The UC Riverside women’s golf team jolted into first place out of 11 squads after they fired a 301 first-round score Monday, Oct. 22 at the Santa Clara Colby Invitational. The Highlanders had a two-shot lead over Ball State (303) and a six-stroke advantage over the host Broncos (307) before things took a turn for the worse when the Highlanders fired 315 and stumbled back into a fourth place finish out of 11 teams.
Highlander Amelia Ek and Savannah Vilaubi were tied for second out of 68 golfers with identical even-par scores of 72. Brittani Ferraro was tied for 16th with a 78 while Hannah Lee was in 20th with a 79, and Tiffany Koyano fired 82 to place 40th. Playing as an individual, Christy Fogerty shot 75 to tie for 9th place.
The UC Riverside women’s golf team had the lead after Monday’s first round of play at the Santa Clara Colby Invitational, but when they shot the 315 second-round score on Tuesday, they dropped back into fourth place out of 11 teams with a 616 total.
Even though the Highlanders fell back three spots they still played well in the tournament compared to other teams from the Big West. UC Riverside finished higher than two other Big West teams, Cal State Northridge (626) and Cal Poly (629).
Ball State won the event with a 605 two-round score, followed by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) with 609, the host Broncos with 615, and the Highlanders one stroke back at 616.
Savannah Vilaubi led the UC Riverside squad when she tied for sixth overall with a 149 (72-77). Playing as an individual, Christy Fogerty also tied for sixth place carding rounds of 75-74 (149). Brittani Ferraro was tied for 12th place with 78-75 (153), while Amelia Ek tied for 18th with a 155 (72-83). Tiffany Koyano fired a 162 (82-80) to tie for 35th while Hannah Lee shot 79-85 (164) to tie for 43rd.
Ball State’s Jenna Hague won the individual crown with a 142, three shots ahead of IUPUI’s Lauren Kuss.
The women’s golf team has now placed in fourth place in the two tournaments they have played this fall season and looks to make ground when they finish up their fall portion when they head to Arroyo Grande, CA for the Cal Poly Invitational. Last year during first two tournaments in the fall season, the women’s team finished 17th out of 22 and tied six out of 14 teams. The year before that, they placed 12 out of 20 and 11 out of 15. The best year for the women’s came in their 2009-10 season when they started out with top five finishes going five out of 14, three out of 10 and was tied for second out of seven teams in the third tournament. The only first place finish was in the 2008-09 season when they finished tied for first out of 12 at the Bronco Fall Invitational in Meridian, ID.
The Highlanders will participate in the Lady Mustang Invitational on October 29-30 in Arroyo Grande, CA.
