New Look to WGOLF in 2015-16
9/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
SPOKANE, Wash.--There will be a new look to the Gonzaga University women's golf team heading into the 2015-16 season.
Three of the players who helped lead Gonzaga to its third straight NCAA regional have left, but the other three return, including senior Raychelle Santos, junior Ciera Min, and sophomore Dania Uy. Of those, Min was consistently a top performer last year. She set the program's stroke average record at 73.89 as a sophomore and posted four top-10 finishes, including a tie for third at the WCC Championships.
"Ciera proved last year that she was our number one by the end of the year," GU head coach Brad Rickel said of the Hilo, Hawaii native. "I know she has bigger goals than [her stroke average record], and she's looked good in practice. I think she's fully healthy now, and I know she expects big things from herself this year."
The other two returners had strong showings early last season but wrapped up with tough spring campaigns. Santos started the year off with a fantastic fall, posting three top 10 finishes in the first four tournaments of the season. Like Santos, Uy had a solid start to the season, claiming her best finish as a freshman in a tie for 12th at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Sept. Rickel looks for them to both return to their optimal games for the upcoming slate.
"Raychelle and Dania both had a rough spring, which happens to everybody from time to time, and I know that they've showed up renewed and ready to go again," he said. "I'm looking to see them bounce back and return to their form."
To fill out the ranks, Rickel has brought in three new faces. Freshmen Jena Gao and Bianca Pagdanganan serve as young reinforcements for the squad, and he brought in plenty of collegiate experience in the form of graduate student Michelle Condry as well.
"The two freshmen are totally different," said Rickel. "Bianca is a long hitter who crushes the ball, is outgoing, excited, and already has become a full Zag in the one week she's been here. I think she's really ready to go play college golf. Jena comes from Shanghai and is dealing with the whole culture change. She hits it shorter but manages her game well. They go about it totally different, but they're going to get the ball in the hole."
Condry comes to Gonzaga after spending the last four years at San Francisco, having redshirted the 2013-14 season. She earned First Team All-WCC honors and led the Dons in stroke average as a freshman and saw a glimpse of regaining that game last season at the Rose City Intercollegiate, where she tied for fifth and helped the team take second. Having graduated with a degree in finance from USF in May, Condry will work towards her MBA at Gonzaga during her final year of eligibility.
"Michelle is definitely older," Rickel said of the Zags' newest player. "She's trying to wrap her mind around a new way of doing things like we do here, but we expect her to be a steady performer all year long with lots of golf experience. She's the most healthy she's been in years, and hopefully she'll be a steady, steady player."
Having so many new additions to the squad will be a first for Rickel, but he's not worried about a drop in talent. He's confident that if the Zags can get familiar and learn to play together, they'll reach the success that the program has come to expect.
"Having so many new players changes our dynamic completely, and I'm excited to see how that dynamic plays out," said Rickel. "Last year, we struggled to gel as a group, and I'm probably most excited to see if we can be a group that plays for each other this season. We have enough talent on the team to be great; we just have to have everybody after the same goals"
The Zags will first test their cohesion at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational Monday, Sept. 14 and Tuesday, Sept. 15. Min will top the GU lineup, followed by the freshmen Pagdanganan and Gao at Nos. 2 and 3. Santos will start her senior year in the No. 4 spot, and Condry makes her Gonzaga debut at No. 5. Rickel is excited to see the new-look lineup in action.
"We just finished our first week of practice and everybody's playing well and doing the right things," he said. "They have to knock off a bit of the tournament rust maybe, but I'm anxious to get going and see how we're going to do."
The New Mexico-hosted event is an early test for the Zags. The field is full of quality teams, including defending NCAA champion Stanford, and the hilly course at elevation won't be easy to navigate.
"This is a great course," Rickel said. "It hosts regionals in 2017, so it's good for us to be on it. It's very hilly, it's up at 5,000 feet; it's just a good, solid golf course. Only two of the five -- Raychelle and Ciera -- going this year went last year, so hopefully they can help the newer people, but we all have some knowledge about it. The field is really good, and it could be the strongest field we play this year; if not it's in the top three for sure."
The Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational begins on Sept. 14 with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start. All three rounds will take place on the 6,192-yard UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, N.M.
