Tucson, Ariz. - The Nebraska women's golf team shot its best round of the season with a third-round 288 to vault five spots and finish in a tie for sixth place at the 15-team Mountain View Collegiate on Sunday.
Nebraska's even-par team total of 288 was its top round of the year and the second-lowest round by any team in the tournament. It came after producing rounds of 301 and 299 on Saturday, as the Huskers closed the 54-hole tournament with a season-best three-round total of 888 on the 5,982-yard layout at the Mountain View Golf Course in Tucson.
"We put up some really good numbers across the board today," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "We hit the birdie putts that we were missing yesterday, and that was really the difference. It was certainly encouraging to see everyone on the team put up solid numbers, and hopefully we can build on this the rest of the season."
In a true team effort, two Huskers (Allison Stewart and Elli Brown) produced the best three-round totals of their careers, while a third (Jackie Beste) tied her career best.
Nebraska finished in a tie for sixth place with the hosts from Colorado, picking up nine strokes on the Buffaloes on the final day of competition. The Buffs ended the first day of competition in sixth place. The Huskers finished 18 strokes behind the tournament champions from Northwestern, but just eight strokes behind second-place Idaho.
Senior Merynn Ito led Nebraska's impressive Sunday performance with a three-under par 69, which tied for the second-best round of her career. The Aiea, Hawaii, native's strong final round allowed her to climb 12 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for eighth place to close the tournament. Ito's 69 followed two rounds of 74 on Saturday, as she finished with a three-round total of 217. Ito's 217 marked the second-best three-round total of her career, trailing only the 215 she produced to close the 2004 fall season at the Edwin Watts Palmetto Invitational.
Sophomore Chrissie McArdle added a 73 in the final round to post Nebraska's No. 2 finish in the tournament with a three-round score of 222 in a tie for 23rd. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native finished just one stroke shy of tying her career-best tournament total.
Junior Jackie Beste added a final-round 74, while freshman Allison Stewart closed with a 75, as both Huskers finished in a tie for 37th place at 226. Beste's 226 tied her career-low tournament score, which she put up at the 2003 Mountain View Collegiate, while Stewart's total marked the best three-round score of her young career. Stewart eclipsed the 229 she fired to open the 2004 fall campaign at Nebraska's own Chip-N Club Invitational.
Freshman Elli Brown produced NU's second-best round of the day by finishing with an even-par 72, as all five Huskers in the lineup shot 75 or lower in the third round. Brown ended the tournament in a tie for 43rd place at 228. The Meridian, Idaho, native's total was also a career-best, surpassing the 232 she produced at the Besty Rawls Longhorn Invitational earlier this spring.
Nebraska closes the regular season at the Susie Maxwell Berning Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma, April 10-11.
Nebraska's Individual Results
T8. Merynn Ito (74-74-69-217)
T23. Chrissie McArdle (73-76-73-222)
T37. Allison Stewart (76-75-75-226)
T37. Jackie Beste (78-74-74-226)
T43. Elli Brown (79-77-72-228)
78. Andrea Dunagan (80-82-81-243)