Lincoln - Senior Allison Stewart matched a career-best by firing a one-under-par 70 to finish in a tie for sixth place while leading the Nebraska women's golf team to a fourth-place team finish at the Chip-N Club Invitational at Woodland Hills Golf Club on Tuesday.
Stewart led a strong contingent of Huskers who all produced rounds of 77 or better on Tuesday. With the Vermillion, S.D., native leading the charge, Nebraska produced a tournament-best round of 295, but it was not enough to catch the tournament champions from Texas State.
Individual tournament champion Linn Gustafsson scorched the 6,079-yard, par-71 layout at Woodland Hills for a tournament-low 69 on Tuesday, to finish the 54-hole event at one-under-par 212.
Gustafsson finished eight strokes ahead of Kansas State's Kali Quick, William & Mary's Morgan Stepanek and Arkansas-Little Rock's Sara Wikstrom, who all finished in a tie for second at 220.
Gustafsson's impressive individual score allowed Texas State to finish at 897 (301-297-299), five strokes ahead of second-place Kansas State at 902 (297-302-303). Arkansas Little-Rock finished in third at 906 (303-305-298), while Nebraska finished 14 strokes out of first place at 911. (310-306-295).
Four Huskers finished among the top 20 individuals, led by Stewart's sixth-place showing. Senior Elli Brown fired NU's second-best round of the tournament with a 74 on Tuesday, while sophomores JC Stevenson (76) and Kate White (77) joined Brown by finishing at 230. Junior Megan Place joined Stewart in producing a career-low round on Tuesday by matching her career-best with a four-over-par 75 to count in NU's final team score. Place finished the tournament in a tie for 34th at 238.
Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said she was pleased with how the Huskers performed on Tuesday.
"I liked our approach today and it showed up in our scores," Krapfl said. "We went out and attacked the course and we got off to a great start. We were one over as a team through 12 holes, but then we lost a little steam. I think we learned a good lesson from the tournament, in that you have to bring your best game to the course every time out. Yesterday, we were tentative and we didn't play with the confidence, and it showed at the end of the day on the leaderboard."
Sophomore Charlotte Wendner also enjoyed a solid tournament for the Huskers playing as an individual in Nebraska's four-player "B" lineup. Wendner closed her tournament with a 78 on Tuesday after producing rounds of 80 and 75 on Monday to finish in a tie for 26th. Redshirt freshman Sydney Sturdevant added a 79 on Tuesday to finish at 240 in a tie for 49th.
True freshman Mary Kate Bird finished in 53rd place (241) in her collegiate debut as an individual, while redshirt freshman Rachel Hanigan rounded out the nine-player Nebraska contingent in a tie for 58th at 243.
The Huskers return to action next week at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate in Denver, Colo. The tournament tees off with two rounds on Monday, followed by a final 18 holes on Tuesday.