Sept. 11, 2009

LAS VEGAS - The No. 18 UNLV women's golf team gets its season started this weekend, traveling down I-15 for Golfweek's Conference Challenge, a three-day tournament that starts Sunday at Primm Valley Golf Club in Primm, Nev.

The Rebels are one of four teams that appeared in Golfweek's preseason poll that make up the 18-team field, and the others are No. 12 Pepperdine, No. 16 Ohio State and No. 28 Cal. The tournament is being played on the Desert Course at the Primm Valley Golf Club, a par-72, 6,108-yard layout.

"We are excited to get the fall season started," UNLV head coach Missy Ringler said. "It is great to go into our first tournament with a preseason ranking of 18, and we are ready and well prepared. It should be a great tournament."

UNLV is heading into its eighth season under Ringler, and she returns one of the most talented teams she has had during her tenure. All five members of last year's starting lineup and a total of eight letterwinners return, including two-time All-American Therese Koelbaek, who was named a Top-50 Player to Watch earlier this week by Golfweek. That experience will be joined by two newcomers, including a talented freshman, giving Ringler a deep talent pool to choose from each week when filling out her lineup.

Along with Koelbaek, the Rebels' lineup will include senior Natasha Krishna, a three-time All-Mountain West Conference selection, junior Alejandra Guacaneme, sophomore Kristen Schelling and freshman Ellis Keenan. This will be the first collegiate tournament for Keenan, an import from England, while Guacaneme and Schelling have been regulars in the lineup since their rookie seasons.

The tournament gets underway Sunday morning, and teams will play 18 holes each day, with the tournament drawing to a close on Tuesday. Live scoring will be available courtesy of Golfstat with a link found on the schedule page at UNLVRebels.com.