The Loyola Women’s Golf participated in their first two events this past week, an exhibition match against Spring Hill College on Sept. 3 and the Skyhawk Invitational hosted by Point University on Sept. 7-8.
To open the season, six Loyola golfers competed as individuals against Spring Hill. Finance junior Catherine Singletary finished first in the event with a three-over par score of 75, while business junior Sarah Meral and business sophomore Sydney D’Avella finished in a tie for second place with scores of six-over 78.
“I’m extremely grateful to have been able to win that event and help contribute to our team’s success,” Singletary said. “The exhibition was a great opportunity for our team to get tournament experience and competitiveness early in the season.”
Next, the team headed to Lanett, Alabama for their first team competition of the season as they started the season with the No. 16 ranking in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics preseason polls and are projected to finish in third place in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
The Wolf Pack would hold a 19-stroke lead after Day 1 of the tournament after carding a total team score of 305 (+17) and saw both Singletary and digital filmmaking senior Blair McKenzie both in the top three on the leaderboard.
“We played pretty well on a challenging course,” said head coach Cory Amory. “The players had to be very accurate off the tee or they were almost guaranteed a lost ball. Overall, they were smart, tough, and played at a fairly high level. I am especially proud of the attitudes and resilience shown by the team throughout the tournament.”
The team maintained their lead and earned their 14th victory in program history the following day and saw three golfers finish in the overall top 10 of the tournament, with Singletary and McKenzie finishing tied for second place and Meral finishing in eighth place in her team debut.
“It was super exciting to start the season out with a team win,” said Singletary, who was named SSAC Women’s Golfer of the Week for her efforts. “I’m extremely excited for us to build on this momentum and continue to grow and excel as a team.”
McKenzie agreed that starting the season strong bodes well for the team’s future.
“The first tournament of the season is always about setting the tone and seeing what works and what we need to improve on,” she said. “I felt like this tournament was a positive stepping stone for the season and my personal performance was a nice start, but I still have some things to work on to further the success of my team.”
The team will be back in action on Sept. 30 when they travel to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for the Carey Collegiate Tournament, hosted by conference foe William Carey University before concluding their fall season at the end of October in Athens, Alabama at the Firehawk Invitational.
“In the fall we only play in three tournaments, so it is important to get the most out of each of them, and continue to grow as a team,” said McKenzie.
And that growth is crucial to helping the Wolf Pack achieve its goals for the season.
“Everything we try to do revolves around creating habits and attitudes to give ourselves the best chance for success,” Amory said. “At times in this tournament we played a little tight and needed to trust ourselves more when facing challenging situations. I want us to play with conviction and just let it rip. But this was a strong step toward the ultimate goal of finding out how good we can get.”
The journey to answering that question will be one that the team hopes they can crack as they prepare for the spring season, too.
“With golf being such an individualized sport each person has different needs at tournaments, so the quicker we identify what each person needs to be successful, the better we can help one another,” said McKenzie. “This team is talented and if we work hard, we know great things are in store.”
