Women's Golf Advances To NCAA East Regional
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State women's golf team qualified for postseason play, the NCAA announced Monday. The 43rd-ranked Lady Bulldogs are in the NCAA East Regional hosted by Wake Forest May 8-10, at the Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons, N.C.
"The team is pleased to have received a bid for postseason play. They earned the right to play from their performances throughout the season," head coach Christi Sanders said. "We will go to North Carolina with one goal, to play our way into the national championship."
This bid marks the third time in four years that coach Sanders has taken MSU to the NCAA tournament. The Lady Bulldogs finished 17th in the 2002 NCAA East Regional in Baton Rouge, La.
Nine teams from the Southeastern Conference are a part of the 63-team field. Joining 16th-seeded MSU in the East Regional are fellow SEC foes No. 3 seed Auburn, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 South Carolina and instate rival No. 18 Mississippi. Other participants in the regional include No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Arizona, No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 8 Tulane, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 10 Florida State, No. 11 South Florida, No. 12 East Carolina, No. 13 Furman, No. 14 UNC Wilmington, No. 15 N.C. State, No. 17 Penn State, No. 19 Western Carolina, No. 20 Georgia State and No. 21 St. Francis.
Individual competitors include Jenny Gleason of UNC Greensboro, Tina Miller of Miami, and Avery Kiser of Princeton.
The three regionals (west, east and central) will each host 21 teams and three individual competitors. The top eight teams and two individuals that are from non-qualifying teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Championship, to be held May 20-23 in West Lafayette, Ind. hosted by Purdue.