OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University women's golf team will head to Phoenix this weekend to take part in Grand Canyon's GCU Spring Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24, at Grand Canyon University Golf Course.
 
The 54-hole, two-day event will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. MT each day. The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Saturday and the final 18 on Sunday. Live scoring will be available throughout the duration of the event at GolfStat.com. 
 
The full field will consist of a total of 20 teams with competitors from WAC foes GCU, California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Seattle U and UVU, as well as Creighton, CSUN, Eastern Washington, Hawaii, Lamar, McNeese State, Montana State, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, Toledo and UC Riverside.
 
The Wolverines will enter the GCU Spring Invite off of an 11th-place finish out of 15 teams at UC Riverside's Battle at the Rock in UVU's first tournament of the spring on Feb. 11-12. Utah Valley finished with a 54-hole total of 45-over-par 909 (305-305-299), which marked UVU's seventh-best 54-hole score in program history. 
 
Senior Carly Dehlin Hirsch led the way for the Wolverines by posting her best finish of the season by tying for third with a 1-over-par 217. After carding scores of 73 and 75 during the event's first two rounds, Dehlin Hirsch managed to piece together a final-round 3-under-par 69 to record the third-place finish. The 69 marked Dehlin Hirsch's third career round in the 60s and her 54-hole total of 1-over 217 was just one stroke back of her collegiate best score of 216.
 
Junior Kaylee Shimizu was next for UVU at the team's first tournament of the spring by tying for 36th with a 10-over-par 226 (76-73-77). 
 
Dehlin Hirsch, Shimizu, freshman Nathalie Irlbacher, junior transfer Kate Williamson and sophomore Keila Baladad will make up UVU's lineup for the GCU Spring Invitational. 
 
A season ago at the GCU Invite, Dehlin Hirsch won her first collegiate tournament by sharing individual medalist honors with a 3-over-par 219 (74-73-72). Her teammate and fellow current UVU senior Ana Raga finished right behind her by tying for third with a 5-over-par 221 (75-72-74) while Baladad too recorded a top-10 finish taking ninth with a 7-over 223 (75-75-73).
 
As a team, UVU finished second at last year's GCU Invitational with a 25-over-par 889 (300-297-292). The 889 marked the program's fourth-best 54-hole score in UVU women's golf history. The Wolverine finished just two strokes back of Portland State, who won the 2018 event with a 23-over-par 887 (296-304-287). 
 
Following this weekend's tournament, Utah Valley will next head to St. George, Utah, for a pair of in-state events. The Wolverines will first take part in the BYU at Entrada Classic at Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club on March 11-12 before closing the week at Southern Utah's Pizza Hut Lady Thunderbird Invitational on March 14-15 at Sunbrook Golf Club.