After a second place finish in the Southern Illinois Saluki Invitational a week ago, the Ball State University women's golf team will head to Columbus, Ind., for the Indiana Invitational.
The field contains six Big Ten teams, including the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa. Both of those teams were defeated by the Cardinals in the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational this past fall.
Coach Katherine Mowat said she was not too worried about the tough competition in the field.
"My team really loves good competition and that's exactly what this tournament provides us with," Mowat said. "Knowing that we have had some success against some teams in the field gets us that much more excited to compete."
Sophomore Brittany Kelly said she shares her coach's excitement for playing against strong competition. "I think we are all looking forward to this tournament," Kelly said. "The field at [Columbus] is very strong and it would be nice to see how we stack up against some of the bigger teams. I am excited and looking forward to playing against some Big Ten teams."
With a much better field in this tournament, Mowat said there is less pressure on Ball State.
"I would say definitely that there aren't any expectations," Mowat said. "I would say there isn't any pressure. We just want to play well. Whether our playing great puts us at the top of this field or somewhere in the middle, as long as we play well both as individuals and as a team we will be happy."
The field in the tournament is on par with the first two tournaments the Cardinals competed in this spring. The team finished in the middle of the pack in both tournaments.
Both of those tournaments were a far away from Muncie. The Rio Verde Invitational was in Rio Verde, Ariz., and the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate was in Kiawah, S.C.
In the 2008-09 academic year Ball State has played in five tournaments in the Midwest. The team's average finish in those tournaments is second, with two tournament victories and no finishes outside the top four. In states outside of the Midwest, however, the Cardinals finish in an average place of 14th.
Ball State will look to keep its Midwest success going at a golf course that "really suits most of the team," Mowat said.
Ball State tees off at 8:30 a.m. to play the first of two rounds on Monday. The tournament will finish up on Tuesday with one round.
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