Lady Tigers 5th In Golf InvitationalCoach Tad Nieter isn't afraid to schedule his Warsaw girls golf team to play some of the best competition in the state.
That's evident by the tournament the Lady Tigers hosted at Rozella Ford Saturday, and the tournament they'll play in this weekend at Sandy Pines Golf Club where 15 of the 18 teams are ranked in the statewide poll.
The Lady Tigers' varsity squad finished fifth out of 11 teams in the Warsaw Invitational Saturday, shooting a four-player team score of 378. The Warsaw black team, the program's JV squad, finished eighth at 400.
Fourth-ranked Homestead won the team title with a blistering score of 303, followed in the top five by NorthWood (328), Lafayette Jeff (334), Bremen (376) and Warsaw.
Triton finished 10th as a team with a 453.
“I purposely pair our girls with those teams, just to give them that exposure, especially with our JV girls to be paired with Lafayette Jeff," Nieter said of the stiff competition in Warsaw's tournament.
“It’s nice for our team to see that it’s not just local teams that are decent. There are teams that are an hour or two hours away that are blowing up the field. The fourth-ranked team in the state (Homestead) is here, and we’ve played with them twice already.”
Homestead won the tournament with scores of 72, 74, 78 and 79.
The Lady Spartans’ fifth player carded an 82, a score that would have led most of the teams in the field.
Homestead’s Maddi Dabagia was the medalist with a 72, Lafayette Jeff’s Megan Donahue was second at 73, and Homestead’s Simone Senk finished third individually at 74.
Lakeland Christian Academy's Abigail Fishel, playing as an individual, shot 89 and had the best score among local competitors.
The Lady Tigers were led by the 91 of freshman Marie Frazzetta, who played with Warsaw’s JV squad.
Frazzetta’s 91 was an 18-hole personal best.
“That’s huge for her,” Nieter said of Frazzetta’s performance. “I just got done talking to her, and I think this is really going to encourage her and she can use it as a building block for the rest of the season. It’s huge for her.”
Warsaw’s varsity squad was led by Julia Hildebrand, Miriam Hagg and Izzy Ray, each of whom shot 94.
Madelyn Ray and Grayson Kilburn shot 96 and 97, respectively, for the Lady Tigers.
“We were hoping for something a little better today,” said Nieter. “We’re trying to break this 90-mold that we’re going through. We’ve been shooting mid- to high-90s the whole year. We’d like to start breaking that 90 and trend toward lower scores.”
Delanie Groves and Samantha Edington led Triton with 107s, while Alysha May and Maddie Ritchison shot 114 and 124, respectively.
The Lady Tigers are in action again today when they open Northern Lakes Conference play on the road against Plymouth.
Triton will play at Bremen Wednesday, with Valley making it a triangular match.
WARSAW INVITATIONAL
(Rozella Ford, par 70)
Team Scores – Homestead 303, NorthWood 328, Lafayette Jeff 334, Bremen 376, Warsaw orange 378, Bellmont 396, Chesterton 400, Warsaw black 400, Plymouth 416, Triton 452, Mishawaka 540
Medalist – Maddi Dabagia (Homestead) 72
Warsaw orange – Julia Hildebrand 94, Miriam Hagg 94, Izzy Ray 94, Madelyn Ray 96, Grayson Kilburn 97
Warsaw black – Marie Frazzetta 91, Sydney Lancaster 97, Delaney Byron 99, Izzie Vantwoud 113, Brooklyn Fitzgerald 129, Bethany Johnson 136
