BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The University of San Francisco women's golf team battled windy conditions and fast greens in the opening round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. But after 18 holes, USF posted the low round, carding an 8-over 296, which has the Dons leading the pack. Three players finished in the top eight.
 
"I'm so proud of the way the team performed today. It has been a long fall season and going into the last event, I feel the team has brought amazing energy," said head coach Sara Doell. "We had a great week of practice and an awesome practice round yesterday with high energy, focus and a lot of laughs. I think the mix of solid focus and feeling relaxed has really helped them. The course played difficult as it was super windy and the greens were fast. I believe the team handled it well. Sam came off of a great performance at Sahalee and just kept that momentum going with the awesome round today."
 
Senior co-captain Samantha Gong was the leader for the Dons on Sunday.  Gong finished the day with an even par 72 which was good enough to finish tied for fifth. Sunday was by far Gong's best opening round of the fall. She entered today averaging 79.5 in opening rounds this year. Gong started strong with a par on 12 before going on to eagle the par-5 13^th.  From there, she went on to record birdies on 16, 18 and three. 
 
"I'm really pleased to have played so well today under the windy conditions," said Samantha Gong. "I started off with an eagle on my second hole and followed that with four birdies throughout the round which kept me in it. I was a little up-and-down with my putting; I felt like it was hard to gauge the speed of the greens especially with the winds. I'm proud of our team and excited for tomorrow!"
 
Sitting tied for eighth are sophomores Jade Siphomsay and Annika Borrelli, who both shot 2-over 74s, though the two rounds were very different.  Siphomsay, who is finishing up a tremendous fall, played largely mistake-free golf, recording 11-straight pars before going bogey-bogey on 10 and 11.  Her 14 pars on the day was tied for second-most in the tournament, one shy of the leaders.
 
Borrelli opened her round with a birdie on 13 before carding bogeys on 15 and 17.  She posted 1-over par on both the front and back thanks to four birdies on the round in total.
 
Freshman Toni Sottile had a strong opening round to begin her first collegiate appearance.  Sottile finished the day with a 4-over 76, which has her tied for 18^th.  She recorded a par on her first hole and finished the round with three birdies. 
 
Coming in behind Sottile was junior Pearl Rojanapeansatith, who finished the day in 76^th with a 10-over 82.
 
Trailing the Dons by one stroke is South Dakota State, which finished the afternoon with a 9-over 297.  The individual leader belongs to tournament host UNLV: Elina Saksa, who shot a 3-under 69.
 
The tournament will resume tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. when the Dons tee off in the first group with South Dakota State and Long Beach State. Live results for the second round will be at Golfstat.com.