CHESTERTON, Ind. -- The Indiana State women's golf team heads out to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Sunday through Tuesday, April 14-16 hosted by Valparaiso. The event will be held over the par-72, 6,084-yard layout of the Sand Creek Country Club. In pre-tournament voting by the league head coaches, the Sycamores have been picked to finish sixth this season.

The championship commences on Sunday beginning at 9:30 a.m. (ET). The winner of the MVC's 54-hole championship will advance to the NCAA Regionals. Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com as well as a link at the top of this article.

The Sycamores are picked to finish sixth in the event garnering 54 total votes in the official pre tournament poll. Missouri State was picked to win with 91 points while Bradley is second at 83. Southern Illinois was predicted to finish third with 78 points while UNI is fourth with 60 and Illinois State is just ahead fo the Sycamores with 58 points. ISU is picked to finish ahead of Drake (50), Loyola (39), Evansville (25) and Valparaiso (12). This event is the first for the Crusaders in which they play host to a Valley Championship.

"This conference championship looks to be one of the tightest races in years," head coach Greg Towne said. "The venue is the most difficult we have had for a conference championship. The weather prediction promises a wild event that will probably have multiple delays and days where we play extra holes. The importance of maturity and resilience will be at a premium. I think we have the team to accomplish that. We will have 3 seniors and 2 juniors with plenty of moxie."

ISU will use the lineup of Thilda Staubo, Sierra Hargens, Sophie Benetti, Kayla Ryan and Abigail Irwin. That lineup led ISU to a tie for fourth place at the ISU Spring Invitational last week at The Country Club of Terre Haute one week after finishing second at the Saluki Invitational.

ISU's top finisher was senior Thilda Staubo who posted rounds of 73 and 75 for a total of 148 and a tie for eighth place. That was just six shots off the the lead. Irwin is coming off a career-best round of 74 on Monday in the final round where she recorded the fourth hole-in-one in the program's history on No. 16 at the Sycamores' home course.

Staubo enters the tournament with a 77.41 shots per round average which ranks 10th-best in the league. Against a tough field filled with MVC competition at the Saluki Invitational, Staubo dominated the event to win by eight shots, including tying a career-best with a round of 70. Sierra Hargens is ranked 13th in the league with a 77.81 shots per round average. Four of the Sycamores' in the starting lineup rank in or near the Top 40 in the league this season.

Valley teams will be playing the Creek and Marsh courses at Sand Creek Country Club. The first of the three nine-hole courses at Sand Creek, the Creek Course is wrapped around the curves of Sand Creek and Lake Billington, into which the creek feeds. The course's highlights include the par 4 third hole, which allows long hitters the option of carrying the eastern edge of the lake from the tee. The fourth (right), a par 3, plays 190 yards over water from the back tees to a tiered green.

Over all, the course puts a premium on club selection and accuracy, while winds off Lake Michigan, just north of Sand Creek, often come into play. Sand Creek's Marsh Course was opened for play in spring, 1995 and has already hosted legendary golfer Tom Kite and served as the track for the 1995 Northern and Northern Senior Amateur. The course is characterized by extensive wetlands, creeks, ponds, and rolling terrain. The third (right), a par 4, plays through a narrow throat to a green guarded by a pond and waterfall. The next hole plays through a valley to a green that is virtually an island, bordered behind by wetlands and in front by a bunker and Sand Creek.