April 15, 2015
Complete MVC Release
ST. LOUIS -The Missouri State women's golf team has been picked to win the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship, according to the league's pre-championship poll released Wednesday.
The Bears received nine of 10 first-place votes and 98 points overall to top the poll, which is voted on by MVC head coaches. Wichita State earned the other first-place nod and 89 points. Illinois State (73 points), Indiana State (68) and Bradley (58) round out the top five. Southern Illinois earned 55 points in the voting to sit in sixth. Loyola (41), Evansville (27), UNI (25) and Drake (16) are Nos. 7-10.
The 54-hole event will be played at Spirit Hollow Golf Course in Burlington, Iowa, April 19-21, with Northern Iowa hosting. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA championship.
The Bears will look to deliver on a consistent trend in recent Valley history in which the pre-championship favorite has won the title. From 2003-10 (Bradley beat Illinois State in 2003 on the first hole of a sudden death playoff), seven-straight teams picked to win the MVC women's championship ended up claiming the title. A total of 10 of the last 12 pre-championship favorites have won the title, including Wichita State last year.
The Bears enter the tournament as the conference leader in the GolfStat team head-to-head rankings. MSU also leads in team stroke average at 303.39 in eight tournaments, and boasts six golfers in the MVC top 20 for individual stroke average. Freshman Stine Pettersen is second in the conference at 75.43 in 23 rounds this season to pace the Bears.
Missouri State won the second of its two MVC championships - and first under head coach Kevin Kane - in 2012 at the Country Club of Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Ind.
