WGOLF CENTRAL: Bryan National Collegiate

Friday, April 6

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

University of Tennessee

Bryan Nationals

April 05, 2018 | Women's Golf

By: Rachel Gunia

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Tennessee women's golf closes out the regular season at the Bryan National Collegiate this weekend. The 21st annual tournament co-hosted by UNCG and Wake Forest takes place Friday, April 6 through Sunday, April 8 at the Bryan Park Champions Course in Greensboro, N.C.

The Field

The 18-team field features six teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation by Goftstat. The field consists of seven ACC teams in Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Virginia and Wake Forest, four SEC teams in Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. Charlotte, Colorado State, Furman, Georgetown, Michigan and UCF round out the field.

No. 22 Auburn
Charlotte
Clemson
Colorado State
No. 7 Furman
Georgetown
Kentucky
No. 18 Miami
Michigan
No. 24 North Carolina
NC State
Notre Dame
No. 9 South Carolina
Tennessee
UCF
UNCG
Virginia
No. 21 Wake Forest

Tournament Format

The Bryan National Collegiate will be played in a 36-18 format due to expected inclement weather over the weekend.
On Friday, April 6, the first round will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET in a shotgun start with play continuing immediately into the second round.
The final 18 holes are scheduled to be played on Saturday, April 7, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET in a shotgun start but weather could push the round to Sunday, April 8.

Tournament History

The Lady Vols are making their 16th appearance in the tournament since its inception in 1998. UT has placed in the top five eight times and tied with Duke for first place in 2012 before losing to the Blue Devils in a sudden-death playoff.
In 2011, Erica Popson earned medalist honors after shooting 220 through 54-holes.
The Lady Vols carded the fifth lowest third round score in tournament history with a 286 in 2007.
Tennessee posted the fourth lowest second round score in tournament history in 2001, turning in a 287.
In 2001, Young-A Yang carded the lowest individual round in tournament history, shooting 65 in the second round.

Tennessee's Lineup

2017-18 Lady Vols

Micheala Williams
- Williams continues to build off a fall campaign in which she posted a 74.25 average through four tournaments. She finished in the top 20 in three of those events and carded two rounds of par or better. The Athens, Alabama, native led the Orange and White in the first two rounds of the Ocean Course Invitational with an even-par 146 and tied for 16th place in the tournament to begin the 2017-18 season. She shot a 231 to start off her spring campaign at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge where she finished tied for 63^rd. Williams then finished tied for 69^th at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate with a final tally of 232. In the SunTrust Gator Invitational, Williams carded 214 and shot 70 in the final round to tie for 13th place. She then shot 219 at the Clemson Invitational, tying for 32^nd place.
Waverly Whiston
- Whiston continues her debut season on Rocky Top in the Clemson Invitational after competing in all of Tennessee's tournaments so far this season. In the Ocean Course Invite, she tied for 37th place and carded her first round of par or better as a Volunteer. She then shot 220 in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship before carding a career-low 217 at the Magnolia Invite en route to an eighth-place finish. Whiston posted a tournament-low and career-low score of 67 in the second round of the Trinity Forest Invitational to record her second top-10 finish of the fall. Overall, Whiston has shot seven rounds of par or better since donning the orange and white. At the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Whiston tallied a 232, finishing tied for 67^th in the tournament. She then posted her third top-25 finish of the season with a 54-hole total of 223, featuring a round three score of an even par (71) at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. At the SunTrust Gator Invitational, Whiston tied for 24th place, carding 70 in the first two rounds for a score of 217. She then shot 220 at the Clemson Invitational to tie for 39^th place.
Blakesly Warren
- Warren enters the Clemson Invitational with six rounds of par or better. In the fall she carded three top-25 finishes, including a 12^th-place finish at the Magnolia Invitational with a score of 219 (+3). Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Warren shot a career-low 68 in the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship to finish the tournament tied for 14th place at one-under. She rounded out the fall tied for 29th place in the Ocean Course Invitational after posting par in the first round. To start the spring, Warren posted a 229 at the Northrop Grumman finishing the first tournament of the spring tied for 54^th place. She then finished tied for 62^nd with a score of 230 at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate before leading Tennessee with a ninth-place finish at the SunTrust Gator Invitational. Warren carded 223 to tie for 51^st place at the Clemson Invitational.
Anna Newell
- This season, Newell has a 74.75 stroke average through eight tournaments and a top-three finish at the 2017 Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship after turning in a perfect card with three birdies in the final round. She paced the Volunteers in the two-day Ocean Course Invitational with a two-over 221, carding two rounds at or below par to finish in 14th place. To close out the fall at the Magnolia Invite, Newell shot a tournament-low round of 67 on the first day en route to tying for 17th place. Newell started out the spring leading the Lady Vols at the Northrop Grumman, finishing tied for 49^th after shooting a team-best 73 (+2) in round one. At the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, Newell shot a 73 (+2) in the first round and finished tied for 51^st overall. She followed the performance up with a 219 at the SunTrust Gator Invitational to tie for 30th place. Newell tied for 79^th place at the Clemson Invitational on March 23-25.
Haley Wagner
- After redshirting during the 2016-17 season, Wagner made her debut for the Lady Vols in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship this past fall. She shot 70 in the first round and finished tied for 56th place. Wagner competed in her first tournament of the spring at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate, tying for sixth place with a score of 224. The finish marked her first in the top 10 since donning the orange and white. She recorded her second finish in the top 25 at the Clemson Invitational, carding two rounds of par or better to tie for 25^th place.

Program Notes:

In the team's first tournament of 2017-18, UT tied for fifth place (893), while Anna Newell and Micheala Williams placed in the top 16 individually. Overall, the Vols shot five rounds of par or better in the Ocean Course Invitational (Sept. 4-5).
The Lady Vols closed out the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship (Sept. 18-19) with a final round of 280 (-4) to jump into third place. Newell also placed third in the tournament.
Tennessee women's golf carded 293 in the final round of the Magnolia Invitational (Oct. 1-3) to place third in the tournament. The finish marked the Lady Vols' second top-three finish this season and the team's first back-to-back placement in the top three since the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
The Vols closed out the fall with a third-place finish in the Trinity Forest Invitational where Whiston carded her second collegiate top-10 finish.
The Lady Vols struggled in their opening spring tournament, where they faced one of the strongest fields of the season, including 17 other ranked opponents, finishing 16^that the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.
The Vols finished tied for 16^th at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate where they faced another strong field including nine teams ranked in Golfstat's top-20.
UT placed fourth at the SunTrust Gator Invitational with a 54-hole score of 857, marking the program's best finish of the spring.
Tennessee entered three individuals in the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate. All three players, Allison Herring, Mariah Smith and Haley Wagner, placed in the top six with Smith tying for third place.
Playing as an individual, Haley Wagner led Tennessee in the Clemson Invitataional, tyig for 25^th place. As a team, the Lady Vols shot 893 and placed 12^th.
Tennessee's early enrollee, Malia Stovall, was ranked as the No. 1 golfer in the state of Tennessee in the 2018 signing class.
Whiston was named a freshman to watch on Golfweek's Preseason Top 10 Freshmen List in September.
Head Coach Judi Pavon is in her 18th season at the helm of the program. Under her tutelage, Tennessee has reached 10 NCAA Championships in the last 14 years and posted a winning record in all but one season. The Vols have also had success in the classroom as the team posted the highest GPA (3.79) in both women's golf and Tennessee Athletics history during the 2016-2017 season.
Since the program's first regional bid in 1993, the Vols have qualified for the NCAA postseason every year with 2017 marking Tennessee's 25th consecutive appearance.

Additional Information

Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com and results will be posted to the recap at the conclusion of each round.

For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee women's golf team, visit UTSports.com/w-golf, follow @Vol_WGolf on twitter, instagram and snapchat and like the Lady Vols on Facebook at Facebook.com/VolWomensGolf.