Strudwick unveils spring docket

VIDEO: Suzanne Strudwick Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With three-straight top-three performances to its name this season, the Carson-Newman women's golf team looks to keep that success going as it sets its sights on the spring slate that was released by coach Suzanne Strudwick on Thursday.

The Eagles reached a milestone in the fall as they broke into the top 25 of Golfstat's national poll for the first time in program history, sitting at 25^th the week of Oct. 17.

"Our team started to solidify who they were, their own identity and culture started to come out," Strudwick said. "And towards the end, I think we definitely saw who our top five, our top four were. Five, six and seven players, there's a little battle going on for those spots. That's all you can ask for a coach coming into now the little bit of a break.

"The culture and the work ethic of the girls is tremendous. They're all continuing to practice and keep up working hard so I'm looking for the same."

The five-event schedule begins with an event in the Sunshine State before back-to-back tournaments in South Carolina and Georgia. A week break will bring the team back to the Volunteer State followed by a trip to North Carolina to close out the regular season just a week later. From there, the Orange and Blue will head back to the Tar Heel State for the South Atlantic Conference Championship.

Spring kicks-off the second week of February with a jaunt to Jacksonville, Fla. for the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate, hosted by conference foe Lincoln Memorial, at the Golf Club at South HHampton This will be Carson-Newman's second-straight appearance in the event after taking an eighth-place finish a year ago.

Two weeks later, the Eagles will head to the Palmetto Dunes Resort in Hilton Head, S.C. for Barton's Battle at Hilton Head Island. The inaugural event will take place Feb. 25 and 26.

"(That event is) one for me that I'm looking forward to because it will probably have the most conference teams in it," Strudwick said. "So, being the second event the last week in February will really give us a good insight as to what not only we're doing but also what the other teams are doing."

March will be a busy month for Strudwick's group, starting with the Lady Cougar Classic on March 4 and 5 at the Country Club of Columbia. This is the first time Carson-Newman has traveled to the Peach State since 2015 and the first appearance in the event since a 10^th place finish in 2013.

From March 17 to 19, the Eagles will hit the short road west on I-40 to Sevierville for its fourth showing at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate, hosted by Division-I Tennessee Tech. C-N finished sixth at the Sevierville Golf Club last year and has not seen a top-five finish in the three-day long event since landing at fourth in 2017.

The regular season wraps up a week later at the Sunoco Campbell Oil Classic hosted by UNC Pembroke in Wallace, N.C. This is the third-consecutive year the Eagles have taken part in the tournament, landing in the top-five of the field in both of the previous outings. Last year, Carson-Newman finished fifth with Anna Davenport (Roswell, Ga.) garnering a fifth-place finish as well. The year before that, C-N was the second-best team in the field after 54-holes of play.

"(I want to see) our upperclassmen, seniors Taylor Hayes and Anna Davenport, that they show some leadership in those events, talk to the freshmen that I have that have made the team about those courses during practice rounds," Strudwick said. "We've talked about being a lot more intentional. "We've identified some areas in our practice rounds that perhaps we need to focus on a little bit more and definitely in the tournament play."

Come the beginning of April, the Eagles head to the SAC Championship to begin postseason action. C-N has not obtained a conference crown since 2015 when it won its third. The prior two came in 2011 and 2009. On the individual side, the Orange and Blue have not seen one of its own win the tournament MVP title since Elizabeth England did so in 2017. The only other Eagle to win the tournament was Sarah Jane Sinard in 2009.

All of this will set the stage for the Eagles working to make a return to the NCAA Division II South Super Regional. C-N has sent an individual to the tournament the past two seasons but the team as a whole has not appeared in the event since 2011.

For all of the latest news and notes surrounding the women's golf team, be sure to check back to cneagles.com and stay up to date with @CNAthletics on Twitter.

Feb. 11-12	Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate	The Golf Club at South Hampton	Saint Augustine, Fla.
Feb. 25-26	Battle at Hilton Head Island	Palmetto Dunes Resort	Hilton Head, S.C.
March 4-5	Lady Cougar Classic	Country Club of Columbus	Columbus, Ga.
March 17-19	Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate	Sevierville Golf Club – Highlands	Sevierville, Tenn.
March 25-26	Sunoco Campbell Oil Classic	River Landings Golf Club	Wallace, N.C.
April 7-9	SAC Championship	Lake Hickory Country Club	Hickory, N.C.
May 6-8	NCAA South Super Regional	Cleveland Country Club	Cleveland, Tenn.
May 15-18	NCAA National Championships	PGA National Resort	Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.