THE BASICS
The Drake Bulldogs women's golf team has an opportunity to write their name in history as the Missouri Valley Conference Championship tees off at the Greenbriar Hills Country Club (Par 71| 5,830 yards) in St. Louis, Mo. The golfers will play 54 holes over three days with the first round beginning on Sunday April 17 at 10 a.m. (CT). Second round will begin on Monday April 18 at 8 a.m. (CT) starting at hole one. While the third round will start at 8 a.m. (CT) with split tees on April 19. 
 
THE FIELD 
All Missouri Valley Conference teams (Missouri State, Illinois State, Bradley, UNI, Southern Illinois, Loyola, Evansville, Indiana State, and Valparaiso) will go head-to-head during the three day tournament. Favored to win it all this year in the preseason poll are the Missouri State Bears who finished in the top-11 in all five of their tournaments. Senior Abby Cavaiani has been crucial to the Bears success, as she leads the MVC in scoring average at 74.07. Projected to finish second is the Illinois State Redbirds with junior Ali Schrock having a historical season. Schrock, who was just named MVC Golfer of the Week for the third time this year, is shooting 74.7 strokes per round which is the third best in team history. 
 
BULLDOGS GAIN MOMENTUM 
Coming off of one of their best overall tournaments, the Bulldogs are hitting their stride at the right time. Drake finished tied for first (runner-up via tiebreaker with Illinois State) at the Redbird Invitational on Saturday April 9. Senior Sam Paulak finished second overall while shooting a team low 72. Paulak is joined by fellow senior Haeri Lee who knocked in a tournament best nine birdies on her way to tie for sixth. The two seniors found success last season at the MVC Championship as Lee finished in a tie for 8th place and Paulak finished at a tie for 25th. In February's preseason poll the Bulldogs were projected to finish 6th in the MVC. 
 
LINEUP
1-Haeri Lee
2-Kristen Giles
3-Sam Paulak
4-Aayushi Sarkar
5- Abby Marting