By Marcus Hansen
The UNO women’s golf team started out its spring season winning the Wayne State Invite on March 22 and 23. Junior Abbey Weddle started the tournament off strong and led all the competitors with a plus 7-79 after the first day.The Mavs were in first place after the first day, followed by Wayne State in second and Nebraska-Kearney in third.
Coach Tim Nelson’s women won the event with a team score of 650. Nebraska-Kearney finished second at 700, followed by host Wayne State at 704.
“It was very windy and I was very impressed with the way the girls handled the weather,” Nelson said.
The Mavs followed the win by heading to the Lady Otter Spring Invitational in Seaside, Calif., March 30-31.
The Mavs had a slow first day in California, primarily because the team had never played there before.
“The greens were a lot bigger and a lot faster than Wayne State,” Nelson said. “It took a day to adjust, but we were happy with our outcome.”
Junior Erin Ommen led the Mavs to a comeback the second day with a final round score of plus 4-76.
“The competition in California included some good West Region teams, including Monterey Bay, Sonoma, and Chico . who will all be competing against us to get to Regionals, which will be coming up in Omaha in May,” Ommen said.
On the second day of the tournament, UNO shot the low round of the day. However, the Mavs finished with a final score of 663, good enough for fourth place in the 13-school competition. The Mavericks were only one stroke behind third place Sonoma State University.
“We dropped in both ranking systems, we are now ranked in eighth and 10th,” Nelson said. “But it’s not because we got fourth in California, it’s because we haven’t played in as many tournaments as the other schools.”
On Sunday, UNO traveled to the Tarleton State Women’s Golf Invitational in Granbury, Texas. Results were unavailable as of press time.
“This tournament will include many of the West Region teams we haven’t played against before,” Ommen said. “Since we will be seeing many of them again in regional play, it is important that we play against as many West Regional teams as possible.”
The team has found itself facing several courses they haven’t played before, including Sunday’s invitational in Texas and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Conference Championship in Kansas City, Mo., starting April 19.
