North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Golf Looks to Challenge for ACC Title
4/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 16, 2003
CLEMMONS, N.C. - An automatic or at-large berth will be on the line this weekend when the NC State women's golf team heads to Clemmons, N.C. to participate in the 15th Annual Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Golf Championship at the Salem Glen. The course measures 6,411 yards and is a par 72. Fifty-four holes are scheduled, with 18 to be played on each day.
NC State will tee off with the second group at 7:30 Friday morning. The team will be playing with defending ACC and National Champion Duke. Wake Forest will also accompany the teams. Maryland, North Carolina and Florida State will play in the first group. Action will begin from the first and 10th tees.
Last year, NC State finished third with a three-round score of 909. Colby Cobb was the top Wolfpack finisher, placing in ninth place overall with rounds of 73-76-75 for a 224 total.
This year's line up will include Briana Vega, Erica Wein, Cobb, Courtney Pomeranz and Sarah Bonner. Vega was the Wolfpack's top finisher at the Lady Boilermaker last weekend. She was 16th overall at 14-over-par. She has posted the team's lowest stroke average on the year with a 76.6.
Vega felt good about her performance, but knows that she and the team will have to play better to challenge for the title this weekend.
"We need to be more consistent," says Vega. "We will have to shoot under 300 as a team and be strong each round. If we meet our goals, we can prove we are as good as Duke, we just need to play well as a team."
Wein looked great for the Wolfpack at the Bryan Invitational, and fired back-to-back rounds of 74 to lead the team. Despite getting off to a rocky start at the Lady Boilermaker, she recovered nicely in the third round for a season-low 73.
Cobb's best three rounds came at the end of the fall when she placed fifth at the Pine Needles Collegiate. Pomeranz has been brilliant at times during the season, but wasn't at the top of her game last weekend. She also played well at Pine Needles and finished seventh overall. The junior fired three consecutive rounds of 79 and was strong and consistent at the Lady Boilermaker, but should be able take some strokes off of her game this weekend. Bonner rounds out the team's line up. Her best performance of the season came at the Lady Paladin in the fall when she put together a three-round total of 222 for an 11th-place finish. Bonner made history at the ACC/SEC Challenge back in September when she and Mississippi State's Beth Irvin hit back-to-back hole-in-ones off of The Raven's 16th tee, a par-three, 146-yard hole. The instance was the first time in women's collegiate play that two women hit back-to-back hole-in-ones in competition.
The team will have to be in top form Friday, Saturday and Sunday to challenge for the trophy, and increase its chances of receiving a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Play for Saturday and Sunday will begin at 8:30 a.m.
