April 15, 2009
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's golf team opens up play at the 2009 Mountain West Conference championship on Thursday, which is being held at the Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, Calif.
The tournament will span three days and 54 holes on the par-72, 6,027-yard course, and the Rebels will be joined in the field BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU and Wyoming.
UNLV is looking for its fourth league tournament title and first since winning the final of three straight trophies in 2006, and Missy Ringler will field a lineup that is playing very well at the end of the regular season. The Rebels have won two tournaments and finished second in two others in their last four events, including winning the Indiana Invitational last week, where Natasha Krishna also earned medalist honors.
Krishna will be joined in the UNLV lineup by Therese Koelbaek, Alejandra Guacaneme, Kristen Schelling and Bethany Glassford. This will be the first league championship for Schelling and Glassford, who are both freshmen.
"We are very excited to be here," UNLV head coach Missy Ringler said. "I feel that with our play as of late, we are in a very good position to hopefully win the title. The team is confident and playing really well."
Koelbaek is second in the league with a 72.83 scoring average and the sophomore's best finish this season was at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, where she finished tied for second with a UNLV school record 16-under 200. Krishna is not far off that pace as she is third in the league with a 73.43 scoring average that includes her win last week and two other top-five finishes.
Ringler believes that both players should be in the running for medalist runners, and the overall depth of the team should be a factor over the course of the tournament.
"Natasha and Therese are both coming off a great tournament in Indiana and are playing well," Ringler said. "Alejandra has been giving us strong rounds and our two freshmen, Kristen and Bethany, have been very instrumental to our success thus far."
The first pairings tee off tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. (PT), and UNLV is part of the second group, along with Colorado State. New Mexico won last year's team title, marking the fifth championship overall for the Lobos in the nine-year history of the tournament. In fact the only other team besides UNLV and UNM to win the team tournament was TCU in 2007.
Fans can follow the tournament live by CLICKING HERE.
