Saturday, February 13, 2010

            MIAMI, Fla. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Getting the opportunity to finally escape the wintry weather of Northeast Tennessee, the ETSU women's golf team will open the spring portion of its 2009-10 schedule Sunday afternoon in the Qdoba Collegiate at the Don Shula Golf Club.

            The three-day event begins with a shotgun start Sunday, and live scoring will be provided by Golfstat.com, with complete wrap-ups of the day's action also available at ETSUBucs.com.

            The Buccaneers and head coach Stefanie Shelton return a veteran team that includes the return of six letterwinners from a year ago. But the group is just not experienced, it is also talented, with three players that made All Atlantic Sun a year ago, and two that made the league's all freshman team.

Shelton said the team is just excited to get the year started.

            "In spite of a rocky winter for practice, the girls have been working hard and we've tried to be on the course as much as we can the last few weeks," said Shelton, whose team won the A-Sun title and made the NCAAs in 2007. "We're excited to get down here in the warm weather and have a chance to compete. We're ready to go."

Leading the Bucs this season will be a trio of seniors in Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia), Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) and Kennie Leigh Eisenhower (Newport), a group has made up the core of the ETSU team over the last four seasons and enjoyed a great deal of success. Both Jansone and O'Sullivan are former first team All Atlantic Sun picks and have enjoyed individual successes on the course, winning multiple individual titles.

Jansone finished second on the team in stroke average during the fall at 75.3, while O'Sullivan was fourth on the team at 76.5. Meanwhile, Eisenhower has consistently improved during her time in Johnson City and finished fifth on the team in stroke average both last season and in the fall. A year ago, Jansone tied for the team lead in stroke average at 75.6, winning the Sea Trail Intercollegiate back on Sept. 21, 2008. Meanwhile, O'Sullivan finished third on the team at 76.0.

Meanwhile, that group of seniors is joined by another trio, as sophomores Nina Muehl (Vienna, Austria), Mayte Vizcarrondo (Cadiz, Spain) and Malin Mannson (Kalmar, Sweden) round out the rest of the squad. A year ago, Muehl was a second team All A-Sun selection after finishing tied with Jansone for the team lead in stroke average at 75.6. Both Muehl and Vizcarrondo were A-Sun All Freshman Team selections as well.

In the fall, Muehl led the squad with a 75.0 stroke average, while Vizcarrondo finished third at 76.3.

            For more on ETSU women's golf throughout the spring season, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's golf link.