HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – After beginning the three-round tournament in fifth place, Appalachian State University women's golf was unable to remain in the top-5, as the Mountaineers placed eighth at the Southern Conference Championships on Tuesday at Moss Creek Golf Club.
Appalachian closed the final round with its largest team score of the tournament with a 320 (+32) to add on to its two-round total of 621 (+45) to finish with a 941 (+77). Chattanooga captured its third-straight team championships with an 895 (+31), six shots better than runner-up, Furman.
For the tournament, senior Rumbidzai Masamvu led the Appalachian lineup after getting off to a slow start to begin the event. Masamvu turned in a three-round total of 80-76-77=233 (+17) and tied for 19th place.
Seniors Yue Xu and Lauren Smith closely followed Masamvu, as Xu scored an 80-77-77=234 (+18), tying for 22nd place, while Smith posted a 77-76-82=235 (+19) for her tournament campaign.
After leading the Mountaineers on the opening day, sophomore Haley Zagoria was unable to get back on track, recording a 76-79-84=239 (+23) and tying for 33rd place.
Senior Mimi Burke, who was disqualified after her second round for a scoring error, tallied a final round 84 (+12) to close out the tournament.
The Apps were five shots behind seventh-place finisher, Wofford, and just seven shots behind Elon, who placed sixth in the team standings.
The Mountaineers graduate four of the five members of this season's conference championship lineup, one of the largest graduating classes in the program's history.
