October 28, 2008 (UPDATED Oct. 29) –This week the UNLV Lady Rebel Golfers (Read on for 2nd round update) are hosting the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown at the beautiful Boulder Creek Golf Club, a 27-hole facility that is a strong presence in Las Vegas golf. And last week, stellar Rebel junior Natasha Krishna, the 59th-ranked player in the country, was featured by Golfweek. Among the revelations in the article was that she will be dressing up as Pocahontas for Halloween, and that she is searching for her first hole-in-one this year, after dropping two aces last season.
“Maybe I’ll be Pocahontas, because I have the long hair now and I can put it in braids," said Krishna, who opened with a 72 and was in 26th place after the first round at Boulder Creek Golf Club. "Usually I just end up going to the store and finding whatever I look good in and going as that. Last year, for four nights I was a mile-high captain, a sailor, a nurse and Pocahontas. My roommate is crazy about Halloween, so that’s what we do.” .
Krishna is a junior champion from New Zealand and is a two-time All-Mountain West Conference performer, and is among the school's leaders with a scoring average of just above 74. She won the Aloha Purdue Collegiate Invitational as a freshman, and has been named All-Academic performer as well.
2nd round UPDATE: On a nearly perfect day on the golf course, UNLV sophomore Therese Koelbaek was almost flawless, turning in the best score to par in Rebel women’s golf history during the second round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown on Tuesday. Koelbaek had just one slipup on the par-72, Boulder Creek Golf Club course, rolling in seven birdies against one bogey, which came on her final hole of the day, to close with a six-under 66. That set the school record, which was five-under, a mark shared by three former Rebel golfers and most recently accomplished in 2005 by Da Sol Chung. Koelbaek, who also tied the school record for low round with her 66, has a two-day total of 10-under 134 and is tied for second heading into Wednesday’s final round.
Koelbaek started her day with a birdie on the first hole and picked up two more to hit the turn at three under, but the native of Holte, Denmark, was just getting warmed up. She turned in a stretch of four birdies over five holes on No.12-16, and after a par on 17 was at seven under with one hole to go. Koelbaek bogied the finishing par-four 18th and had to settle for breaking the school record by one stroke.
"What a round for Therese, she played so strong today,” UNLV head coach Missy Ringler said. “It was great to watch her out on the course today. She held the team together today and we are excited for tomorrow’s final round.” Behind the phenomenal play of Koelbaek, the Rebels are in fifth place as a team with a score of five-under 571 after posting a second-round total of one-over 289. Koelbaek was not alone in shooting red numbers with 25 players turning in sub-par rounds.
No. 19 Pepperdine took advantage of the pristine scoring conditions and opened up a commanding team lead with a two-round score of 26-under 550 after the Wave shot an 18-under 270 today. Pepperdine has a 12-stroke lead over No. 16 Louisville. Lisa McCloskey of Pepperdine has the individual lead with a 12-under 132, two strokes ahead of Koelbaek and Anya Alvarez of Washington.
Rebel freshman Kristen Schelling (68-75—143, -1) is tied for 18th, junior Natasha Krishna (72-75—147, +3) is tied for 46th, sophomore Alejandra Guacaneme (74-74—148, +4) is tied for 53rd and Melissa Mabanta (76-74—150, +6) is tied for 63rd. UNLV fielded two teams and the Rebel “B” team is 18th after two rounds and is being led by Kasi Lee, who is tied for 83rd with a 155 (73-82, +11). Nicole McGirr (81-75—156, +12) is 85th, Stephanie Whatley (80-77—157, +13) is tied for 86th and Victoria Oros (80-80—160, +16) is tied for 89th. Rebel freshman Bethany Glassford was forced to withdraw from today’s round after she opened the tournament with a four-over 76 on Monday.