ORLANDO, Fla. - The Davenport women's golf team has let the feeling sink in since they qualified for their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II National Championship after placing fifth in the NCAA East Regional back on May 8. The Panthers are now focused on seeing how they stack up against the best teams in the nation at Orange County National Golf Center. If names mean anything, the team will be playing Panther Lake which is a par-72, 6,003-yard layout. The course is described like this on the official website, "Panther Lake is everything you could want in a golf course. Playing over rolling meadows, through native pines, around and over wetlands, lakes, and up and down elevation changes of up to 60 feet, it is first and foremost a visual delight, reminding you that natural beauty is one of the main reasons you play golf and a major factor in deciding which course to play."

The first round of the three-day, 54-hole stroke play begins on Tuesday, May 21 as Davenport will tee off starting at 12:10 PM. Melissa Walker will be first off for the Panthers followed every 10 minutes by ThaiLee Gerding (12:20), Hannah Robinson (12:30), Hannah Meloche (12:40), and Lauren Gervais (12:50). The Panthers will be joined in threesomes by Nova Southeastern and Cal State San Marcos in the final pairings of the day. Nova Southeastern is currently ranked No. 6 in Division II and Cal State San Marcos is ranked No. 14. Top-ranked Dallas Baptist gets underway at 8:20 AM and second-ranked Flagler College will tee off starting at 10:30 AM. In total, nine of the top 10 nationally-ranked teams will be in the field. At the conclusion of stroke play, the top eight teams will go head-to-head in medal match play over the final two days of competition.

Meloche is coming off her best tournament of the season at the East Regional where she placed in a tie for eighth out of 81 golfers. She shot a season-low 72 in the opening round and finished at 227. Meloche has the second-best career scoring average (min. 30 rounds) at Davenport with 79.4 in 122 rounds. Gervais has carried the lowest scoring average on the team this season (77.6) and placed in the top 10 at five tournaments. She also has four tournaments in which she finished in the top five. She currently holds the school record with a 77.6 scoring average in 56 rounds. Robinson and Gerding have both performed very well as freshmen this season. Robinson tied for sixth at the GLIAC Championships (Apr. 19-20) and carries a 79.9 average in 28 rounds this season. Gerding is averaging 80.7, but has performed at a higher level recently finishing in a tie for 15th at the GLIAC Championships (76-80) and she also shot a 75 in the second round of the East Regional. Walker is averaging 81.4 this season and has shot in the 70's eight times including a 75-79 in the GLIAC Championships to tie for 11th place.

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