The University of Akron Athletics
Akron Opens MAC Women's Golf Championships at Silver Lake Country Club
April 20 | Women's Golf
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GolfStat Live Scoring | Round 1 Pairings | Leaderboard: Team | Player
MAC Championship Tournament Central
Akron, Ohio – The Akron Zips women's golf team will battle for the 2017 Mid-American Conference Women's Golf Championships at Silver Lake Country Club, just 15 minutes away from campus, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 21-23.
"We are excited to be playing for a MAC Championship so close to campus," head coach Jenny King said. "I really hope that many of our fans, friends, family, staff and administrators will come and support us on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We think it will help get us going, mainly because we don't get many opportunities to play in front of a home crowed. It's going to be a great challenge, and spectators will see some great golf shots and a lot of talent."
Kent State hosts this year's championship event, which is set for three rounds beginning on Friday. The Zips will take the course in 10-minute intervals from 10-10:40 a.m. ET, starting on hole No. 1. The second and final rounds are scheduled for 8 a.m. ET starts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Fans can follow all the action live via GolfStat Live Scoring.
"I believe we have been preparing the best we can over the last two weeks," King said. "This semester has been a great learning experience, because we had a lot of success in the fall, but this spring we faced some adversity which allowed us to learn and grow. We had some bad rounds, ups, and downs, and we were able to bounce back after a rough patch or rough day."
The Zips will be making their ninth appearance at the MAC Championship, the youngest overall program in the league. In the eight previous appearances, Akron has reached the Top 5 five times, including a program-best tie for third place in 2009. Last season, Akron finished sixth overall with a 905 (+41) tournament total, its all-time best MAC Championship team score, at the par 72, 6,257-yard Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind.
In addition, Zips' sophomore Danielle Nicholson (Geneva, Ohio) won the MAC individual title as a freshman, becoming UA's first MAC champion while setting the Zips' all-time lowest score at the MAC Championship, a 5-under par 211 stroke tournament total.
"We have not discussed results and outcomes; our main focus has been preparation," King said. "We are up against a tough field, and in golf you can't play defense, so we are trying to focus on the things we can control which is ourselves, the process, and preparation. If we focus on the little things and the details, the outcomes and results tend to take care of themselves."
The defending MAC Individual Champion, Nicholson, will lead the Zips into battle with a team-low 73.93 stroke average after 10 events and 28 rounds. She led the Zips' scoring in 7-of-10 tournaments with two first place finishes and nine Top 25 performances.
Nicholson won the Roseanne Schwartz Invitational in the fall, 70-72 – 142 (-2), and earned medalist honors at Rio Verde Invitational during the spring season, 73-70-72 – 215 (-1), tying the all-time White Wing Individual Course record with the 1-under par 215 tournament total. To date, Nicholson has posted 12 rounds of par or better, including four 2-under 70 performances and a season-low 3-under 69 effort at the Johnie Imes Invitational. Nicholson earned MAC Golfer of the Week accolades on two occasions this season, Oct. 6 and March 2.
Junior Pader Her (Holt, Mich.) joins the starting five after posting Akron's second-best stroke average at 76.46. Her led the Zips' scoring at the MSU Citrus Challenge, finishing the 54-hole tournament fourth overall with a 219 (+3) total. In addition, Her posted a second place finish at the Roseanne Schwartz Invitational, 72-74 – 146 (+2), en route to recording five Top 25 finishes. Her was named MAC golfer of the Week on March 24.
The Zips' No. 3 golfer is sophomore Makayla Dull (Fremont, Ohio), owning a 76.96 stroke average which ranks third best for Akron by a 0.50 margin. Dull posted six Top 25 finishes this season, including a first place tie at Akron's Silver Lake Shoot-Out, 77-73 – 150 (+5). Dull also led Akron's scoring efforts at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate, finishing 13th overall with a 226 (+10) 54-hole performance.
Senior Alejandra Velasco-Villanueva follows with a 79.68 scoring average. Velasco-Villanueva placed in the Top 50 in 6-of-9 tournaments played, which includes a 6th, 14th, and 27th place finishes.
Rounding out the Zips' starting five is freshman Allyson Wentworth (Stewartsville, N.J.). Wentworth currently owns an 80.25 stroke average and place in the Top 50 7-of-10 events this season, including a pair of 20th finishes and a 22nd performance.
During the fall season, the Zips hosted a 36-hole event at the 6,177-yard Silver Lake course in Silver Lake, Ohio. Akron won the Silver Lake Shoot-Out by 10 strokes with a 614 (+38) score after back-to-back rounds of 307 strokes. Western Michigan was runner-up, while Ohio, Bowling Green, and Central Michigan finished third through fifth, respectively. WMU's Julia Champion and Jasmine Chee were crowned co-medalists after a two-hole playoff was cut short because of darkness – The Zips' Dull was eliminated from the playoff after the second hole.
For more information on this year's MAC Championship event, visit the official MAC Championship Tournament Central page at mac-sports.com.
