After winning the Western Athletic Conference
Championship last week and earning an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA
Women’s Golf Championships, the San Jose State women’s golf team
received word Monday afternoon regarding where they would play at the
NCAA Regionals on May 7-9.
The Spartans will play at the Arizona
State Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. The Pete Dye, par 72 course
will play at 6,286 yards over the three days of competition. In the
past, San Jose State has had success on this course which includes
winning the 1992 NCAA Championship.
“This competition is just
another step in our season and our goal of reaching nationals,” said
San Jose State head coach John Dormann. “Dana (Dormann) and I are very
familiar with the course, and three of our players played the course
last year. We just need to play the way we have all year and be
consistent, and we can have success against tough competition.”
San
Jose State is one of 21 teams playing at the West Regional. Of the 21
teams, the top eight advance to the NCAA Championships May 20-23 in
Owings Mills, Md. The top two individuals, not on an advancing team,
also advance to the championships.
Teams competing at the
regional include Arizona State, USC, LSU, Pepperdine, Arkansas, San
Jose State, Arizona, California, UC Irvine, San Francisco, UNLV, TCU,
Texas A&M, Oregon, Long Beach State, Colorado, Texas, Baylor, Texas
A&M ? Corpus Christi, Northern Arizona and Oral Roberts.
San
Jose State enters the regional after winning the WAC Championship last
week. The Spartans have won five consecutive tournaments, dating back
to the final competition of the fall schedule at the Lamkin Grip/Cal
Poly Invitational, followed this spring by the Aztec Invitational,
MountainView Collegiate, Ryder Canes & Cardinal Classic and the WAC.
One
of the top-20 players nationally, senior Erica Moston leads the
Spartans with a 71.40 stroke average. She has won three consecutive
individual titles including the WAC Championship last week with a
two-under 214. Honored for her effort, Moston was named the WAC Player
of the Year for the second consecutive season and is a three-time first
team All-WAC honoree. She has won three individual titles this seasons
? MountainView Collegiate, Ryder Canes & Cardinal Classic and the
WAC Championship.
Live stats for all three rounds can be found at www.golfstat.com, and a link will be provided on www.sjsuspartans.com.
University of Idaho freshman golfer Kayla Mortellaro landed in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship Central Region, where she’ll play The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Golf Course May 7-9 in her quest to reach the national tournament.
“We’re really excited that Kayla qualified for regionals,” Idaho coach Lisa Johnson said. “We know this is a very challenging golf course but history has shown that Kayla plays extremely well on challenging golf courses.”
Mortellaro, the Western Athletic Conference’s Freshman of the Year and a first-team all-WAC selection, is ranked 52nd by GolfStat.com and is ninth among the nation’s freshmen. Johnson said the days leading to the tournament will be familiar to Mortellaro.
“We’re preparing for the regional like we have for any other tournament,” Johnson said. “We’ll work on the short game, distance control and putting.”