QU Women's Golf Tabbed As Co-Favorites To Win 2017 MAAC Championship
2/14/2017 9:49:00 AM | Women's Golf
HAMDEN, Connecticut – The reigning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion Quinnipiac women's golf team was announced as the co-favorite to win the 2017 MAAC Championship, earning the same number of points from the league's coaches in the preseason poll as Albany. Additionally, Quinnipiac earned three first-place votes to Albany's five.
Monmouth slotted in behind the Bobcats and Albany, followed by Siena and Dayton – which also received a first-place vote – to round-out the top five. Hartford, Niagara, Fairfield and La Salle rounded out the field of nine.
Quinnipiac captured the 2016 MAAC Championship in record-breaking fashion after posting the all-time best aggregate score of 933 ( 69) in conference history. Highlighting the victory was the fact that the women's golf team was in its sixth year of existence after Quinnipiac added the sport in 2010. Luciana Tobia-Palza (La Paz, Bolivia) was named the MAAC Player of the Year and MAAC Rookie of the Year while head coach John O'Connor earned MAAC Coach of the Year honors.
Tobia-Palza returns for her sophomore season after one of best freshman campaigns in the program's young history. This past fall, Tobia-Palza finished in the Top 10 in two of Quinnipiac's five tournaments while posting a team-best 80.18. She enters the spring season with a team-leading 79.40 career average that includes three career wins.
Sophomore Julia Kemmling (Berlin, Connecticut) also earned All-MAAC honors in 2016 after a Top-10 finish at the MAAC Championship. Kemmling had a solid fall season, logging a 81.55 average through 11 rounds across five tournaments. Last season, she finished Tobia-Palza with an 80.13 average and will start spring competition with a career 80.51 average. Kemmling led Quinnipiac after the first round of the NCAA Bryan Regional, carding a 79 ( 7) before following with an 82 ( 10) on Friday and an 83 ( 11) on Saturday for a combined score of 244 ( 28) for the three-day tournament.
Freshman Alexandra Sazhin (New Fairfield, Connecticut) will enter her first championship season with a 80.91 average through 11 rounds in the Fall. The first-year Bobcats' first semester was highlighted by a tie for eighth-place in her first collegiate tournament at the Navy Fall Invitational before wrapping up the Fall calendar with a 10th place finish at the St. John's Invitational.
Estefania Morales (Caracas, Venezuala) returned to the Bobcats' line-up in the Fall after sitting out the Spring 2016 semester and averaged 80.71 through three tournaments. Morales finished in the top-third of the Quinnipiac Invitational before finishing tied for fifth at the St. John's Invitational.
Senior Nicole Scola (Westerly, Rhode Island) played in just three tournaments in the Fall, but will head into the final semester of her career as one of the top golfers in Quinnipiac history. She currently boasts a career average of 79.58 as well as a program record 7.86 vs. Par for her career. Scola was the 2014 MAAC Rookie of the Year while also earning All-MAAC honors in 2014 and 2015. She owns seven of the Top 10 single-round scores in program history, the top three 36-hole totals in program history and four of the top 10 54-hole scores in program history while her 86 career birdies are also a program record.
Quinnipiac will also look to senior Emily Ribbins (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) to provide depth in the Bobcats' line-up. Ribbins carries a career-best 82.78 season average into the fall, almost a stroke better than her career average.
Quinnipiac opens the 2017 Spring season on Mar. 13-14 at the WKU-SMU Spring Break Shootout at Lake Jovita Golf Course in Tampa, Florida.
Monmouth slotted in behind the Bobcats and Albany, followed by Siena and Dayton – which also received a first-place vote – to round-out the top five. Hartford, Niagara, Fairfield and La Salle rounded out the field of nine.
Quinnipiac captured the 2016 MAAC Championship in record-breaking fashion after posting the all-time best aggregate score of 933 ( 69) in conference history. Highlighting the victory was the fact that the women's golf team was in its sixth year of existence after Quinnipiac added the sport in 2010. Luciana Tobia-Palza (La Paz, Bolivia) was named the MAAC Player of the Year and MAAC Rookie of the Year while head coach John O'Connor earned MAAC Coach of the Year honors.
Tobia-Palza returns for her sophomore season after one of best freshman campaigns in the program's young history. This past fall, Tobia-Palza finished in the Top 10 in two of Quinnipiac's five tournaments while posting a team-best 80.18. She enters the spring season with a team-leading 79.40 career average that includes three career wins.
Sophomore Julia Kemmling (Berlin, Connecticut) also earned All-MAAC honors in 2016 after a Top-10 finish at the MAAC Championship. Kemmling had a solid fall season, logging a 81.55 average through 11 rounds across five tournaments. Last season, she finished Tobia-Palza with an 80.13 average and will start spring competition with a career 80.51 average. Kemmling led Quinnipiac after the first round of the NCAA Bryan Regional, carding a 79 ( 7) before following with an 82 ( 10) on Friday and an 83 ( 11) on Saturday for a combined score of 244 ( 28) for the three-day tournament.
Freshman Alexandra Sazhin (New Fairfield, Connecticut) will enter her first championship season with a 80.91 average through 11 rounds in the Fall. The first-year Bobcats' first semester was highlighted by a tie for eighth-place in her first collegiate tournament at the Navy Fall Invitational before wrapping up the Fall calendar with a 10th place finish at the St. John's Invitational.
Estefania Morales (Caracas, Venezuala) returned to the Bobcats' line-up in the Fall after sitting out the Spring 2016 semester and averaged 80.71 through three tournaments. Morales finished in the top-third of the Quinnipiac Invitational before finishing tied for fifth at the St. John's Invitational.
Senior Nicole Scola (Westerly, Rhode Island) played in just three tournaments in the Fall, but will head into the final semester of her career as one of the top golfers in Quinnipiac history. She currently boasts a career average of 79.58 as well as a program record 7.86 vs. Par for her career. Scola was the 2014 MAAC Rookie of the Year while also earning All-MAAC honors in 2014 and 2015. She owns seven of the Top 10 single-round scores in program history, the top three 36-hole totals in program history and four of the top 10 54-hole scores in program history while her 86 career birdies are also a program record.
Quinnipiac will also look to senior Emily Ribbins (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) to provide depth in the Bobcats' line-up. Ribbins carries a career-best 82.78 season average into the fall, almost a stroke better than her career average.
Quinnipiac opens the 2017 Spring season on Mar. 13-14 at the WKU-SMU Spring Break Shootout at Lake Jovita Golf Course in Tampa, Florida.
Players Mentioned
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