FRESNO, Calif. – The FGCU women's golf team carded a score of 310 Monday afternoon in the first round of the Fresno State Classic at the San Joaquin Country Club. The Eagles stand 10th in the highly-competitive field after seeing strong play despite tough conditions.
 
The tournament was originally slated for 54 holes including two rounds Monday but heavy rain washed out Monday morning's round. The teams teed off at noon Pacific Time for one round and will conclude play Tuesday morning with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
 
FGCU's plus-22 team score of 310 places the Eagles 10th in the field of 15 teams. The Eagles stand just five strokes out of Seattle's ninth-place score and 10 strokes out of the top-six. Host Fresno State holds the lead with a 2-under score of 286 through one round, while Boise State, Santa Clara, New Mexico State and Georgetown round out the top-five. The Eagles finished round one ahead of Rutgers, Sacramento State, Montana, Grand Canyon and Idaho.
 
"The first nine holes were subpar," said head coach Sarah Trew. "We were plus-15 as a team and put ourselves into a big hole. On the back nine, we started to settle down and got some things rolling but we need to step up our intensity. It's not for a lack of talent, but we need to find a way to get the ball in the hole when we don't have our best stuff. Our goal for tomorrow is to grind over every shot and make a move up the leaderboard."
 
The Eagles were led by a trio of players who fired first-round scores of 77 and finished the round among the field's top-40 players.
 
Senior Mei Khuan Yong (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia/ S.M.K. Cochrane) and freshmen Madeline Marck-Sherk (Ridgeway, Ontario/Ridgeway Crystal Beach High School) and Kelsy Holbert (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner High School) all finished the round at plus-5 to lead the Green and Blue.
 
Yong was even through her first three holes but picked up four strokes over the next three-hole span. The senior went on to shoot five-straight even holes and added just one stroke through her last seven holes to take the 77 in the first round.
 
Marck-Sherk was also even through her first three holes but struggled on holes 13 and 14, with a double on each. The freshman added a stroke on 18 to make the turn at plus-5 but quickly responded with a birdie on 2. Marck-Sherk finished the round with six-consecutive even-par holes and one final bogey to match Yong with a 77.
 
Holbert also matched Yong's 77 to tie for 38th in the field of over 80 golfers. The rookie carded a double on her first hole but rebounded well with nine-straight even holes and a birdie on hole 3. She added another three par scores and went into her final three holes at plus-1 but carded a double and two bogeys to finish the round at plus-5.
 
Sophomore Madison Easterbrook (Burlington, Ontario/Aldershot High School) rounded out the team's scorers with a sub-80 round for FGCU. Easterbrook picked up five strokes on her first seven holes before playing eight even holes and settling in. She added two bogeys in her final three holes to finish at plus-7 with a first-round score of 79.
 
Megan Blonien (Altus, Okla./Altus High School/Oklahoma State) completed the lineup for the Eagles with a first-round score of 82.
 
The Green and Blue will continue action at the Fresno State Classic Tuesday, Mar. 8. The team will pair with Seattle, Rutgers and Sacramento State and will tee off on holes 9-12 at 8:30 a.m. PT. Live scoring for the Fresno State Classic will be available through GolfStat and can be found by clicking here. Complete results will be available at FGCUAthletics.com following the round.
 
TEAM RESULTS

1	Fresno State	286
2	Boise State	293
3	Santa Clara	295
4	New Mexico State	298
5	Georgetown	299
T6	CSU Fullerton	300
T6	Nevada	300
8	Portland State	302
9	Seattle	305
10	FGCU	310
11	Rutgers	313
T12	Sacramento State	314
T12	Montana	314
14	Grand Canyon	319
D	Idaho	D

 
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

T38	Mei Khuan Yong	77
T38	Madeline Marck-Sherk	77
T38	Kelsy Holbert	77
T54	Madison Easterbrook	79
T75	Megan Blonien	82

 
 
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU women's golf program, follow on Twitter at @FGCU_WGolf and on Facebook at /FGCUWGolf.       
 
Head coach Sarah Trew enters her fifth season at the helm of the FGCU women's golf team. Trew took over in 2011 and has since guided the Eagles to the program's best-ever finish in the Atlantic Sun Tournament and to 20+ top-10 finishes. A year ago, Trew led the team to several records on and off the course. The 2013-14 squad set a new single-season scoring record with a team average of 307.88, while also setting a new benchmark academically. The team earned a team grade point average of 3.8 in the fall semester and set the FGCU team record with a 3.92 during the spring of 2014. The spring of 2015 saw the Eagles again take third place at the A-Sun Championship, and recording their best team score of the season.