The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Golf Claims Ninth Place Behind Big Day
September 16 | Women's Golf
Fueled by a 10-stroke improvement in the final round, the
University of Akron women's golf team leaped four slots to claim a
share of ninth place at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate at
Waynesville Country Club by carding in 295 strokes Tuesday.
UA's score was the sixth best on the day among the 22-team
field.
"I'm very proud of the team," said UA head coach Jenny
King. "They played steady today and, for a young group, they
showed great maturity on this course. This is a great start for our
program and it should give us confidence going into our next
tournament."
Freshman Kristen Hill, who paced the Zips with a one-under
par-71 in the first round, led UA with a two-round score of 146 and
an 11th place finish individually. Katie
Jenior also had a strong showing in Akron's first tournament
with a final tally of 147, earning a 16th place finish.
Freshmen Hanna Ek and Tyler
Etcheberry each made huge strides from day one with like 73s
Tuesday. It was a seven-stroke improvement for Ek, who finished the
tournament with 153 strokes, and an eight-stroke upgrade for
Etcheberry, who finished with 154. Amanda
Butler rounded out the Zips' lineup with 168 strokes
(82-86).
Akron
was tied with Radford, Gardner-Webb and Marshall for 13th place
after the first round Monday, with each school firing off 305
strokes as a team. USC Upstate matched UA's final team score of 600
after carding 299 strokes Tuesday.
Host Western Carolina claimed top honors behind a record-setting
opening round (284) Monday and cruised to the team championship by
five strokes with a final score of 578. Belmont's Lori Warren
duplicated her opening-round three-under, 69, despite varying
conditions to claim individual medalist honors by a stroke over
Wofford's Sarah Hunt.
Wofford (582, 293-290) took second place while Tennessee Tech (586,
292-294), Samford (588, 291-297) and Winthrop (589, 298-291)
rounded out the top five.
The golfers were greeted with significantly cooler temperatures
and sporadic rain sprinkles on Tuesday morning. However, the
weather held the majority of the day despite overcast skies to
allow the completion of the tournament without delay.
The Zips will next head to the Cardinal Classic, hosted by Ball
State, next weekend at The Players Club in Yorktown, Ind.
