Missouri State

MVC Championship Central

MVC Preview Release

The Missouri State women's golf team is off to Chesterton, Ind. this weekend in search of its third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title. The league's 10 schools will begin tournament play Sunday (Apr. 14) at Sand Creek Country Club and conclude on Tuesday. Teams will play 18 holes each day with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to NCAA Regionals. MSU ran away with the team title two years ago in historic fashion, topping the field by 20 strokes for the largest margin of victory in the tournament in over 20 years. Last year in Newton, Kan., the Bears nearly equaled that margin, topping runner-up UNI by 14 shots.  

The two-time defending champion Bears have been picked to win again this year by league coaches in the pre-tournament poll released Friday (Apr. 12). MSU tallied 91 total points and five first-place votes in the coaches' voting, with Bradley just behind with 83 points and four first-place votes. Southern Illinois is the choice for third with the remaining first-place vote and 78 points. UNI was fourth in the voting with 60 points, followed by Illinois State (58), Indiana State (54), Drake (50), Loyola (39), Evansville (25) and tourney host Valparaiso (12).

Play will begin each day with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. off no. 1 and no. 10 tees.

Missouri State is led by senior Rachel Johnson and freshman Abby Cavaiani, who rank 2-4 in the league in scoring average with 75.31 and 75.80 marks, respectively. Johnson is the defending conference medalist after firing a tournament-record final-round 67 last year and shooting 75-73-67--215 for 54 holes. She also won the MVC Preview in the fall, besting Cavaiani and Loyola's Elayna Bowser by a stroke. Cavaiani is a leading candidate for Valley Newcomer of the Year with a pair of top-10 finishes.

Freshman Allison Bray is third on the team in scoring average with a 78.07 mark and coming off an eighth-place finish at the Kansas City Intercollegiate, while senior Ashley Childers, last year's Elite 17 winner, has compiled an 80.26 scoring average, Sophomore Bridget Schulte will round out the Bears' lineup, averaging 82.75, but coming off a career-best 77-74-78--229 in Kansas City. Johnson and Childers have been members of the last two league title teams and Schulte was on last year's winner.

MSU is chasing its fifth MVC title, having previously won in 2001 and 2012 before the back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018.