The Missouri State women's golf team has been tabbed for second place at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship in a pre-tournament poll of the league's coaches. The tournament will be held Sunday-Tuesday (Apr. 18-20) at Rolling Hills Country Club in Evansville, Ind., with the winner advancing to NCAA Regionals. The 54-hole tournament will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with teams playing 18 holes each of the three days.
Defending champion Illinois State is a narrow favorite to win its third straight title, garnering 95 points and six first-place votes. The Bears are next with 88 points and two first-place votes, while Drake is the pick for third with 83 points and a pair of first-place tallies. Wichita State is next with 61, then Indiana State with 60 and Bradley with 59. UNI was picked for seventh with 42 points, with Southern Illinois (30), Creighton (18) and host Evansville (14) rounding out the voting.
MSU owns the top team scoring average on the season with a 304.9 mark, just ahead of Illinois State at 306.3 and Drake at 307.8. The Bears have won two tournaments -- the Payne Stewart Memorial and Hawkeye Intercollegiate -- while finishing second at the Jackrabbit Invitational.
Individually, 2008 MVC medalist Olivia Lansing of Drake and last year's winner, Stacey MIller of Illinois State, rank 1-2 in the league in scoring average. The Bears have three players in the top 10 -- senior Stacey Rodger, sixth at 76.90, and all-conference sophomores Catherine Dolan and Kelsey Welber, who are tied for eighth with 77.10 marks.
The Bears, who finished fifth at last year's tournament, will be looking to capture their second MVC title and first since 2001. Interested fans can follow the action live on the internet at http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1706.
