April 26, 2010

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's golf team is headed to the NCAA West Regional, which will be held May 6-8 at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif., the NCAA Division I women's golf committee announced this afternoon.

This will be the eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance for the Rebels in the nine-year history of the program, all of which have come with Missy Ringler as their head coach, and UNLV will be the 13th seed in the tournament. UNLV's highest finish in a NCAA Regional tournament came in 2004, when the Rebels finished second in the East Regional to Duke.

"We are excited to once again be going to the postseason," Ringler said. "This is the eighth straight year that we have done that. I truly believe we have a team capable of advancing to the NCAA Championships. Four of the five players in our lineup have been to the Stanford Golf Course and have competed well there."

UNLV played at the 2009 Stanford Fall Intercollegiate and the team finished 13th overall, and they were paced by junior Therese Koelbaek, who finished tied for sixth at the three-day event. Koelbaek, who was a member of the 2010 All-Mountain West Conference team, will be joined in the lineup by Natasha Krishna, Alejandra Guacaneme, Kristen Schelling and Mandi Incorvaia. The only Rebel who did not compete in the fall tournament was Incorvaia, and she is also the lone player who did not compete at the 2009 NCAA West Regional.

UNLV is one of a MWC-record five teams that earned a spot in one of the three regional tournaments, and the Rebels will be joined in Stanford by fellow league member Colorado State. Top-ranked UCLA highlights the field, while No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Arizona, No. 6 Alabama, No. 11 Virginia, No. 17 Stanford and No. 23 Ohio State are also teams that are in Golfweek's latest rankings.

The top eight teams and top two individuals not on qualifying teams from each regional advance to the NCAA Championships, to be held May 18-21 at the Country Club of Landfall and will be hosted by the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

West Regional

The West regional will be played May 6-8 at the Stanford Golf Course, Stanford, California hosted by Stanford University. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.

Teams:1.         UCLA2.         Alabama (Southeastern Conference)3.         Arizona (Pacific-10 Conference)4.         Ohio State5.         Virginia6.         Stanford7.         LSU8.         California9.         Texas A&M (Big 12 Conference)10.        Texas11.        UC Davis (Big West Conference)12.        Arkansas13.        UNLV14.        San Jose State (Western Athletic Conference)15.        San Francisco16.        Idaho17.        UC Irvine18.        Iowa State19.        Maryland20.        Colorado State21.        Oral Roberts (The Summit League)22.        Texas State (Southland Conference)23.        Pennsylvania (Ivy Group)24.        Portland State (Big Sky Conference)

Individuals:1.      Amy Anderson, North Dakota State2.      Teresa Puga, Minnesota3.      Ellen Mueller, Oklahoma