record with a total of 16-under 200 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, which tied for the second-best tournament score in NCAA history. Koelbaek was named to Golf World's Midseason All-American team and was also the Mountain West Conference's Golfer of the Month for October. She currently has a scoring average of 70.67 in nine rounds of play and she also competed in the 2008 World Amateur Team Championships.
Krishna also played in the amateur tournament and she currently has a scoring average of 72.00, which is second on the team.
The tournament is a three-day event that will be played on the par-72, 6,146-yard course that features 100 bunkers, one lake and six ocean-side holes.
