The UNM women's golf team made progressions as the season went along and will get a chance to make its biggest progressive impact next weekend.
The Lobos will host this season's Mountain West Conference Tournament, which will be played at the UNM Championship Golf Course. The three-day tournament starts on April 17.
Senior golfer Alexandra Phelps said she is excited for the tournament to begin, especially since this is the first time UNM is hosting the event.
"Everything is coming together for us," Phelps said. "We have been practicing. We've been studying the breaks in the greens. But I feel that we have played this course so much that we are as prepared as we'll ever be."
Phelps, who was named Mountain West Conference Golfer of the Month for March, said this year's team has a good chance of capturing the conference championship for the first time since UNM joined the MWC.
"We've been talking about this all year," she said. "We have yet to win it since I have been here, so it would be nice to go out and win it in my senior year."
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The Lobos are coming off of a 10th-place finish in the PING/Arizona State Invitational on April 6.
Before that, UNM won the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, on March 19.
First-year head coach Jill Trujillo said she hopes the strong finish to the regular season will help propel her Lobos past the seven teams who compete in the conference tournament.
"Our expectations are to win the championship," she said. "It would be a big boost for us going into the regional site."
As of now, according to the National Golf Coaches Association Poll, the Lobos are ranked 21st headed into next week's event.
Trujillo said the rankings can help boost UNM's chances to get an NCAA Regional Championship bid.
"Rankings are important to get into the regional event," she said. "There are 64 teams who compete in regionals. Right now, we're really comfortable with our ranking."
Trujillo said the top eight teams from regionals go on to compete in the NCAA Tournament.
But the Lobos can't get caught looking ahead, she said.
"Our most important goal is focusing on this tournament and this course," she said. "It's a pretty tough course. And if you're not focused, it can bite you."
Fortunately for the Lobos, they have had the luxury of practicing on it all year.
"We definitely have an advantage," Trujillo said. "But we don't take our golf course for granted. We're not going to try and do anything tricky - just play the course."
