March 21, 2008

The No. 9 Wake Forest women's golf team posted a 309 in the first round of the Liz Murphey Collegiate in Athens, Ga. to finish the day tied for eighth.

"The course played very tough, there were a lot of high scores," Wake Forest head coach Dianne Dailey said. "Our short game wasn't up to what it can be. It wasn't as sharp as we wanted."

Junior Nannette Hill is tied for 11th place after carding a three-over 75 on the par-72, 6,335-yard University Golf Course.

"Nanette is getting better all the time," Dailey said. "She's been working very hard and it's really nice to see her game come along like it has."

Freshman Natalie Sheary recorded a five-over 77 to finish tied for 32nd. Sheary made par on eight holes on the back nine after four bogeys on the front nine.

Allie Bodemann shot a six-over 70 to land in a tie for 41st. The freshman led the Deacs in birdies Friday with three, but also led the team in bogeys with seven.

Senior Laura Crawford recorded a seven-over 79 to finish tied for 47th and junior Jean Chua closed-out the scoring for the Deacs with an 11-over 83.

LSU recorded a nine-over 297 for the first round and will take a five-stroke lead into Saturday's second round. Alabama, Georgia and Purdue are knotted in second place after posting 14-over 302s.

The Tigers' Megan McChrystal holds a two-stroke lead in the race for individual honors after carding a three-under 69.

The Deacs lead all ACC participants with Duke (+26) finishing the first round tied for 11th and Florida State tied for 15th after posting a 317 (+29).

Wake is trying to finish in the top three for the third consecutive event but Coach Dailey acknowledges that some better play needs to surface for the Deacs to keep the streak alive.

"We need more birdies. We didn't give ourselves any chances for birdies," Dailey said. "We need to eliminate the three putts, but we can do that, we had a good practice this afternoon and we'll be ready for tomorrow."

The Deacs will tee-off at 9 a.m. for Saturday's second round.