March 30, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Coming out of a fourth place finish at the Saluki Invitational, the Illinois State women's golf team is determined to build momentum for the Missouri Valley Conference championships by competing at the Missouri State Payne Stewart Memorial Invitational, April 3-4 in Springfield, Mo.
Head coach Ray Kralis feels this tournament is an important event for his team.
"This is a big event for us," said Kralis. "We are working on a timeline relevant to the MVC championships. This is our last competitive go before the championships and we want to go in with momentum built. "
The same lineup that shot the lowest round of the second day at the Saluki Invitational will be heading to Missouri State. Samantha Richdale, the second place finisher at the Saluki Invitational, leads her team to the par 72 Rivercut Golf Course. Following Richdale is senior Ashlie Rose, juniors Hilary Anderson and Olivia Campos and freshman Marci Hill.
Illinois State has a history at this golf course and Kralis recognizes that.
"The last two times our team has been to this golf course we won championships," said Kralis. "Samantha, Hilary and Ashlie will be very familiar with this course and Olivia and Marci will have the opportunity to break through. What we need to do is go in and get a strong team showing to remind other schools that we are the defending champions."
The 14-team field heading to Missouri State contains the most Missouri Valley competition in one invitational than the `Birds have seen in any one invitational all year. Bradley enters this tournament coming out of a win at Southern Illinois last week. Other Valley teams include Creighton, Evansville, Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa. Non-conference teams include Arkansas-Little Rock, Drury, Eastern Illinois, Oral Roberts, Saint Louis, South Dakota State and UMKC.
Kralis hopes the dominance of the Redbirds will show through at this tournament.
"We hope to reassert ourselves as the dominant team," said Kralis. "This is our first opportunity to see Missouri State and Bradley has hope after their victory last week. So this will be a good chance to size up against many of the other Valley schools before the big tournament. "
The round-one of the tournament will consist of 36 holes and will begin at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 3 at the Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, Mo.
