The Kent State women’s golf team expects to compete for another Mid-American Conference championship as it tees-off for another season.

“Overall, we’re really excited,” assistant coach Jan Dowling said. “We have four very good returning players and a very good freshman coming in.”

A strong lineup returns for the defending MAC champions, the team’s ninth in a row. Kira Meixner won the individual MAC championship and is back for her senior season. Tara Delaney also returns for her senior season after playing well all season and finishing second. Juniors Kirby Dreher and Maddi Swaney both finished in the top ten.

In June, Meixner won the British Columbia Women’s Amateur Championship and Dreher finished sixth.

“There is a ton of great leadership on this team,” Dowling said. “They were great leaders last year in the spring, and they will be great leaders in the fall.”

The Flashes will be joined by top recruit Martina Gavier. The South American amateur champion is the first South American golfer in the team’s history. She is both the national and junior match play champion in Argentina.

College golf is different from other sports in that golfers compete in both the fall and the spring, so the players stay sharp by playing in the summer.

“You prepare for the fall in the summer,” Dowling said. “If you didn’t have a great summer, you prepare for a good fall. If you did have a good summer, you hope to carry that momentum into the fall tournaments.”

The team has four tournaments in the fall. The first is the 54-hole Mary Fossum Invitational Sept. 8th in East Lansing, Mich.

Contact sports reporter Jeff Russ at [email protected].