Belles lead MIAA Tournament

By TOM ZWILLER sports Writer

o n Tuesday, the s aint m ary’s c ollege golf team competed in the first round of the m ichigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association nc AA Automatic Qualifier tournament, and the race is very much too close to call.

The b elles hosted the tournament’s first round at the e lbel Park Golf c ourse, a local s outh b end golf course with gorgeous wetlands and fairways. The idyllic setting was the site of incredibly fierce competition as four of the best m IAA teams battled for the conference’s lone automatic bid to the nc AA d ivision III national tournament.

The four teams to make the qualifier were the b elles of s aint m ary’s c ollege, the Adrian c ollege b ulldogs (who won the fall season), the Alma c ollege s cots and the h ope c ollege Flying d utchmen.

The b elles made the most of their home course advantage. s ophomore Katelyn Tokarz shot a 74 (+2), earning the best score for her team and in the overall field. h ope c ollege had the second and third-best individual outings at 75 and 76, while Adrian had two players in a tie for fourth at 77 each.

The next-best b elle was freshman Julia Lizak, who shot a 78. s enior Katherine h opkins was just one stroke behind at 79.

Two strokes back and in a five-way tie for ninth was senior Isa Patacsil. s enior e rin b ennett rounded out the team score with an 86, which put her in a tie for 17th. b ennett wound up

Tennis

con TIn U ed From PAGe 13 notched a 6-3 win to seal the doubles victory against the s eminoles after sophomore c arrie b eckman and junior Julia Andreach secured their match. b eckman and freshman b ojana Pozder started the Irish out strong in doubles against m iami. And a 7-5 win by freshman r ylie h anford and junior Yashna Yellayi secured another doubles decision. h owever, Pozder’s singles victory against m iami was n otre d ame’s lone individual win of the two matches.

The men’s team returns tying with fellow senior n ani Patacsil, who played as an individual.

In total, the b elles finished with a 312, giving them a one-stroke lead over Adrian c ollege. b oth s aint m ary’s and Adrian have a slight cushion over third-place h ope c ollege, which finished with a 318. The s cots of Alma c ollege finished in a distant fourth with a team score of 346.

The s cots struggled mightily in the first round and were the only team not to have a player finish with a score of 80 or lower. Their top scorers both finished with an 81, tying for ninth. The s cots also had the worst finish, with their lowest player finishing just three strokes shy of 100 at 97.

With the first leg of the qualifier in the books, s aint m ary’s will get a brief rest before taking a two-and-ahalf-hour bus ride north to m ichigan on Friday. There, they will play two 18-hole rounds in two days at the Tecumseh Golf c lub.

Unlike the first round, the final two rounds will be hosted by Adrian c ollege. The b ulldogs also hosted the second round of the m IAA Jamboree in s eptember of 2022.

Then, in a field of nine total teams, the b elles placed second, scoring 330. The only team to outperform them? Adrian c ollege, which totaled 316 and had four top-10 best performers.

The second round of the qualifier begins at 1 p.m. on Friday. The third round starts at 11 a.m. the following day.

Contact Tom Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu to action on Thursday night for its regular season finale against Louisville. The game is on the road at 3 p.m. and will be available on the A cc n etwork. Women’s tennis has two more matches before its regular season schedule concludes. The team is home against s yracuse on Friday and b oston c ollege on s unday. The s yracuse match begins at 3:30 p.m. and the b oston c ollege match starts at 11 a.m. b oth matches will be streamed on the n otre d ame athletics website.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu