NDSU hosted rival schools North Dakota and South Dakota on Tuesday and Wednesday during the season opener, the NDSU Invitational. The NDSU Invitational was held just down the road at the Oxbow Country Club. North Dakota State came out on top against its rivals in a blowout win for the Bison. The final team scores are NDSU +17, UND +46, and USD +55. The Bison also dominated the individual scoreboard, taking six of the seven top places on the leaderboard. North Dakota State’s top performers this week were Elise Hoven and Madison Hicks, who both tied for first place, shooting +4. They were followed by Norah Roberts and Hannah Dunk, who tied for third place with South Dakotas Catie Nekola with a score of +6. These top performances highlighted NDSU’s dominance in their home opener, giving us a very promising start to the new season.
Day One:
On day one of the season opener, NDSU had a three-way tie for first place, with Hoven, Roberts, and Bartels sharing the top step of Tuesday morning, all shooting +4. Hannah Dunk finished just behind them, tied for third with ND’s Emersyn Walker. They both were one stroke behind the leaders at +5. Madison Hicks followed behind the top 4, shooting +6. Cora Larson finished the opening day tied for 9th at +8. Anna Huettle came in 18th place with a score of +11. Behind her was Lily Vincelli, who finished in a 5-way tie for 22nd place; She shot +13. And finally, Jo Baranczyk finished 27th on Tuesday with a +14. Tuesday was the start of a strong season opener for green and yellow shooting +17 as a team. The final tallies from the opening day were NDSU 305 (+17) in first, North Dakota 317 (+29) in second, and in third place South Dakota 326 (+38).
Day Two:
Wednesday of the NDSU invitational saw an almost perfect showing from the Bison. NDSU followed up their dominating opening day with an even stronger showing on day 2. North Dakota State shot 288 as a team, shooting even and clinching a season-opening win. Madison Hicks was the star of day 2; she shot two under, securing the lowest score of the day. Elise Hoven would find herself shooting even at 72 strokes to ensure a tied first place in the tournament. Hannah Dunk and Cora Larson finished one over on day 2. Norah Roberts shot two over to finish tied with Dunk in third place. Avery Bartels shot one stroke lower than her day one score with a +3, an improvement that the other outstanding performances above her might shadow. Anna Huettle would also shoot +3, an 8-stroke improvement for Huettle, who did a fantastic job bouncing back on Wednesday. Lily Vincelli followed the trend of the bison improving on day two with a plus +8. Jo Baranczyk would be the final Bison on the scoreboard, ending day two with a +10. Everyone on the team performed outstandingly on Wednesday. It was a great team performance to start the season with a bang.
North Dakota State women’s golf will try to stay hot next week at the MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial, which will be held Sept. 9-10.