Senior Nannette Hill fired a 1-under 71 to lead the Wake Forest women's golf team to a 300 yesterday in the second round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championships at the Caves Valley Golf Club.
Hill is one of just four players under par after 36-holes. She is tied for second and is two shots behind leader Maria Jose Uribe of UCLA.
Uribe made five birdies and an eagle in her round of 6-under 66, which was the lowest of the tournament.
Pepperdine's Lisa McCloskey shot a 69 and Denver's Stephanie Sherlock shot a 73. Jennifer Song of Southern Cal is alone in fifth place at 1-over 145 while three players are tied for sixth with 146 totals: UCF's Stephanie Connelly, Purdue's Maria Hernandez and Oklahoma State's Pernilla Lindberg.
The Deacons, after shooting a 303 in the afternoon on Tuesday, went out in the first group off the front nine yesterday but got off to a slow start. They were 9 over through the first eight holes but regrouped and finished the last ten holes at 4 over.
"We played a little bit better today, but we still left a few shots out there," said Coach Dianne Dailey of Wake Forest. "We got off to a really slow start and I'm happy with the way the students hung in there on the back nine. We could have let things get away from us there in the middle of the round, but they stayed focused and finished up well."
"I think we'll be OK heading into tomorrow. Everyone has a good attitude and they're confident about their games. We just need to stay patient because there are still two rounds to go."
The winds picked up in the afternoon and so did the scores. Wake Forest moved up to seventh place by the end of the day, at 27-over, five shots out of third place.
Hill made three birdies in her first five holes to jump to 3-under par and was atop the leaderboard. She bogeyed the par-4 sixth to fall back to 2-under and then made five straight pars to put herself 2-under through 11 holes.
"I was hitting the ball really good all day," said Hill. "I had some tap-in birdies early on that helped me get going but overall I've been playing pretty conservative. This is a course where you have to let the birdies come to you and not try to force anything. If you get too aggressive, you can three-putt or put yourself in a bad spot real easily. You just have to play smart out here and try to hit fairways and greens."
Led by Uribe's 66, UCLA has taken the team lead after a tournament-best round of 5-over 293. The Bruins hold a 7-shot edge over Pac 10 rival Southern Cal.
Denver, the first-round leader, is third at 22 over while Arizona State, Oklahoma State and North Carolina are all tied for fourth at 24 over.
North Carolina, playing in the first afternoon wave, was 1 under on the front nine and led the 24-team field much of the day. But North Carolina faltered on the back nine, finishing at 13-over 301. North Carolina is 11 shots behind UCLA with two rounds to play.
"We started out playing real well on the front nine," said Coach Sally Austin of UNC. "We lost a few shots on the back. The back side plays tougher and the wind picked up a bit this afternoon, but we're still in a great position. We're pleased to be where we are."
North Carolina's Sydney Crane and Catherine O'Donnell are tied for ninth place with three-over 147 totals. Crane, a senior from Jamestown, had the best round of the day for Tar Heels, firing an even-par 72. O'Donnell, the co-leader entering the second round, carded a five-over 77 yesterday.
Wake Forest will be paired with UNC and LSU in the third round today. The teams will tee off at 12:50 this afternoon.
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