ORLANDO, Fla. – The Penn State women's golf team returns to tournament style play when they tee it up at Eagle Creek Golf Club for the UCF Challenge on Sunday morning. The three-day tournament will run through Tuesday morning with each day featuring an 8:45 a.m. shotgun start.
Each member of the Nittany Lions will have familiarity with Eagle Creek following their training trip down to Orlando two weeks ago.
FALL RECAP
- The Nittany Lions competed in four events during the fall semester securing a pair of top-10 finishes earning second at their home invitational followed by a third-place finish at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational.
- Penn State averaged 295.67 as a team led by sophomore Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) who paced the team with a 73.00 stroke average and a pair of top-10 finishes. Willis and freshman Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) each carded one round of 3-under (69) to tie for the low round of the fall as Delavallade joined Willis with a pair of top-10 finishes averaging 73.17 per 18 holes.
- Willis tied for second at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational as Penn State's top individual finisher this year while Delavallade tied for eighth at the same tournament a week after tying for eighth at the Nittany Lion Invitational with teammate Olivia Zambruno (Mt. Pleasant, Pa.).
- Zambruno averaged 75.58 strokes per round competing in all four events during the fall.
LAST TIME OUT
- Penn State began its spring season last weekend in Naples with a Match-Play event against the Minnesota Golden Gopher winning 6-5 after taking four of the five matches on Sunday.
- Senior Maddy Herr (New Hope, Pa.) and freshman Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) secured the two points on Saturday winning their matches 3&2 and 2Up, respectively, but each match was close as freshman Isha Dhruva (Katy, Tx.) and sophomore Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) each lost 1Down while junior Olivia Zambruno (Mt. Pleasant, Pa.) was defeated 2&1 and senior Megan McLean (Lebanon, N.J.) had to forfeit her match after nine holes due to an injury.
- On Sunday, Willis ran away with her match winning 5&4 while Herr won 2Up, Delavallade won 2&1 and Dhruva won 1Up. Zambruno had another tight match ultimately falling 1Down.
THE FIELD
- A loaded field of 16 teams, four in the top-15 nationally, will make up this year's tournament led by No. 3 Kent State. Michigan State (No. 13), Illinois (No. 14) and Oklahoma State (No. 15) round of the four top-15 teams.
- The Nittany Lions enter the weekend at No. 79 ranked higher than only North Carolina Wilmington (No. 108) among teams in the field. The host Knights find themselves No. 36, while Miami (No. 39) and Iowa State (No. 40) join UCF in the top-40.
- The College of Charleston (No. 58), Old Dominion (No. 61), Kennesaw State (No. 62), Sacramento State (No. 64), NC State (No. 69), Purdue (No. 70) and East Carolina (No. 71) round of the field.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's lineup remains consistent from the fall with Willis, Delavallade, Herr and Zambruno while Isha Dhruva slots in for the injured Megan McLean and will make her team debut after battling injuries during the fall season.
- Freshman Lauren Freyvogel (Gibsonia, Pa.) will travel and play as an individual making her second appearance of the season. In her lone appearance during the fall, Freyvogel finished tied for 26th at the Nittany Lion Invitational shooting 77-75-76-228 (12-over).
Live scoring for the tournament are available HERE.
BIRDIES FOR THE HEART
- The Nittany Lions continue their Birdies for the Heart Campaign to help raise money for the Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center. During the fall, Penn State registered 158 birdies and look to build on that number this spring.
- If interested in pledging please fill our THIS FORM or email head coach Denise St. Pierre at dxs10@psu.edu.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions have nearly a full month break before returning to action at the Hurricane Invitational on March 1-3 in Coral Gables, Florida.