SIOUX FALLS -- After a history-making season, the University of Sioux Falls Women's Golf Team will look to sustain its success as the 2021 season opens on September 7 at the Central Region Fall Preview which will be held at the Adams Pointe Golf Club in Blue Springs, Mo. On Wednesday (Sept. 1), the Cougars were projected to place fourth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll. 

USF, which placed second in the league a year ago, will be led by Athlete to Watch and junior standout Maggie Veenendall. The Cougars, which received a first-place vote, earned 102 ballot points in the poll.

Augustana University, winners of 10 of the last 11 NSIC Championships, was picked to win the league in the preseason women's golf coaches' poll. The Vikings received nine first place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) and tallied 139 points, 17 points ahead of second place Minnesota State. The Mavericks amassed 122 points and two first place votes. Concordia-St. Paul was third at 106 points while Sioux Falls and Upper Iowa tied for fourth, with USF picking up a first place vote. Upper Iowa's MacKayla Olsen was voted by the league coaches as the preseason golfer of the year. The 2021-22 NSIC Women's Golf schedule will begin on September 7, while the three-round NSIC Women's Golf Championship will take place next spring on April 22-24 at Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smithville, Missouri.

"We return Maggie Veenendall, Marisa Weeks, Maddi Hanson and Annie Balduzzi and all are capable of being very good players and are expected to help us a lot. I'm also really excited about our three freshman -- Paige Hillman, Ashley Tackett and Savannah Vincent -- who are good players we are counting on to keep us competitive," said USF first-year Head Coach Wade Merry.

A year ago, USF, which had a 321.00 scoring average for second in the NSIC, was ranked 11th in the region and finished a program-best second at the NSIC Championships. However, USF, which placed fifth or better as a team five times and was second or better three times, lost NSIC Golfer of the Year Lexi Hanson and All-NSIC performers Sydney Hubbard and Kyleigh Moran. However, USF returns first-team All-NSIC and NSIC Newcomer of the Year Maggie Veenendall of New Richmond, Wisc. USF's Athlete to Watch, Veenendall finished third in the NSIC in scoring average (79.8). USF also returns senior Marisa Weeks (83.09 scoring average) and junior Maddi Hanson (91.25 scoring average) and Annie Balduzzi (86.83 scoring average) who will comprise a solid veterans corps. In addition, freshman Paige Hillman, Ashley Tackett, and Savannah Vincent are a talented group of newcomers.