By Brian Hilderbrand

Sat, May 31, 2008 (2 a.m.)

UNLV’s men’s golf team may have failed in its quest to reach the NCAA finals this month, but the women’s team picked up the postseason slack.

Despite a slow start to the season and fielding a lineup that featured no NCAA finals experience, Missy Ringler’s Rebels finished 16th out of 30 teams last week, earning their best finish at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships in the seven-year history of the program. It was the Rebels’ third appearance in the finals since 2004.

Ringler, who completed her sixth season as the Rebels’ head coach, said she took no delight in her team’s being UNLV’s only golf team to qualify for the NCAA finals. Having a nationally prominent men’s program such as Dwaine Knight’s helps the women’s program, Ringler said.

“It’s important for us because we’re such a young program,” she said. “We’re still trying to put our name on the map for women’s golf at UNLV and if the men’s team is successful, that obviously allows me to recruit better and get players to notice us more.

“I think it’s important for both of us to have good programs.”

Four of the five players who competed at the NCAA finals for the Rebels will return next season, giving Ringler high hopes.

“Finishing 16th is the best we’ve ever done and that’s what we’re going to build off of and try to improve on next year,” Ringler said. “We’re going to be a really competitive team next year and I think that’s going to push us to the next level.”