Team Scoring Final

Chico, CA -- Twice is nice, but the third time's a charm for the Academy of Art women's golf team as they took home their third straight tournament trophy, this time from the Lindsay Olive Wildcat Invitational at Chico State. The Knights shaved 17 strokes off of their first round score to leapfrog from third to first place in the final round, and rode sensational performances from Lyra Yoe (151) and Andrea Nieto (154), who finished in first and second place overall.

All five Urban Knights improved on their first-round score, as they outshot second place Grand Canyon 307 to 315 in the final round. Nieto (2nd) and Mariana Pazos (T19th) both had the best improvement, knocking six strokes apiece off of their first round efforts. Melissa Genao (37th) took a five-stroke improvement, and Crystal Superal (T7th) had an outstanding tournament, dropping from an 81 on the first day to a 77 to close out the tournament.

Nieto (74), Yoe (75), and Superal (77) had three of the top five scores in round two to secure the win. Brittany Penny (Grand Canyon), the co-leader after the first round, dropped seven strokes to fall to third place, and Audra Kepler (CSUMB), the other co-leader, shot eight strokes higher than Monday's score to drop to fifth.

Academy of Art won two tournaments in their first year as a program (2009-10), but those were both in fields of three. This year, their wins at Cal State San Marcos (nine teams), Cal State East Bay (six teams), and Chico State (seven teams) have been especially impressive. They'll be on the course again at the Doc Housewright Invitational in Granbury, TX on April 9-10.