Oct. 3, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.-The Northern Illinois University women's golf team will compete in its lone home tournament of the fall when the Huskies play host to Bowling Green, Loyola and Western Illinois in the 24th Annual Huskie Classic at Whisper Creek Golf Course in Huntley, Ill. Sunday.

The Huskies head into Sunday's first round looking to defend their title. Last season, NIU won the Huskie Classic with a score of 623 (307-316) and sophomore Jessica Parmenter (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Christian) was the top Huskie finisher, tying for second shooting a 154 (74-80). While Parmenter will miss the tournament due to an injury, NIU head coach Pam Tyska feels there are several NIU golfers ready to step up.

"We have a whole new group of Huskies eager to see who can lead the pack," NIU head coach This season we've had a couple of different Huskies leading the pack the first two tournaments. We've had some good performances by our new players.

One golfer in particular Tyska is looking for a strong tournament out of is junior Kim Bailey.

"Kim Bailey has worked really hard this summer and fall," she said. "She's really put forward the extra effort you need to climb up another notch."

While Tyska has high hopes for Bailey, she also feels the team as a whole has made progress this fall and is ready for a strong showing in its home tournament.

"We've played well. We've got increasingly better. Our scores have gone down each time we've played. I think we're ready to rise to the occasion and do real well. We're looking forward to continuing our pattern of getting better the more we play.

Tee time for the first round of play is set for 11:30 a.m. and Monday's second round begins at 9:30 a.m.