KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (Feb. 22, 2009) - The ETSU women's golf team had four players post rounds in the 70s to put together a strong first round performance and tie for the early team lead in the Kiawah Island Classic Sunday at the Oak Point Golf Club.

ETSU fired a 12-over-par 300 on the day, joining the University of Miami at the top of the 43-team field. The Buccaneers were led by freshman Nina Muehl (Vienna, Austria), who finished tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard with a 1-over 73. Muehl is currently just three strokes back of leader Stephanie Connelly of UCF.

"We had a great start today and hope to carry this confidence into the next two days," said ETSU head coach Stefanie Reynolds. "There are 43 teams in this event and that includes powers like Florida, Ole Miss, Miami and Oregon State. Being tied for the lead is certainly nice after the first day."

The Bucs are currently ahead of teams such as No. 26 Florida, No. 27 Oregon, No. 35 Mississippi, No. 42 UCF and No. 44 Kentucky.

Individually, Muehl was joined on the ETSU scorecard by junior Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway , Ireland), who fired a 2-over 74 to tie for 12^th, while senior Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales) tied for 26^th at 76 and junior Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) tied for 35^th at 77.

Second round play will follow on Monday with third and final round action set for Tuesday. Golfstat.com is providing live scoring and results from the event, while ETSUBucs.com will have a complete wrap up following each day's play.