Oct. 11, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF women's golf team travels to the Volunteer State this weekend to take part in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. The three-day tournament, which begins Friday with round-one action, is hosted by the University of Tennessee at the Cherokee Country Club.
"This is a great golf a course - a real player's course," UCF head coach Emilee Klein said. "It is really tight out there, but our girls are ready for the challenge."
The Knights spent Thursday playing a practice round on the par-71, 5,932-yard layout and the second-year coach was impressed with what she saw.
"We had a really practice round," Klein said. "We know that we are up against an incredibly strong field and we are going to have to play well early to put ourselves in contention. The girls have been working really hard and now it's time go out there see what we can do."
The 17-team field includes eight programs ranked in the top 25 and three more within the top 30. The competing teams will also face the best that Sweden has to offer as that country's Junior National Team will also be participating in the event. No. 5 Alabama is the top-ranked team in the field. The host Volunteers are the defending champions and enter the tournament with a No. 7 ranking.
This is the third tournament for the Knights this fall and second among a string of three-consecutive tournaments for UCF that will be hosted by a Southeastern Conference member. The Knights will conclude their fall slate in two weeks at the Alabama-Ann Rhodes Intercollegiate in Tuscaloosa.
Klein's line-up for the tournament will feature Stephanie Connelly (Pasadena, Md./The Pendleton School), Victoria Tomko (Lontzen, Belgium/Bradenton Academy), Sara Hurwitch (Potomac Falls, Md./Dominion), Mayule Tomimbang (Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway) and Katie Detlefsen (Eagan, Minn./Minnehaha).
Tomko and Tomimbang are making their season debuts for the Knights, while Connelly, Hurwitch and Detlefsen have competed in the previous two tournaments.
Live scoring for the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships will be available at www.golfstat.com.
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