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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Set To Compete In NCAA East Regional
5/7/2003 | Women's Golf
May 7, 2003
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - For only the third time in school history, the Ole Miss women's golf team spent Wednesday in a practice round as part of the field of 64, as the Lady Rebels get ready to tee off in the NCAA East Regional on Thursday.
Ole Miss will be one of 21 teams set to compete in the first round of competition at the Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons, N.C., on Thursday in the NCAA East Regional. The appearance marks the first for the Lady Rebels under second-year head coach Meghan Bolger and only the third appearance overall.
Ole Miss also competed in the 1998 and 1999 East Regionals.
"To be a part of the field of 64, and playing in the East Regional is a tremendous achievement for this team," said Bolger. "These young ladies set a goal of advancing to the post- season and never let their vision stray from that goal. We've arrived here, now we have to go out and make the most of it for three days and see what we can do."
The Lady Rebels competed in 10 tournaments this season, finishing in the top 10 of the field in seven of those outings. Ole Miss finished in the top five of four tournaments, including a season-best finish of third at the Beacon Woods Invitational with a score of 300-295-300-895.
Leading the way for Ole Miss is team captain and senior Bernadette Luse, who recorded a 76.41 average for the season. Luse, who recorded three top-10 finishes on the season, turned in her best performance at the Waterlefe Invitational, where she tied for sixth.
Sophomore Nikki Hadd finished the regular season with the second-best stroke average on the team (77.24) and looks to help Luse shoulder the load in the East Regional. The Crestview, Fla., native finished in the top 20 of three tournaments, including a third-place finish at the Pat Bradley Championships. Hadd also fired a school record and career-low round of 67 in the second round of the Lady Gator Invitational this spring.
Kerrie Davis will also be looked to for solid scoring in the East Regional as the only other senior slated for competition. The New Orleans native has explosive potential on the course, repeatedly demonstrating the ability to turn in a low round when her team needs help. Davis' best finish of the season came at the Tulane Greenwave Classic, where she tied for 18th. She fired a low round of 73 at the Lady Gator earlier this season.
The freshman duo of Sarah Kate Cousart and Laura Evans rounds out the competition squad for the Lady Rebels. The pair finished the regular season ranked as the 22nd best freshman players based on performance this season by the Golfstat.com rankings. Cousart turned in her best finish at the Beacon Woods Invitational when she finished (tied for 16th) while Evans tied for 12th at the same event.
The Lady Rebels will tee off on Thursday in the first round of action. All five Lady Rebels will start on the first hole, with Cousart leading the way with an 11:50 a.m. EST tee time. Each player will tee off at 10 minute intervals following Cousart with Evans (noon), Davis (12:10 p.m.), Luse (12:20 p.m.) and Hadd (12:30 p.m.) following respectively.