April 25, 2011

Central Regional Tournament Central l NCAA Regional Breakdown

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Celebrating its 10th anniversary as a program, the UNLV women's golf team qualified for its ninth straight NCAA Regional appearance, garnering the No. 15 seed in the Central Regional to be played May 5-7 at the Warren Golf Course in Notre Dame, Ind., hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

"It is a true honor to be attending an NCAA Regional in my first season," said first-year head coach Amy Bush. "We have great momentum heading into the tournament following a strong performance at the Mountain West Conference Championship."

Joining the Rebels in the Central Region by seed (national ranking) will be UCLA (2), Duke (7), LSU (6), Arkansas (12), Wake Forest (14), Texas (22), Tulane (23), Stanford (28), Notre Dame (24), Ohio State (31), Kent State (35), Chattanooga (30), Northwestern (38), Minnesota (41), Oklahoma State (45), North Texas (52), Wisconsin (51), East Carolina, Michigan (64), Illinois (61), Morehead State (87), Illinois State and Butler.

Harin Lee (St. John's), Lindsay Gahm (Indiana), Bonnie Hu (Harvard), Nina Muehl (East Tennessee State), Brittany Kelly (Ball State) and Britney Hamilton (Western Michigan) will all join the field as individuals who received at-large bids.

The Central Region features seven conference champions in Texas, Notre Dame, Kent State, Chattanooga, Morehead State, Illinois State and Butler.

UNLV will be lead by two-time All-American and 2011 MWC medalist Therese Koelbaek. Koelbaek has not finished outside the top eight this season and won the conference championship by a record-tying four strokes earlier this month in Phoenix.

Koelbak, ranked 19th in the nation in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, will face a tough field that includes conference medalist winners Tiffany Lua (Pac-10), Cheyenne Woods (ACC), Madison Pressel (Big 12) and Harin Lee (Big East).

The Rebels will open up with a practice round on May 4 followed by first-round action on Thursday, May 5.