RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV women's golf team completed the opening round of the 2022 Mountain West Conference Championship Monday at Mission Hills Country Club, shooting a 15-over as a team to sit in sixth after the first 18 holes.

Senior Veronica Joels, playing in her fourth and final championship event on the Dinah Shore Course (Par 72 6,270 yards), was the top Rebel performer, ending day one in the top 10 in a tie for sixth at 1-over. Joels, a Las Vegas native, will try to best last year's finish of a tie for seventh, which was the highest finish at the event in her career.

Freshman Sydney Bryan is UNLV's next highest on the leaderboard in a tie for 19th after a round of 3-over 75 Monday, while junior Nicole Lorup sits in 31st after her 5-over 77. Freshman Hina Matsui came in one shot between Lorup at 6-over 78 in a tie for 32nd and fellow freshman Kendall Todd rounded it out for the Rebels on day one in a tie for 44th at 10-over 82.

Fifth-ranked San Jose State showed why they are a top-10 team in the country in 2021-22, finishing the opening round as the only squad under par. After a 9-under 279 Monday, the Spartans have a 12-shot lead heading into Tuesday's second round. Fresno State sits in second at 3-over followed by San Diego State in third at 8-over. SJSU's Natasha Andrea Oon, who was ranked the No. 6 overall player in the country coming into the event, raced out to the lead thanks to a 7-under 65. Her teammate Lucia Lopez-Ortega is three shots behind Oon at 4-under, while Fresno State's Jessica Hall is in third at 1-under. 

UP NEXT: The second round will get underway at 7 a.m. PT Tuesday morning.

NOTES:
• Rebels won three regular season team tournament titles in 2021-22 and finished at par or better in five straight during one stretch, a new program record
• UNLV opened the spring campaign winning its home tournament, The Show, by 13 strokes at 4-under 860 at Spanish Trail Country Club
• UNLV won two tournaments during the fall portion of its season for the first time in program history (Dale McNamara & The Clash at Boulder Creek)
• UNLV shot an 8-under 280 in the final round of the fall (eighth lowest all-time) and opened the spring with a 12-under 276 at The Show (T-3rd lowest all-time)
• The Rebels won the 2021 Dale McNamara Invitational Oct 11-12 in Tulsa, Oklahoma by 11 strokes, marking first tournament win since 2019 (Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown); Three Rebels finished in the top six with freshman Sydney Bryan winning her first collegiate tournament at 4-under 212
• UNLV finished at 3-under at the Jim West Invitational, marking the first time the Rebels finished under par in back-to-back tournaments since the spring of 2017
• UNLV has six returners from last year's squad and welcomed seven newcomers to the squad this year, including six freshmen
• Marissa Uradomo, a four-time MVC All-Conference golfer at Indiana State, joined Bush-Herzer's staff as an assistant coach in September of 2021
• Head coach Amy Bush-Herzer is in her 11th year at the helm of the program. She has led her team to a conference championship four times.