Griz open spring schedule at Battle at the Rock

The Montana women's golf team will open its spring schedule on Monday and Tuesday at the Battle at the Rock, a 54-hole tournament at the Oak Quarry Golf Club in Riverside, Calif.

The 15-team field will play 36 holes on Monday, 18 on Tuesday, with play getting started each day at 8:30 a.m. (MT).

The tournament is the first of five for the Grizzlies, with the Big Sky Conference Championship, the last of the five, being held April 19-21 in Boulder City, Nev.

Competing for Montana at the Battle at the Rock will be senior Baylee Barckley, sophomore Faith D'Ortenzio and freshmen Kylie Esh, Allison Sobol and Brooklyn Van Bebber.

It is a return to Southern California for Barckley, of Canyon Lake, and Van Bebber, of Murietta. And while the weather for Sunday's practice round -- low 50s, overcast, some rain -- wasn't exactly Beach Boys material, it was better than Missoula has been experiencing the last week.

"It was a hard week of practice. The weather made getting some productive time real challenging. We just weren't able to hit that many balls, so we're ready to go south," said coach Kris Nord. "It's not supposed to be great, but we're excited to hit off grass.

"And we need the competition. Those are the two things we'll be playing catch-up on if we can get outdoors in Missoula in March, grass and competition. That will be a big key for us."

It will be Montana's third straight year opening its spring season at the Battle at the Rock. Barckley is playing in the tournament for the third time. D'Ortenzio competed last spring as a freshman.

Montana will have more than a month before its second tournament, the Lady Thunderbird Invitational in St. George, Utah, in mid-March.

The Grizzlies will compete at the Red Rocks Invitational in late March and the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic in early April -- both in Arizona -- before setting their sights on the Big Sky tournament, where Montana hasn't had a top-three finish since winning the title in 2006.

It will take some work to bridge the gap to the Big Sky's top programs. After the fall season, Idaho had a national ranking of 82, while Sacramento State, the league's preseason favorite, sat at 83.

Northern Arizona (135), Southern Utah (145), Portland State (148), Northern Colorado (149) and Eastern Washington (165) all rank ahead of Montana (173), but not by so large a degree that coming up big in April is out of the question.

"Everybody in the Big Sky is getting better, but my expectation for this crew is we should be shooting for top three or top four this spring. That means everybody is playing well. That can be tough to do, but that's going to be our goal," said Nord.

"I'd like to set our goal to be top three in the Big Sky regularly."

Barckley, the team's only senior, had the team's top scoring average in four fall tournaments of 76.9. She had top-10 finishes at the Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate, tying for fifth, and the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational, where she tied for ninth.

Her last seven rounds of the fall were played at 77 or better, with a pair of 72s.

Nord's freshmen who will be competing this week all ranked in the top five on the team in fall scoring average. Esh finished at 79.0, Sobol at 79.1 and Van Bebber at 80.0.

Esh and Sobol both had top-10 finishes at the Challenge at Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"I'm hoping for a continuation of the fall, because I was really pleased with all of them," said Nord. "They competed well and handled the rough spots well and didn't get flustered.

"Their poise was real solid for their first collegiate season. Their golf maturity is pretty high."

Montana played five of its 11 rounds in the fall better than 310 and finished with a team average of 311.7.

The Grizzlies shot a fall-best 301 for the second round at Coeur d'Alene and in the final round at the Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate.

Montana also closed its fall season shooting a 304 for the final round at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Lakewood, Wash.

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Players Mentioned

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Allison Sobol

Brooklyn Van Bebber

University of Montana Athletics