Saint Mary's will compete in its last tournament before playing its first NCAA qualifying match when they tee off at the Tri-State Invitational event this weekend in Angola, Ind.
The Belles have some ground to make up after finishing third in the MIAA conference during the fall season.
The first two tournaments of the spring season have yielded discouraging results.
In their first event, the St. Andrews Invitational, the Belles finished 10th place out of 11 teams.
The second event was more of the same. In the Northern Kentucky Invitational, the Belles finished 18th out of 21 teams.
The competition levels in these tournaments are much higher than what they will be facing in the NCAA qualifier. Both tournaments included numerous Div. II opponents and top-ranked Div. III foes.
Belles coach Mark Hamilton believes his team has a good shot to be successful in the upcoming national qualifiers.
"The way I see it, we have a week and a half to shave off about ten strokes from our total before the qualifier tournament," said Hamilton. "But I think we have worked harder than our competition and have made the necessary improvements to catch and surpass them."
The Belles are led by their senior captain Katie O'Brien who has shot the lowest score in every tournament so far this season. Freshman Rosie O'Connor has stepped us as a solid No. 2 for Saint Mary's finishing right behind O'Brien in both spring tournaments.
