After a weekend off, the Illinois State womens golf team returns to action Saturday at the Indiana University Womens Invitational. Since the IU Womens Invite is a 54 hole event, the Redbirds will play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday.
In their last showing, at the Saluki Invitational, the Birds saw a strong contigency of Missouri Valley Conference foes. The scene will change greatly at the IU Invite, as eight of the 15 team field will represent the Big Ten Conference.
The Big Ten is very deep, with four teams in the top 50 in the nation and three of those four in the top ten in the region, says ISU head coach
Ray Kralis, sizing up the competition at the IU Invite.
There is a total of six teams in the field ranked in the top 50 and included in this list are, Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan State, Kent State, Michigan, and Missouri. Of those six, Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan State, and Kent State are top 10 in the central region.
To contend at the IU Invite, the Redbirds are going to need solid play from all five spots in the line-up. With the consistent play of Nicole Foy and Jill Rachford, and the ever-improving play of freshman Albiobna Zhubi, Kralis is looking for two more players to solidify the line-up. The two leading candidates for the job are juniors Abbe Graceffa and Sara Prack.
With a good performance, this tournament could really be a season maker for this team, says Kralis.
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