Zips Second, Pikunas Leads Rio Verde Invitational After 18 Holes

Friday, February 23

Quail Run Golf Club | Rio Verde, AZ

All Day

University of Akron

Rio Verde Invitational

Zips Second, Pikunas Leads Rio Verde Invitational After 18 Holes

February 24 | Women's Golf

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GolfStat Live Scoring |Pairings: RD1 | RD2 | RD3 | Leaderboard: Team | Player | Team/Player

Rio Verde, Ariz. – The Akron Zips women's golf team finished the opening round of the Rio Verde Invitational second overall with a 306 ( 18) as freshman Jacinta Pikunas (Youngstown, Ohio) topped the individual leaderboard with a field-low 1-under 71 score on Friday.

Akron is one stroke off the lead, trailing Little Rock 305 ( 17) at the 6,128-yard par-72 Quail Run Course.

Pikunas led Akron while playing below par for the entire day. She opened the round with back-to-back birdies and quickly got to 3-under par after four holes. Pikunas went as low as 5-under before she started gaining strokes during the final stretch. Pikunas carded eight pars, six birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey en route to the top position on the leaderboard.

Junior Danielle Nicholson (Geneva, Ohio) followed with a 4-over par 76 first round tally. Nicholson also opened the round with a birdie but followed with two consecutive bogeys to push her scorecard to 1-over par. She recorded a third bogey before claiming her second birdie of the day and completed the round with 10-of-11 pars with a double bogey. Nicholson currently ranks tied for 15^th overall.

Sophomore Allyson Wentworth (Stewartsville, N.J.) finished third in scoring for Akron with a 77 ( 5) first round performance. Wentworth recorded 10 pars and two birdies mixed with five bogeys and a double bogey, landing in the Top 25 in the 24^th spot.

Rounding out the team scoring were senior Pader Her (Holt, Mich.) and junior Makayla Dull (Fremont, Ohio) with 82 ( 10) and 86 ( 14) scores, respectively. Her is currently tied for 57^th place while Dull is tied for 84^th overall.

Freshman Abbie Pearce (Green, Ohio) fired a 79 ( 7) performance to finish the opening round in a 41^st place tie, while senior Mallory Etcheberry (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) shares the 84^th spot with an 86 ( 14) ledger.

The Zips are scheduled to begin second round action at 12:30 a.m. ET. Fans can follow the action via GolfStat Live Scoring.

Top 5 Teams
1 Little Rock - 305 ( 17)
2 Akron - 306 ( 18)
3 Seton Hall – 307 ( 19)
4 Eastern Michigan - 308 ( 20)
5 Bradley – 310 ( 22)

Top 5 Players
1 Jacinta Pikunas, Akron, 71 (-1)
T2 Mia Kness, Seton Hall, 73 ( 1)
T2 Macky Fouse, Seton Hall, 73 ( 1)
T2 Taryn Torgerson, Wichita State, 73 ( 1)
T2 Erin Fahey, Bowling Green State, 73 ( 1)
T2 Penelope Guilleux, Eastern Michigan, 73 ( 1)

2          Akron, 306 ( 18)
1          Jacinta Pikunas, 71 (-1)
T15     Danielle Nicholson, 76 ( 4)
T24     Allyson Wentworth, 77( 5)
T57     Pader Her, 82 ( 10)
T84     Makayla Dull, 86 ( 14)
T41     Abbie Pearce (Ind.), 79 ( 7)
T84     Mallory Etcheberry (Ind.), 86 ( 14)