JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – After a difficult start to the season at the Ross Rollins Invitational that saw them compete with some of the top programs in the country, the Carson-Newman women's golf team will make the short trip to the Bristol Country Club in Bristol, Tennessee for the King Intercollegiate this week.

This will be the fourth straight year the King Tornado has hosted this event, but it's C-N's first opportunity to play in the tournament.

"My expectations are high," Golf Coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "I want to win it. I think we have the talent and if we can play up to that level, we can win. Queens (N.C.) will be there and they're the ones who nipped us by a couple of shots for the conference [last year]. It's not going to be easy. We have to play to the best of our ability, but I expect the girls to do that."

At Rollins, the Eagles placed 10^th while the invitational was won by the host school, Rollins College, who are also the defending national champions. The tournament, which was a 54-hole affair, also included five other schools who were ranked in the top 14 in the NCAA's final regional poll in spring 2016.

"That was not a good performance for us," Strudwick said. "We struggled right out of the gate. It was like throwing a bunch of kids into the deep end of the pool. The girls had a good summer of competition, but we'd only had a week of practice before that. I was hoping we'd be a little bit better than we were, but we can only get better."

Sophomore Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.) was the low scorer for Carson-Newman, as she tied for 31^st place and was the only C-N golfer to shoot two rounds under 80. Junior Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.), who finished just one stroke behind Hayes after 54 holes, shot her team's best round of the tournament, with a 75 during round two.

Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) got her first taste of collegiate competition at the Ross Rollins Invitational and finished tied for 34^th. Jessica Hart (Roanoke, Va.) completed the invitational tied for 53^rd place and freshman Allie Fletcher (Cumming, Ga.) placed 60^th.

"They're totally ready," Strudwick said. "We had qualifying on Monday and Tuesday and, for the first time ever, I had four girls in the 70s and those are the lowest qualifying scores we've had since I've been a coach. They've done some hard work and put in the hours."

The King Intercollegiate is a two day event, with each day involving 18 holes. Last year's event was won by Pfeiffer University with a score of +18. A rundown of the action on both days of the intercollegiate will be published on cneagles.com.

-CN-