Virginia Women's Golf Team Receives NCAA Bid
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Charlottesville, VA For the fourth straight year the Virginia women’s golf team has received a bid to the NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers will compete at the East Regional Championship May 8-10 at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. The top eight teams from each of the three 21-team regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships along with the top two individuals from each site. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 20-23 at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course.
The NCAA’s Central Regional will be played at the University of Texas Golf Course in Austin and the West Regional is being held at Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Lincoln, Calif.
The field for the East Regional includes (listed by seed): Duke, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Virginia, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Louisville, South Carolina, Furman, East Carolina, Georgia State, Central Florida, Missouri, Indiana, NC Wilmington, Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern and Jackson State.
“After such a close call at the ACCs, being that close to the number-one team in the country (Duke), we are motivated and excited to play again,” said Virginia first-year coach Kim Lewellen. “Virginia has established a tradition in such a short time of playing at NCAA regionals, now we want to get back to where the program was in 2005, and return to the NCAA Championships. It will be a challenge. The East Regional is really loaded with four of the top 10 teams in the country.”
The Cavaliers enter postseason play ranked No. 20 by Golfstat and No. 21 by Golfweek. The Virginia lineup for postseason play will include freshman Calle Nielson, junior Lene Krog, freshman Joy Kim, junior Jennie Arseneault and sophomore Whitney Neuhauser.
Virginia, which fielded its first team in 2004, has qualified for the NCAAs each season since 2005, when the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA Championships, finishing 13th overall. In 2006 UVa lost a playoff with Alabama for the final spot to the national tournament out of the East Regional. Last year the Cavaliers were ninth at the East Regional, just four shots out of eighth place, the final spot to advance to the NCAAs.
Central Regional Austin, Texas
UCLA, Purdue, Alabama , Denver, Pepperdine, LSU, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Kent State, Texas, TCU, Florida State, NC State, East Tennessee State, Texas Tech, Washington, Nebraska, Harvard, Texas State, Illinois State and Fairleigh Dickinson.
West Regional Lincoln, Calif.
Southern California, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma State, California, Michigan State, Stanford, BYU, Tulsa, North Carolina, Ohio State, San Jose State, Oklahoma, Oregon, UNLV, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Fresno State, Oral Roberts and Portland State.