May 9, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas - Round two is in the books and the Texas Tech women's golf team finds itself six strokes behind eighth place heading into Saturday's final round of the NCAA Central Regional at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin. The No. 46 Lady Raiders are in 13th place and need to finish among the top eight to advance to the NCAA Championships in two weeks.

Texas Tech posted the sixth-lowest round of the day among the 21-team field with a 299, eight shots better than the first round. The Lady Raiders are +30 for the tournament with a 606 and moved up three spots from Thursday's 16th-place showing.

Ulrika Van Niekerk and Alex Gibson carded the low rounds of the day for the Lady Raiders with a pair of 74s. Gibson shaved 12 strokes off of her opening-round 86 and is in an 83rd-place tie, while van Niekerk improved two strokes to tie in 32nd place. Gloriana Soto is tied in 42nd place after posting her second 76 of the event and Megan Dowdy is in a 56th-place tie with rounds of 79 and 75. Robyn Scott also is tied in 83rd place after following yesterday's 76 with an 84 today.

No. 3 UCLA (576) is even for the tournament and leads No. 6 Purdue (582) by six strokes. No. 30 TCU (585) is third, while No. 11 Denver (590) and No. 29 Texas (596) are fourth and fifth, respectively. No. 9 Alabama (597) and No. 24 Texas A&M are tied in sixth place, while No. 49 Nebraska (600) is hoping to hold on to the coveted eighth spot.

No. 19 LSU (602), No. 13 Kent State (604), No. 40 North Carolina State (604), No. 33 Florida State (605), No. 46 Texas Tech (606), No. 42 East Tennessee State (609) and No. 16 Pepperdine (612) are ninth through 15th. Texas State (616), No. 25 Notre Dame (620), No. 48 Washington (622), Harvard (624), Illinois State (633) and Fairleigh Dickinson (695) round out the field.

TCU's Valentine Derrey leads the event with a 7-under 137.

For complete results and live updates throughout the tournament, log-on to www.golfstat.com.