Southern Illinois University
Missouri Valley Conference Preview
Salukis to host MVC Preview at Dalhousie on Monday
09/29/2016 | 2:13:00 | Women's Golf
All 10 MVC teams will be at the event
The Saluki women's golf team will play in its most important tournament of the fall season on Monday and Tuesday of next week when Missouri Valley Conference member schools converge on SIU's second home, Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo., for the MVC Preview.Â
Southern, who will be hosting the tournament, is familiar with Dalhousie, which is approximately one hour from campus.
"The conference has wanted us to host for a while, but I've been holding off until a year when we would have the most experience on this course," head coach Alexis Mihelich said. Â "We've got three seniors that have been playing this course for the last three years. We went there a lot last year and five of the players played in a summer tournament there. I think that the players feel like it's their second home course. They feel really comfortable on it."
SIU has not been able to play Dalhousie this year due to a rule stating that teams cannot practice on the conference-tournament course in the same academic year as the conference championship.
This is the second time the Missouri Valley Conference has held a fall preview event to allow the 10 teams in the Valley to get a good look at each other as well as gain experience on the course that will host the conference championship in April.
Southern has seen a good portion of teams from the Valley at other tournaments this year, but this will be the first time they have crossed paths with Missouri State, Northern Iowa and three-time defending conference champions Wichita State this year.
"This isn't just like another tournament for us. This is the second-biggest tournament we will play all year," Mihelich said. "Since we won't see all 10 of the teams again until April, we get all winter to let things sink in and see what we need to improve."
Mihelich is sticking with the same team she used at the previous two tournaments. The five-player team will be senior Brooke Cusumano, junior Hanna Netisingha, sophomore Sun Jung, Junior Alice Ho and Senior Kristie Yang. The rest of the team, apart from senior Xianmei Jin, who is out the remainder of the fall with a shoulder injury, will make the trip and play as individuals. Two freshmen, Erica Kerr and Lili Klekner-Alt will make their first collegiate appearances.
"I want to see some low numbers this weekend and I really want them to bounce back from how we performed at Loyola. I know they were really unhappy with their scores," Mihelich said. "I hope that we can put some low numbers on the card because we're in the middle of the conference in scoring average. The last tournament really set us back. They know the teams ahead of us are very beatable."
The Missouri Valley Conference Preview begins on Monday with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring will be available on www.Golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
