Huskers Travel to Texas for Fall Opener

The Nebraska women’s golf team heads to Texas to open its 2026-27 season at The Bruzzy presented by Ashley Herrera in Trophy Club, Texas (Sept. 8-9).

The two-day, 54-hole event hosted by the University of North Texas on the par-72, 6,351-yard layout of the Trophy Club opens with an 8:30 a.m. (CT) shotgun start for two rounds of play on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Following Tuesday’s 36 holes, the final round of the event will begin at 8:30 a.m. (CT) with a shotgun start on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Illinois joins the Huskers in representing the Big Ten Conference in the 11-team field, alongside 2026 NCAA Regional qualifiers Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, ULM and Xavier. BYU, Texas State, UTSA and the hosts from North Texas round out the tournament field.

Lauren Thiele, a graduate student from Wahoo, Neb., earned the top spot in the Nebraska lineup through preseason qualifying. Thiele, who enters her third season with the Huskers, posted a 73.94 stroke average over 18 rounds last season.

Hannah Kono, a senior from Enkoping, Sweden, joins Thiele in the Nebraska lineup after posting a 73.13 stroke average while playing in all 31 rounds as a Husker junior.

Ailis Tribolet will occupy the No. 3 spot in the Big Red lineup. The sophomore from Chandler, Ariz., posted a 73.81 stroke average over 26 rounds as a true freshman.

Tribolet was Nebraska’s top individual finisher at the 2026 Big Ten Championship, tying for 29th.

Fellow sophomore Kaleigh Babineaux from Austin, Texas, earned a spot in the lineup after posting a 73.15 stroke average over 27 rounds a year ago.

Olivia Lovegrove, a junior from Lincoln, Nebraska, qualified to earn the No. 5 spot in the Big Red lineup. Lovegrove posted a 75.00 stroke average over eight rounds as a sophomore.

The Bruzzy presented by Ashley Herrera
Trophy Club, Texas (Host: North Texas)
Trophy Club CC (Par 72, 6,351 Yards)

Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 8 (Rounds 1 & 2) - 8:30 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun
Wednesday, Sept. 9 (Round 3) - 8:30 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun
Live Scoring: Scoreboard.clippd.com

Participating Teams (11)
University of North Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, BYU, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas State, Xavier, UTSA, ULM

Nebraska Lineup
1. Lauren Thiele, Gr.
2. Hannah Kono, Sr.
3. Ailis Tribolet, So.
4. Kaleigh Babineaux, So.
5. Olivia Lovegrove, Jr.

Kono Shooting for Breakout Senior Season
Hannah Kono owns Nebraska’s top returning stroke average (73.13) heading into her third season as a Husker. The senior from Enkoping, Sweden, has competed in 61 rounds for the Big Red over her first two seasons in Lincoln after transferring following her freshman season at Oakland University in Michigan.

Kono’s 73.13 stroke average a year ago represented a +1.80 strokes per round improvement over her sophomore season at Nebraska. She owns 14 career top-25 tournament finishes, including four a year ago. She added three top-10 finishes (Ptarmigan Ram, Texas Golf Throwdown, SoCal Invitational) a year ago to give her five as a collegian.

A sixth-place finisher at the 2024 Horizon League Championship as a freshman, Kono gained valuable experience in the Husker lineup each of the past two seasons at the Big Ten Championship.

Kono fired a career-best 210 (-6) to tie for 16th at the 2026 Westbrook Spring Invitational. Her performance included a career-best 68 (-4) at Westbrook, which helped the Big Red to the best team round in school history with a 272 (-16). In 2025, Kono tied for 21st with a then-career-best 213 (-3) at Westbrook.

Thiele Continuing Rich Family Tradition in 2026-27
Fifth-year golfer Lauren Thiele continues an inspiring family tradition in the Nebraska women’s program in 2026-27. The graduate student from Wahoo follows in the family footsteps of her older sisters, Haley (2016-20), Hannah (2018-20) and Lindsey (2021-24) on the Nebraska women’s golf roster.

The 2026-27 campaign represents the 12th consecutive season that at least one Thiele sister has appeared on the Nebraska women’s golf roster. Overall, the four sisters have combined for 12 varsity letters and 10 WGCA Scholastic All-America honors in their careers

In 2025, Lauren was named the Nebraska Women’s Amateur of the Year, following in the footsteps of Hannah, who won the award in 2016. Lauren also won the Nebraska Women’s Match Play Championship in 2025, following both Lindsey (2023) and Hannah (2016) in winning those titles. Haley was a two-time Nebraska Women’s Amateur Champion (2017, 2019), while Hannah also claimed that title in 2016.

Overall, the five Thiele sisters (including younger sister, Brooke) have combed for six Nebraska Women’s Amateur (3) and Match Play (3) championships, along with 10 Nebraska Girls Amateur (5) and Match Play (5) titles. They have claimed a total of five Nebraska Girls Amateur of the Year awards and two Nebraska Women’s Amateur of the Year honors. 

A child, youth and family studies major, Lauren earned her bachelor’s degree from Nebraska in May 2026. She was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and an Academic All-Big Ten selection last season.

Tribolet, Babineaux Hope to Raise the Standard for Huskers as Sophomores
Husker sophomores Kaleigh Babineaux and Ailis Tribolet will look to lift the Huskers in competition throughout their second seasons in Lincoln. 

Tribolet developed as a force in the Nebraska lineup as a true freshman in 2025-26, posting a 73.81 stroke average over 26 rounds while leading the Big Red with her tie for 29th at the 2026 Big Ten Championship.

The native of Chandler, Ariz., produced a pair of top-10 finishes among her five top-25 individual showings as a freshman. She shared Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week honors with Babineaux after the pair tied for sixth individually with a career-best 207 (-9) at the 2026 Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 22-23). Tribolet’s effort in Arizona included a career-best 67 (-5) in the opening round, before closing with a 69 (-3) in the final round as part of the best team round in Husker history (272, -16). Overall, Tribolet carded six rounds below par in 2025-26.

Standouts in the classroom as well, Tribolet and Babineaux were also WGCA Scholastic All-Americans as Husker freshmen.

Babineaux put up even better numbers from start to finish as a freshman for the Big Red, posting a 73.15 stroke average over 27 rounds. She finished the season with seven top-25 individual finishes, including six straight from the Col. Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram through the MSU SoCal Spring Invitational.

She fired a career-best 207 (-9), including a career-best best 67 (-5) in the opening round of the Westbrook Spring Invitational.

Her final top-25 showing of the season came at the Chevron Silverado Showdown when she tied for 21st at 218 (+2), including an opening-round 69 (-3).
Overall, she fired seven rounds below par in 2025-26.

Husker All-American Kate Smith-Stroh Competing on LPGA Tour
Former Husker Kate Smith-Stroh captured her LPGA Tour Card for the 2025 season by tying for 19th at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 10, 2024.
Smith-Stroh, an All-American and Big Ten Champion for Nebraska as a fifth-year senior in 2021, put together five solid rounds in Alabama to finish at 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a 2025 LPGA Tour Card.

One of the best golfers in Nebraska history, Smith-Stroh competed on the Epson Tour (2022- 24). During the 2023 season, she competed in 22 events and made 19 cuts, while recording four top-10 finishes. She tied for second at the Four Winds Invitational. She added 19 events while making 13 cuts in 2024, including two more top-10 finishes.
Smith-Stroh earned nearly $116,000 in her first season on the LPGA Tour, including her first career top-10 finish at the Dow Championship in late June. Her tie for 10th at 265 (-15) over four rounds earned her just over $35,000. She added a tie for 18th at 276 (-12) at The Standard Portland Classic in mid-August to take home $25,000. Overall, she made eight cuts in 17 events.

The native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., has competed in six LPGA events in 2026, most recently at The Standard Portland Classic (Aug. 13-16, 2026). A two-time first-team All-Big Ten picked who stormed to the 2021 Big Ten title with a school-record 64 (-8) in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. She was a third-team All-American by Golfweek and an honorable- mention All-American by the WGCA before becoming the first Husker to compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup, helping the United States to a title. She was also the first Husker to compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2021.

Hall Leads Huskers in Second Season as Head Coach
With a proven record of helping aspiring young golfers drastically improve their games, Nebraska Head Coach Breanne Hall has a blend of talented young golfers alongside several experienced players in 2026-27.

A three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year at Illinois State, Hall was named the sixth head coach of the Nebraska women’s golf program on May 15, 2025. Hall won back- to-back MVC Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2024 and 2025 before coming to Lincoln. She led the Redbirds to three NCAA Tournament appearances in her final four seasons in Normal, Ill., and was the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.

Hall’s 2025 Illinois State team won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 31 strokes before finishing 11th at the NCAA Columbus Regional. In 2024, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 12 strokes with Ali Schrock sharing the tournament title. The Redbirds went on to finish 12th at the NCAA East Lansing Regional.

The Redbirds earned their first conference title under Hall’s direction in 2022 and their first MVC title in a decade, edging Missouri State by one stroke and capping the year with a 12th- place finish at the NCAA Stillwater Regional.

During her time at Illinois State, Hall coached three MVC Golfers of the Year and 15 all-conference selections. Her teams produced the five best single-season scoring averages in school history over the past five years. Prior to taking over the top spot at Illinois State, Hall spent a season recruiting a roster before serving as the head coach for two seasons at UNC Asheville (2016-18). As the first head coach in history of the fledgling program, Hall led UNC Asheville to a pair of tournament titles in the first two seasons of the program’s existence. Her team posted a nine-stroke improvement in scoring average from year one to year two.

Huskers Claim First Team Title Since 2023 at SoCal Spring Invitational
Lauren Thiele and Hannah Kono earned top-five finishes to lead six Huskers among the top-16 and power Nebraska to the MSU SoCal Spring Invitational championship in Camarillo (March 8-10, 2026). It was NU’s first victory since winning the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 26-27, 2023).

Thiele produced a career-best even-par 213 to capture runner-up honors on the 5,900-yard layout at Sterling Hills, including a career-best 67 (-4) in the second round.
Kono put together a 68 (-3) in the final round to close at 216 (+3) in a tie for fourth. The Huskers 862 (+10) ran away with the team title by 13 strokes ahead of runner-up Notre Dame (875), while CSU Northridge took third at 880 (+28).

Olivia Lovegrove (T7th, 218), Symran Shah (T10, 219), Ailis Tribolet (T13th, 220) and Kaleigh Babineaux (T16th, 221) all produced top-20 finishes for the Big Red.

Experienced Huskers Supply Strong Competition for Qualifying
Nebraska’s lineup could look different from tournament to tournament throughout the fall with a strong group of returning Huskers battling for lineup spots. 

Lincoln Christian High School graduate and 2022 Nebraska state champion Olivia Lovegrove earned the No. 5 lineup spot for The Bruzzy, ahead of experienced lineup contributors Symran Shah, Danica Lundgren, Jessica Jolly and Mackenzie Bream.

Last season, Lovegrove posted a 75.00 average over eight rounds, after putting up a 75.84 stroke average over 11 rounds as a freshman in 2025. She also contributed for the Huskers at the 2025 Big Ten Championship.

Fellow junior Danica Lundgren posted a 72.80 stroke average over five rounds as a sophomore for the Huskers a year ago, after producing a 75.70 average over 23 rounds as a freshman.

Shah, a fifth-year collegian from Carrollton, Texas, competed in 21 rounds for the Big Red in her second season at Nebraska in 2025-26, putting together a 75.29 stroke average.

Jolly earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in her first college season under Coach Breanne Hall at Illinois State, after tying for 17th individually at the MVC Championship. Jolly went on to tie for 62nd individually at the NCAA Columbus Regional before making the decision to follow Hall to Nebraska. Jolly competed in 10 rounds for the Huskers last season and produced a 74.90 stroke average.

Fourth-year Husker Mackenzie Bream made her first career lineup appearance last season and produced a solid 224 over three rounds in The Clash at Boulder Creek.

Raemmuang, Zhu Join Huskers
Ammy Raemmuang and Emily Zhu joined the Nebraska women’s golf team as transfers in early June.

A member of Thailand’s National Team program, Raemmuang came to Nebraska after spending her freshman season at Eastern Michigan. She competed in three tournaments and posted a 74.2 stroke average in her first collegiate season.

Raemmuang was the runner-up at the International Junior Masters and earned fourth-place finishes at both the JR World Cup Invitational and the 2024 Junior Asian Tour Qualifying School.

Zhu arrived in Lincoln as a graduate transfer from the University of Miami, bringing valuable international experience.

A member of the Canadian Junior National Team from 2018 to 2022, Zhu established herself as one of Canada’s top junior golfers, winning the Canadian Junior Championship in 2019 after a runner-up finish at the event in 2018. She also won the Junior Orange Bowl International championship in 2021.