AUGUSTA, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's golf team competed in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships on Friday, April 21 in the stroke play portion of the tournament. The Cardinals secured the final spot into the medal match play this weekend with a fourth-place team score of 610 through 36 holes. The team finished behind Wayne State (first place), Ferris State (second place), and nationally ranked Grand Valley State University (third place). SVSU led the tournament in total pars made with 109 and finished third overall in par three scoring shooting 11 over through the 36 holes for an average of 3.18. They found themselves in the middle of the pack on par four scoring with an average of 4.28 (+17) and were ranked fourth in total birdies made with 15.
The Cardinals got off to a great start on the day, ending the first round in fourth place. Rachael Krieger led the way for the team with a 12th place finish firing off 74, 77 for a two-round score of 151. Krieger led par five scoring for the team, playing the holes in just one-over par. Emily O'Brien shot 153 for her two rounds which landed her in T15. O'Brien's two rounds of 78 and 75 were highlighted by back-to-back birdies in the second round which brought her to an even-par front nine. Megan Kozlowski fired off rounds of 75, 79 for a total of 154 which left her for T19. Kozlowski got off to a hot start, going two-under through her first six holes of the tournament. Megan Thiravong was also T19 at the end of the day with matching rounds of 77. Highlighting her day was a high wedge from 110 yards into a downhill green that found the bottom of the cup for one of the two eagles scored in the entire tournament. Thiravong ranked third overall in par four scoring through the two rounds shooting even par for the holes. Brook Herbstreit rounded out the lineup for SVSU with rounds of 84 and 77 for a total of 161 and a T27 finish at the end of stroke play. Herbstreit will look to bounce back in the medal match play tomorrow as one of the team's top performers all season.
UP NEXT
The first 36 holes of the competition are out the window as the medal match play starts tomorrow. The Cardinals will compete in head-to-head play against the Warriors of Wayne State University. With that being said, the format for the medal match play is different from typical match play. Each match is scored by the cumulative number of strokes won by rather than the number of holes won. For example, up 3 means that the player is up by 3 strokes, not 3 holes. The player up by the most strokes after 18 holes wins the match.