University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Championship
Lady Vol Golf Tied for Sixth at NCAAs
May 22, 2015 | Women's Golf
PHOTOS | FIRST ROUND RESULTS | SECOND ROUND PAIRINGS
BRADENTON, Fla. -- After round one of the 2015 NCAA Women's Golf Championship was delayed and eventually suspended, the No. 12 Tennessee women's golf team sits in a tie for sixth place at 13-over par.
On Friday, Head Coach Judi Pavon witnessed a strong round from one of her sophomores, Hannah Pietila. Pietila was the first off the tee for the Lady Vols. She carded a first round 73 (+1) which included back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven. Pietila finished the back-nine 2-over and posted an impressive 1-under on the front to finish 1-over par for the day. She currently sits tied for 13th place with teammate AJ Newell.
"That was awesome," Pavon said of Hannah's opening round. "She did not hit it great yesterday in the practice round, but she did a really good job today. She had a game plan and she stuck with it. She played fairly aggressively actually. She hit the ball well enough and it worked for her. I was really proud of her. We were counting on her all day, right from the beginning, because we had some early big numbers. It was great that she stuck with it the whole round and had two late birdies coming in and really played great."
Senior AJ Newell was 2-over par heading to the 18th tee. She finished the back-nine with a birdie and carried the momentum to the front where she shot even with one bogey and one birdie on the par par-5 seventh to finish 1-over and tied with teammate Hannah Pietila for 13th place. Freshman Anna Newell found the Lady Vols' first birdie of the tournament on the par-4 12th. She fell upon hard times on the par-4 16th, recording double bogey, but bounded back and carded her second birdie of the round on the par-5 17th. The freshman recorded all pars on the front, minus a double bogey on the fifth hole to finish the first round 3-over par and in a tie for 32nd place.
Sophomores Lucia Polo and Emmie Pietila found out quickly how tough The Concession Golf Club truly is. Pietila struggled early on, posting two double-bogeys and two bogeys on the back to make the turn 6-over par. She carded three bogeys on the front-nine to finish 9-over par. Polo ran into trouble on the par-3 11th, recording double-bogey. Like Pietila, she also made the turn 6-over par. Polo bounced back to find two birdies on the front, but stumbled upon another double on the par-4 eighth to finish the round 8-over par. Pietila currently sits in a tie for 105th, while Polo sits in a tie for 96th place.
"Both Lucia and Emmie did get off to a tough start and they never could quite get any confidence to get anything going," said Pavon. "I think both of them will play a lot better tomorrow, and I think they'll get more comfortable as the tournament goes on with the golf course and knowing what they can and can't do out there."
Pavon was both proud of the way her team played, as well as how they prepared for a course as difficult as The Concession.
"I thought they did really well. Obviously there are some really tough holes out there and we had a couple of doubles in places but I thought they handled that well. They were prepared for knowing that they might make some mistakes and that they had to regroup quickly. I thought they did a good job of that."
After completing 11-14 holes, Stanford currently leads at 3-over par. Duke, who completed the first round, currently sits in second at 5-over par. Stanford's Mariah Stackhouse tops the individual leaderboard at 4-under par through 12 holes. Gaby Lopez (T-3) of Arkansas, South Carolina's Katelyn Dambaugh (T-3) and Southern California's Annie Park (T-3) lead those whom were able to complete the first round at 2-over par.
On Saturday, Tennessee will look to make a move when its second round gets underway at 2:30 p.m. (ET) off the first tee at The Concession Golf Club.
For a full leaderboard rundown, Click Here.
Volunteer fans can continue to keep up with the team by following @LadyVol_Golf on Twitter.
| TEAM SCORES (First Round) | ||
| 1. | Stanford | Thru 11-14 (+3) |
| 2. | Duke | 293 (+5) |
| 3. | Baylor | Thru 11-14 (+7) |
| 4. | Southern California | 297 (+9) |
| 5. | Arizona | 300 (+12) |
| T-6. | Northwestern | Thru 11-14 (+13) |
| T-6. | Washington | 301 (+13) |
| T-6. | Tennessee | 301 (+13) |
| T-6. | Alabama | Thru 15-18 (+13) |
| T-10. | NC State | Thru 10-13 (+14) |
| T-10. | Campbell | Thru 10-13 (+14) |
| T-10. | Purdue | Thru 15-18 (+14) |
| 13. | UNLV | Thru 16-18 (+17) |
| 14. | UC Davis | Thru 16-18 (+19) |
| 15. | South Carolina | 308 (+20) |
| T-16. | California | Thru 10-13 (+21) |
| T-16. | Virginia | 309 (+21) |
| T-16. | LSU | 309 (+21) |
| T-16. | Texas A&M | 309 (+21) |
| T-20. | Wake Forest | 310 (+22) |
| T-20. | Tulane | 310 (+21) |
| T-20. | Arkansas | 310 (+21) |
| 23. | Texas Tech | Thru 15-18 (+26) |
| 24. | UCLA | 319 (+31) |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS (First Round) | ||
| 1. | Mariah Stackhouse, Stanford | Thru 12 (-4) |
| 2. | Emma Talley, Alabama | Thru 15 (-3) |
| T-3. | Gaby Lopez, Arkansas | 70 (-2) |
| T-3. | Katelyn Dambaugh, South Carolina | 70 (-2) |
| T-3. | Annie Park, Southern California | 70 (-2) |
| UT SCORES (First Round) | ||
| T-13. | AJ Newell | 73 (+1) |
| T-13. | Hannah Pietila | 73 (+1) |
| T-32. | Anna Newell | 75 (+3) |
| T-96. | Lucia Polo | 80 (+8) |
| T-105. | Emmie Pietila | 81 (+9) |
