April 14, 2011

PHOENIX (UNLVRebels.com) - Senior UNLV women's golfer Therese Koelbaek became the fourth Rebel in program history to earn the Mountain West Conference's Golfer of the Year honor, the conference office announced Thursday night following the opening round of the 2011 Mountain West Conference Championship.

The Holte, Denmark native joins Sunny Oh (2003-04), Elena Kurokawa (2004-05) and Da Sol Chung (2005-06) as Rebels to earn the end of the season honor.

Koelbaek, a three-time All-MWC performer entering her senior season, has been nothing short of spectacular for the Rebels this season. She leads the conference in scoring average at 72.26 strokes per round, over one and a half strokes ahead of second-place Brooke Beeler of TCU.

She has posted nine top-eight finishes this season and has recorded 10 rounds under par. Her season-low round of 67 is the third-best single round this season in the MWC. Koelbaek has earned Golfer of the Month honors three times this season, marking just the second golfer to accomplish the feat (Valentine Derrey, TCU, 2007-08).

Koelbaek is on pace to further cement her name in the UNLV record books by the end of this season. Already holding three of the top four scoring averages for a single season, she can take over first place if she can stay under 72.71, set by Chung in 2005-06. She has twice carded the lowest round in program history at 66 and her round of 67 during the Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational ranks tied for second.

If she garners All-MWC honors for a fourth consecutive year she would be the first in UNLV history and fourth in MWC history, joining Kailin Downs (2001-05) and Jodi Ewart (2006-10) of New Mexico and Valentine Derrey of TCU (2006-10).

Koelbaek enters the MWC Championship with the medalist title in focus. She finished tied for fourth as a freshman, third as a sophomore and tied for eighth as a junior in the year-ending tournament, resulting in three NCAA Regional appearances, including a tie for first as a freshman in 2008.

UNLV is expected to compete for the tournament championship, which would mark the fourth in program history. The Rebels were back-to-back-to-back champions from 2004-06, joining New Mexico as the only two teams to win at least three consecutive titles.

Second-round action on the Red/Heritage Course at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix, Ariz. is set to kickoff at 7 a.m. Friday morning.