Bulldogs In Pursuit Of WCC Golf Titles
4/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 11, 2003
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's golf teams will be in Madera, Calif., Monday and Tuesday in pursuit of the West Coast Conference Championship.
Riverbend Golf Club will be the site of the WCC Championship for the second straight year. The men's layout will be par 72 covering 6,966 yards, while the women's course will also be par 72 and play to 5,853 yards.
Bulldog head coach Robert Gray returns his entire squad from last year on the women's side, while three men are veterans of the WCC Championship.
Gonzaga's women will be led by senior Kate Siddell who finished tied for 12th at the recent Santa Clara Colby Invitational, the final tuneup for the women prior to the WCC event. Gonzaga finished fourth in that tourney, six strokes behind the host Broncos who were the only other WCC team competing. Siddell brings a stroke average of 80.0 into the WCC Championship.
Joining Siddell will be a trio of juniors - Carrie DeGree, Erin Picht and Kelsey Posedel - and sophomore Libby Campbell.
Gonzaga finished fourth last season, and Gray thinks his squad can improve on that finish.
"I don't think anybody is going to touch Pepperdine," Gray said. "The battle should be closely contested. We played well in our last outing, so I think we can be in the mix."
The Bulldogs' highest finish in the six previous years of the WCC Championship is third in 1998. Only five WCC schools sponsor women's golf. Pepperdine has claimed four of the previous six team titles, including last season. On the men's side, the Bulldogs enter the WCC Championship with a veteran squad playing its best golf of the season.
Junior Adam Syverson fired rounds of 74-71-70 for a 1-under par 215 last weekend at the Grand Canyon Thunderbird Invitational in helping Gonzaga to seventh place, one stroke behind fellow WCC foe Loyola Marymount University and nine strokes better than the University of Portland. The 215 was an individual school record as was the Bulldogs' 54-hole total of 876. Gonzaga played three rounds of sub-300 golf (291, 293, 292) after having a total of three rounds under 300 all season.
Sophomore Matt Munroe was 10th in the WCC Championship last season and enters this year's fray with a 78.22 stroke average. Sophomore Jon Meyer (79.89) and senior Dave Hill (79.33) are the other experienced players for the Bulldogs. Syverson takes a 78.54 stroke average into the tournament after joining the Bulldogs this season after two years at the Community Colleges of Spokane.
Junior Souta Nozatka, who transferred to Gonzaga at semester from Edmonds Community College, has also bolstered the Bulldogs. Although playing just four tournaments this spring, he's averaging 75.78 strokes per round. He finished 25th in the Grand Canyon Thunderbird Invitational with rounds of 70-76-74 for a 220.
"Being ranked 27th makes Pepperdine the favorite, but I think they can be beat," Gray said. "With the exception of a couple of events, we've showed steady improvement this year."
Pepperdine has won eight of the last nine team crowns, SCU with the lone breakthrough in 1999. Gonzaga's best finish has been a sixth place finish five times.
