WGOLF Earns Third Straight NCAA Appearance
4/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
SPOKANE, Wash.—The Gonzaga University women's golf squad earned its third consecutive postseason berth Monday after being named to the field of 72 for the NCAA Regionals.
"I am super proud that this is our third year of postseason playin a row," said GU head coach Brad Rickel. "Before this, we had never been to Regionals before, and now we've been there three years straight. We've made a total transformation into a program that expects to be in the postseason."
Gonzaga will head to the Lone Star state and play at the Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas. Briggs Ranch will be yet another new course for the Bulldogs, but San Antonio won't be a new location for the Zags: they played at the Jim West Challenge in New Braunfels, Texas, last year, just 32 miles away from the Alamo City. The Bulldogs will have good memories of the area as they won the team portion of the tournament by eight strokes and Raychelle Santos took medalist honors by two.
"The last time we were in San Antonio was last year, and we won a tournament then," said Rickel. "That is a good omen, and we're thrilled to be going back to Texas. Regardless of where we were play, we're excited to be a 13 seed and a team that gets to play more golf."
Two Gonzaga seniors will have the chance to play another few rounds of collegiate golf as Alice Kim and Han Wu both see their careers extended by the postseason berth.
"I'm super happy for Alice and Han," said Rickel. "When our two seniors signed, we'd never been in a regional. Now they'll go to three. They've put everything into this year and to see them get to go to the postseason again is very satisfying."
Gonzaga is seeded No. 13 of the 18 teams in the San Antonio Regional. The other teams heading to San Antonio are UCLA, Washington, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Arizona State, Baylor, Oregon, Florida State, Auburn, Texas Tech, Texas, Houston, Oklahoma, Kennesaw State, Lamar, Boston University, and Alabama State. The low six teams and the low three individuals from San Antonio and each of the other three regionals will advance to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, which take place May 22-27 at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
