PHOENIX – After taking part in an impromptu Dual in the Desert against Portland State on Thursday, Utah Valley University women's golf will remain in Arizona to participate in the GCU Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 22-23, at Grand Canyon University Golf Course.
 
The two-day, 54-hole event will consist of 36 holes of action on Saturday and the final 18 on Sunday. Action will get underway each day at 8 a.m. MT with a shot gun start. Live scoring will be available throughout the duration of the event by visiting GolfStat.com.
 
A total of 14 teams are scheduled to participate in the 2020 GCU Invite. Besides the Wolverines and host Lopes, fellow WAC schools California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield and Seattle U will also take part in the event, as well as Eastern Washington, Hawaii, Montana State, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona, Portland State, Southern Utah, UC Riverside and UTEP. Fourteen more individuals are also slated to compete at the GCU Invite. 
 
After having UC Riverside's Battle at the Rock cancelled due to heavy winds to open the spring season last week, the Wolverines then scheduled a dual tune-up against Portland State on Thursday at Talking Stick Golf Club. The Vikings managed to pull out a tightly contested 18-hole dual by a score of 6 ½ to 5 ½. 
 
In the Ryder Cup-style scored dual event, the first six holes of foursomes, or alternate shot, ended in a tie at 1 ½ to 1 ½. Each team won a match and the third was a tie. UVU won the four-ball segment, 2-1 to have 3 ½ to 2 ½ lead going into the individual matches. PSU then took the individual matches, 4-2, on the final six holes to claim the dual.  
 
Kate Williamson, Bailey Henley and Nathalie Irlbacher led the way for UVU against PSU by winning both sets of their six holes, while Kaylee Shimizu and Keila Baladad tied against PSU's Valarie Hernandez and McKenna Vanko by winning one set of six and dropping the other set. Baladad and Lauren Taylor also won as individuals fort the Wolverines by respective scores of 1-up and 3 and 2. 
 
The 2019 All-WAC performer and senior Shimizu leads UVU on the season with a 73.87 scoring average, while the sophomore Irlbacher follows with a 74.60 clip. Fellow senior Williamson is next with a 75.33 scoring average. Shimizu also paces the Wolverines with four top-25 finishes on the year. 

Shimizu, Victoria Estrada, Taylor, Irlbacher and Williamson will play for the Wolverines at the GCU Invite, while Henley and Baladad will compete as individuals. 
 
Following the GCU Invite, UVU will return to the state of Utah to take part at the BYU at Entrada Classic at Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George on March 9-10.