Huskers Earn NCAA Regional Bid

The Nebraska women’s golf team earned its second NCAA Regional bid in the past three seasons, when the Huskers heard their name called as the No. 10 seed in the Raleigh Regional (May 8-10) during the NCAA Selection Show live on The Golf Channel Wednesday afternoon.

The Huskers, who also advanced to the 2021 NCAA Regional in Columbus, Ohio, will be making their 13th overall NCAA Regional appearance as a team. Jeanne Sutherland, who is in her first season as Nebraska’s head coach, will be leading her 19th team to an NCAA Regional bid. Her last trip to an NCAA Regional, most recently at SMU.

Nebraska will compete in a 12-team regional field at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, N.C. Wake Forest earned the No. 1 seed in the regional, while Arizona State, Florida State, Florida and Arizona completed the top five seeds. North Texas, TCU, the hosts from NC State and fellow Big Ten foe Purdue, join Nebraska, Campbell and Richmond in North Carolina.

“It was great to hear our name called today to represent Nebraska and the Big Ten. We are excited to go and compete and have a chance at the NCAA Finals,” Sutherland said. “We had our ups and downs this year and learned as much from playing poorly as we have from playing well.”

Kelli Ann Strand (Challis, Idaho) will lead the Huskers on the course at the NCAA Regional. Strand, who earned All-Big Ten honors while posting a Nebraska freshman record 71.94 stroke average through 35.5 rounds, will try to add to her list of nine top-25 finishes and six top-10 showings in 2022-23.

Graduate student Megan Whittaker (Elkhorn, Neb.) and Michaela Vavrova (Bojnice, Slovakia) will be making their second NCAA Regional appearances, while junior Lindsey Thiele (Wahoo, Neb.), sophomore Miu Takahashi (Nasu-machi, Japan) and sophomore Andrea Velez (Pereira, Colombia) could compete in their first NCAA Regional.

The Huskers enter the tournament ranked No. 50 nationally by Golfweek and No. 56 by GolfStat in the most recent rankings.

Defending national champion Stanford, Texas A&M, Wake Forest, LSU, South Carolina and Mississippi State claimed the six No. 1 seeds in the 72-team tournament field.

Nebraska is among eight Big Ten Conference teams in the field, joining Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.

NCAA Raleigh Regional

Lonnie Poole Golf Course

Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: NC State)

May 8-10, 2023

1. Wake Forest
2. Arizona State
3. Florida State
4. Florida
5. Arizona
6. North Texas
7. TCU
8. NC State
9. Purdue
10. Nebraska
11. Campbell
12. Richmond