5/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
UNLV Women's Golf - NCAA Notes
BRADENTON, Fla. (UNLVRebels.com) - The No. 19 UNLV women's golf team took fourth at the NCAA St. George Regional and advanced to the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships, which will be held May 22-27 at The Concession Golf Club (par 72, 6,468 yards). It will be the fourth time in the program's 14 year history that the Rebels will partake in the championship tournament and the first time since 2008. Six teams from each regional advanced to this year's NCAA Championship, which features 24 of the nation's best teams. The championship format will consist of three days of stroke play on Friday thru Sunday (54 holes), after which the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will be determined. That is followed by a final day of 18 holes of stroke play (Monday) to determine the top eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the 72-hole individual champion. The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on Tuesday, followed by the finals on Wednesday. The NCAA Championships will have live scoring on UNLVRebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels currently rank 19th nationally by Golfstat and 21st by Golfweek in each organization's most recent poll. UNLV has played in 11 tournaments, including one match play non-scoring event, and finished in the top-five in a school-record eight events. In October, UNLV captured its only team title of the season, winning the Betsy Rawls Invitational. Senior Dana Finkelstein captured medalist honors three times, winning the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in September, the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in October and the NCAA St. George Regional earlier this month.
THE LINEUP: UNLV's lineup for the NCAA Championship will be the same from its NCAA St. George Regional appearance. Rebel participants for the NCAA finals include senior Dana Finkelstein, freshman Harley Dubsky, Freshman Mackenzie Raim, sophomore Avery French and senior Mayko Chwen Wang.
HEAD COACH Amy Bush-Herzer: UNLV women's golf head coach Amy Bush-Herzer is in her fifth year at the helm of the Rebel program. During her tenure, UNLV has reemerged on the national scene, being ranked as high as No. 11 in 2014-15. Bush-Herzer guided the Rebels to a conference championship in 2013 and was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year that same season. Under her guidance, she has helped produce two of the best golfers in program history: Therese Koelbaek and Dana Finkelstein. Bush-Herzer served as the assistant coach for three seasons before becoming the head coach in 2010.
THE FIELD: The NCAA Championships features 24 of the most talented teams in the country. The top 14 teams in the country qualified for the tournament and the highest ranked team that will be participating is ranked 46th. The following is the field along with each team's Golfstat ranking in parenthesis: Southern California (1), South Carolina (2), UCLA (3), Duke (4), Arizona (5), LSU (6), Washington (7), Arkansas (8), Texas A&M (9), Virginia (10), Wake Forest (11), Tennessee (12), Stanford (13), Northwestern (14), Baylor (18), UNLV (19), UC Davis (22), Tulane (23), Alabama (24), Texas Tech (27), Purdue (31), California (34), North Carolina State (39) and Campbell (46). Additionally, 12 individuals will compete in the field (the top three individuals from each regional not on teams that advanced to the NCAA Championship): Alivia Brown (Washington State), Michaela Fletcher (Memphis), Isabelle Johansson (Kentucky), Leilanie Kim (Idaho), Meghan MacLaren (FIU), Lena Schaffner (Coastal Carolina), Bertine Strauss (Texas), Taylor Totland (Furman), Monica Vaughn (Arizona State), Karolina Vlckova (Florida), Emily Williams (Middle Tennessee State) and Anica Yoo (Oregon State).
UNLV'S HISTORY AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: This will be UNLV women's golf fourth appearance at the NCAA Championship tournament. The Rebels previously qualified for the 2004 championship (Opelika, Ala.), the 2006 championship (Columbus, Ohio) and the 2008 championship (Albuquerque, N.M.). The team's best finish came in 2008 when UNLV finished 16th. The best individual performance by a Rebel was in 2006 when Da Sol Chung finished third and turned in a score of 2-over par 290.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE: The only player on the UNLV women's golf team with any NCAA Championship experience is senior Dana Finkelstein. Finkelstein qualified for the the 2013-14 NCAA Championship, which was played at the Tulsa Country Club. After a runner-up finish at the NCAA Central Regional, she became only the second Rebel in program history to qualify for the championship tournament as an individual, joining Sunny Oh (2003). A highlight for Finkelstein, who went on to tie for 33rd at the event, was her first career hole-in-one during the opening round of the tournament.
MOUNTAIN WEST HONOREES: UNLV senior Dana Finkelstein was named the Mountain West Golfer of the Year for the third consecutive year, becoming only the second golfer in conference history to earn the award three times. Freshman Harley Dubsky became the sixth player in UNLV history to earn MW Freshman of the Year honors. Both Finkelstein and Dubsky also earned First Team All-MW honors this season.
UNLV AT THE 2014 NCAA ST. GEORGE REGIONAL: The NCAA Championships features 24 of the most talented teams in the country. The top 14 teams in the country qualified for the tournament and the highest ranked team that will be participating is ranked 46th. The following is the field along with each team's Golfstat ranking in parenthesis: Southern California (1), South Carolina (2), UCLA (3), Duke (4), Arizona (5), LSU (6), Washington (7), Arkansas (8), Texas A&M (9), Virginia (10), Wake Forest (11), Tennessee (12), Stanford (13), Northwestern (14), Baylor (18), UNLV (19), UC Davis (22), Tulane (23), Alabama (24), Texas Tech (27), Purdue (31), California (34), North Carolina State (39) and Campbell (46). Additionally, 12 individuals will compete in the field (the top three individuals from each regional not on teams that advanced to the NCAA Championship): Alivia Brown (Washington State), Michaela Fletcher (Memphis), Isabelle Johansson (Kentucky), Leilanie Kim (Idaho), Meghan MacLaren (FIU), Lena Schaffner (Coastal Carolina), Bertine Strauss (Texas), Taylor Totland (Furman), Monica Vaughn (Arizona State), Karolina Vlckova (Florida), Emily Williams (Middle Tennessee State) and Anica Yoo (Oregon State).
GOING OUT ON TOP: UNLV senior Dana Finkelstein turned in one of the seasons in program history as a junior, but during her final year of collegiate competition she was better. Finkelstein set numerous milestones and became the winningest player program history. She won three tournaments as a senior, the most wins by an individual in one season, giving her five career victories, the most in program history. Heading into the NCAA Championship, she has a season scoring average of 71.43, the lowest in program history and ranks second with a career scoring average of 73.21. She turned in two of the most memorable single rounds in UNLV history. She came back to win the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown with a third round score of 7-under-par 65, the lowest round in program history. She also used a 4-under 67 third round to win the NCAA St. George Regional and was the only player to finish the tournament with a score under par.
RUNS IN THE FAMILY: UNLV's first-year assistant coach, Ryan Potter, helped the Rebels qualify for their first NCAA Championship appearance since 2008, but he will not be the only Potter coaching a team in Florida. Potter is the son of Mic Potter, who is the head coach of the Alabama women's golf team. The No. 24 Crimson Tide qualified for their 10th consecutive NCAA Championship after finishing tied for fourth at the NCAA Raleigh Regional.
TELEVISION COVERAGE: Golf Channel's live tournament coverage of the women's championships will begin on Monday, May 25 to crown the individual national champion, as well as track the team's attempting to qualify for the eight-team match-play tournament. And this year, Golf Channel's coverage will include all three rounds of the team match-play tournament on Tuesday, May 26 and Wednesday, May 27.
FIRST AND SECOND ROUND TEE TIMES: UNLV will begin play on Friday, May 22 with its No. 5 player scheduled to tee off of the 1st tee at 12:00 p.m. ET. The Rebels will play with UC Davis and Tulane during the first round of play. UNLV will begin second-round play off the 10th tee on Saturday, May 23 at 7:30 a.m. ET and will again be paired with UC Davis and Tulane.
