SALINA, Kan. – In a unique event, the Concordia University Women’s Golf team put itself up against Kansas Wesleyan University on back-to-back days. The dual event followed a tournament style format on Monday (March 29) before shifting to match play on Tuesday in Salina, Kan. The Bulldogs carded a team score of 369 (top four individuals combined) and then were defeated by the Coyotes in match play, 4.5 to 1.5.
This was the second event of the spring for Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad. The Concordia women’s team also ventured to the Dallas Area over spring break for the Texas Intercollegiate. The early results this spring reveal that the Bulldogs have a strong top two in the lineup with Kendra Placke and Mia Martin.
“I thought we improved from Monday to Tuesday,” Muller said. “We had a lot of matches very close late in the rounds. From a stroke play standpoint, we are solid at Nos. 1 and 2. We need better scores at 3 and 4, and I know we have the potential there. The team is excited to host our home invite next week at Highlands.”
Concordia was represented at Salina Country Club by eight individuals. On the first day of the event, Martin edged out Placke for the team low round with an 83. Meanwhile, Placke shot an 84. The remaining Bulldogs at the event featured Andrea Peterson (100), Lauren Havalat (102), Logan Eschliman (104), Emily Jensen (108), Ashley Gerczynski (115) and Mya Nurse (126). The top overall performer on Monday was Kansas Wesleyan’s Kristen Sayyanlinh, who shot an 81.
Placke was the lone Bulldog to emerge victorious in match play. She defeated Mikaela Johnson (2up). Martin went head-to-head with Sayyanlinh at the top of the lineup and fell narrowly, 2&1. There was a stalemate at the fifth position with Eschliman and Thalia Ramirez halving their match. The match pairings were based on stroke play from Monday’s round.
Martin’s Bulldog career began with the spring break tournament in Texas where she shot scores of 82, 85 and 83. Placke entered this week with a team low 18-hole season scoring average of 81.4.
As mentioned by Muller, Concordia will host a tournament for the first time in 2020-21 when the Concordia Bulldog Invite plays out April 6-7 at Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb. Action is set to tee off at 10 a.m. CT on both days.