Huskers Tied for Fifth at UNLV

Boulder City, Nev. - Junior Mary Kate Bird continued her strong play and the Nebraska women's golf team posted four solid scores to climb into a tie for fifth after two rounds at the UNLV Spring Invitational on Tuesday.

Bird shot a second-round 73 to head into Wednesday's final round in a tie for eighth with an even-par 144. With Bird leading the charge in windy conditions that included some morning rain and sleet, the Huskers closed the day at 591 (295-296), just three strokes back of Texas Tech (588), six strokes behind Idaho (585) and seven shots back of Baylor (584). NU moved up three spots in the team standings from eighth to a tie for fifth.

"We put together another solid round in some pretty challenging conditions, especially early in the round," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "We hit some great shots to put ourselves in position for even better scores, but we weren't able to finish them off. The good news is that we put ourselves in those positions to be successful, so I'm pretty proud of the way we played and competed today." 

The hosts from UNLV continued to dominate the 18-team field by posting a second-round 286 to close the first 36 holes at 567 on the par-72, 6,246-yard layout at the Boulder Creek Country Club.

Husker sophomore Maddie Sheils added a 74 for the second straight day to move into a tie for 26th at 148, while senior JC Stevenson ended the day in a tie for 30th at 149 (73-76). Fellow senior Charlotte Wendner produced her best round of the spring with a one-over-par 73 to vault into a tie for 34th (150). Freshman Erin Sharpee rounded out the Husker contingent in a tie for 84th (78-82-160) heading into the final round.

Idaho's Kayla Mortellaro heads into Wednesday's final 18 holes on top of the individual leaderboard at 138 (65-73), one stroke ahead of UNLV's Therese Koelbaek (68-71-139). The Rebels' Kristen Schelling sits in third (69-71-140), while Ball State's Brittany Kelly (72-70-142) and UNLV's Natasha Krishna (71-72-143) and Baylor's Chelsey Cothran (73-70-143) and Lene Hafsten-Morch (70-73-143) round out the tournament's top five.

Nebraska is scheduled to conclude the UNLV Spring Invitational on Wednesday with 18 holes beginning at 8:30 a.m. central time. Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com.

2010 UNLV Spring Invitational
Boulder Creek Golf Club
Boulder City, Nev., March 8-10
First & Second Round Results

Team Standings
1. UNLV - 281-286-567
2. Baylor - 293-291-584
3. Idaho - 285-300-585
4. Texas Tech - 294-294-588
T5. Nebraska - 295-296
T5. Ball State - 289-302-591
7. Tulsa - 298-295-593
8. Texas - 301-293-594
9. Wisconsin - 298-301-599
10. BYU - 298-302-600
11. Missouri - 290-312-602
T12. Campbell - 303-301-604
T12. Portland State - 294-310-604
14. Texas State - 300-308-608
15. Oregon State - 304-310-614
T16. Washington State - 311-305-616
T16. New Mexico State - 300-316-616
18. Wyoming - 310-320-630

Individual Leaderboard
1. Kayla Mortellaro, Idaho - 65-73-138
2. Therese Koelbaek, UNLV - 68-71-139
3. Kristen Schelling, UNLV - 69-71-140
4. Brittany Kelly, Ball State - 72-70-142
T5. Chelsey Cothran, Baylor - 73-70-143
T5. Lene Hafsten-Morch, Baylor - 70-73-143
T5. Natasha Krishna, UNLV - 71-72-143
T8. Mary Kate Bird, Nebraska - 71-73-144
T8. Gabriella Dominguez, Texas Tech - 74-70-144
T8. Desiree Dubreuil, Texas - 72-72-144
T8. Britney Yada, Portland State - 69-75-144

Nebraska Individuals
T8. Mary Kate Bird - 71-73-144
T26. Maddie Sheils - 74-74-148
T30. JC Stevenson - 73-76-149
T34. Charlotte Wendner - 77-73-150
T84. Erin Sharpee - 78-82-160