Lady Wave golf grabs 5th in Northern 3A

Three tournaments into its season the Lady Wave golf team kept its fifth-place seat in Division 3A at the South Tahoe Invitational tournament on Monday night.

While Elko still reigns at No. 1 just above Spring Creek and South Tahoe, Fallon coach Sandy Vanderbeek expressed pride in her players, particularly her No. 1 and No. 2 golfers Kim Park and Alli Lister who swung for 126 and 127 respectively.

“We’re looking to send two of our girls to state as individuals and as a team overall it looks like Elko, Lowry and Spring Creek will make it overall as teams,” Vanderbeek said of her long-term expectations for this season. “Those three are the toughest and in the lead. But our girls are making strides and making improvements every week.”

The Lady Wave hosts the next tournament at home on the Fallon Golf Course, Tuesday at 11 a.m., a welcomed familiar course where the team typically lowers averages across the board with a leisurely morning in its own territory.

While next year is another chance for some of this year’s strong beginners to continue bringing scores down readying for state, Vanderbeek was clear that this year Fallon wouldn’t be able to catch a big name like Elko, though, her aspirations for improving team averages are high as always.

“What we’re hoping to do is to stay ahead of Dayton and catch up to Fernley, those two teams are the biggest,” she said, remaining ahead of Dayton post Monday while still a spot away from Fernley.

The South Tahoe course presented a number of hazards which the team had to carry across, a mentally tough ordeal on Fallon, Vanderbeek said, adding to her pride in their position.

“Our girls handled it well,” she said. “There were teams which lost lots and lots of balls and our girls comparatively only lost so many. They did a good job staying clear of hazards for the most part which helps keep penalty shots down.”

While some of this year’s weaknesses include working on getting shots closer to the green and putting, Vanderbeek said practices will focus on chipping and good putting opportunities while ensuring each swing is consistent to keep progress moving forward.

“Some of our strengths are our girls shots are getting longer shots and their drives are keeping their accuracy, and we’re staying out of trouble,” she said. “That’s our goal, staying out of trouble.”