Women's Golf 3/27/2026 9:10:00 AM Jack Belcher - Athletics Communications Assistant

PREVIEW: Women's Golf at Flyer Invite

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The Northern Michigan University women's golf team will head to Bolingbrook, Illinois, to compete in the Flyer Spring Invite at Bolingbrook Country Club. The 'Cats travel to Illinois to compete in the two-day tournament, hosted by Lewis, from Monday, March 30th to Tuesday, March 31st.

The field includes GLIAC foes Davenport (#11, #79), UW Parkside (#24, #126), and Purdue Northwest (#30, #140) (Regional/National rankings based on 2025-26 ranking).

Other top Midwest teams in the tournament include: Lewis (#10, #75), Maryville University, Saint Louis (#15, #88), University of Illinois Springfield (#19, #106), and Quincy (#29, #138).

About the Course: Just an hour outside of Chicago in the picturesque village of Bolingbrook, the 18-hole championship golf course at Bolingbrook Golf Club offers golfers the chance to come test their hand at a beautiful design by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest. As scenic as it is a joy to play, the course provides magnificent photo opportunities at every hole. Elevated tees, rolling fairways, and seven lakes are scattered throughout the layout, which includes a true island green par 3 and a 600-yard par 5.

Follow The 'Cats
Instagram - Nmu_Wildcat_Golf
X - NMU_WildcatGolf
Facebook - Northern Michigan University Wildcats

Weather Report
As of writing, the weather in Boilingbrook on Monday calls for partly cloudy weather with temperatures in the high 60s. Tuesday calls for temperatures in the high 60s with a 57% chance of Scattered Thunderstorms in the afternoon. While the weather is ideal for golfing on Monday, there's a chance of suboptimal weather conditions persisting throughout Tuesday.

Last Time Out
In their opening invitational of the season, The 'Cats shot a team score of +58, 12 shots better than its second-round +70, and a 22-shot improvement over its opening-round +80. NMU finished with a tournament total of +208 to finish sixth of eight teams.

The course played as a 5,953-yard par-72 for the third day in a row, with the field turning an average scorecard of 87.98, the lowest average of the three rounds. For the week, NMU ranked seventh in par three (3.88), par four (5.48), and par five (6.01) scoring, while finishing sixth in total birdies (10) and pars (80). #4 Marian won the team tournament at +83, ahead of GLIAC foes Davenport (+102) and Saginaw Valley State (+127).

The Wildcats had its top four golfers finish all within five spots of each other, led by Abbie Pietila, who finished her tournament in T24 at +48 after a third-round +15. For the tournament, Pietila led the Wildcats in par four scoring (5.07), finished T2 on the team in birdies, third on the team in pars, and carded the fewest doubles+ on the squad.

Aavra Relich (+51), Maddy Martens (+54), and Payton Donnelly (+55) all finished one after the other in 27th, 28th, and 29th, respectively. Relich paced the 'Cats in par three average (3.33), total birdies, total pars, and fewest bogeys, Martens led NMU in par five scoring (5.25), while Donnelly was T2 in birdies and fourth in total pars.

Sara Hasse, who competed as an individual, finished T37 with a three-day total of +85, followed by Gabriella Moreau in 39th at +87, and rounded out by Abby Luke in 42nd at +107 for a three-day total.

Previously at The Flyer Spring Intercollegiate
The 'Cats shot a round two score of 348 (+60), adding three strokes from their previous day's total to give them a two-day score of 693 (+117). Davenport finished first with their score of 639 (+63), followed by Drury with 653 (+77) and McKendree at 655 (+79).

For the two days, the 'Cats played the par threes at a 3.73 average, the par fours at 4.85, and the par fives at 6.05, while recording 63 pars and six birdies, just four fewer birdies from the leader. No athlete from any school recorded an eagle or better.

Hailey Bolander led the 'Cats in round two and was first on the team after two days, thanks to her second-round 80 (+8). Bolander shaved eight strokes off her round on score, giving her a two-day total of 168 (+24) to finish T24 among the field. Bolander started her day on 13, and opened her day -1 through her first five holes thanks to a birdie on the par five 14th, one of only nine birdies on the 14th between two rounds. Over two rounds, Bolander's 19 pars led the team and were T7 among the field; her two pars were three shy of the leader, and she was the best Wildcat on the par fours, averaging 4.60, and 16th best among the field.

In 38th was Maddy Martens, who shaved four strokes off her day one total and was second best in team scoring on day two with her 85 (+13), giving her a two-day total of 174 (+30). Martens carded two birdies on the final day, first on the par four 16th then the par four ninth, one of seven birdies on the 16th and one of just two birdies on the ninth, which was the second hardest hole on the tournament with an average score of 5.14. Martens' two birdies matched Bolander, just three birdies shy of the leader.

Abbie Pietila (87, 93 - 180, +36) finished fourth on the team and T48 in team scoring with her two day total of 180. Abbie led the team on par five scoring, averaging 5.63 on the par fives, T13 among the field and just 0.50 away from the leader. Gabriella Moreau competed as an individual, shooting matching rounds of 95 for a two-day total of 190 (+46), finishing 55th overall.

Notes on The Field
Lewis

Lewis opened its season by finishing second out of eleven teams at the Pawley's Beach Bash. They followed that up by finishing seventh of fifteen teams at the Findlay Spring Invitational
Kendall Farm finished third at the Beach Bash and Cassidy Virzi finished in 20th at the Findlay Invitational to lead the way for Lewis thus far

Davenport

The Panthers opened their season, finishing second out of eight teams at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff. Most recently, the team finished tenth out of fifteen teams at the Findlay Spring Invitational.
ThaiLee Gerding finished in fifth, with Lauren Gervais in sixth place and Melissa Walker in seventh place at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff. At the Findlay Invitational, they were led by 27th-place finisher Lauren Gervais.

Maryville (St Louis)

Maryville opened its season at the Findlay Invitational, where it finished in fifth place among the fifteen teams. They followed up that strong performance with a sixth place finish out of fourteen teams this past weekend at the Hard Scramble Invitational in Arkansas.
Zih Cing Wang and Kylie Yiengst finished in fourth and sixth places, respectively, in the Findlay Invitational. Fernanda Diaz-Pizzaro led the way in 16th at the Hard Scramble Invitational.

University of Illinois Springfield

University of Illinois Springfield opened its season by finishing 17th of the 17 teams at the Emerald Coast Collegiate. At the Findlay Spring Invitational, UIS finished ninth of fifteen teams.
At the Emerald Coast, UIS was led by Elaine Grant, who finished in ninth place overall. Grant led the way again at the Findlay invitational, where she finished in 14th.

University of Wisconsin Parkside

In their lone invite so far this season at the SVSU Spring Invitational, UW Parkside finished third of six teams.
AJ Powell led the way in sixth place for the Rangers at the SVSU Invitational.

Quincy

Quincy finished eighth of ten teams at the Las Vegas Warriors Women's Invite in their sole invite thus far in the spring season.
Quincy has been led by Lily Vardaman and Addison Eades, who finished 19th and 21st, respectively, at Quincy's opening competition of the season.

Purdue NW

The Pride finished sixth out of six teams at the SVSU Spring Invitational to open its spring season
At SVSU, the pride were led by Brynlee DeBoard, who finished in 15th.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Hailey Bolander: 5' 1"; Redshirt Junior

Payton Donnelly: 5' 10"; Junior

Abby Luke: Sophomore

Maddy Martens: Sophomore

Gabriella Moreau: 5' 6"; Senior

Abbie Pietila: Sophomore

Sara Hasse: Freshman

Aavra Relich: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Hailey Bolander
: 5' 1"; Redshirt Junior

Payton Donnelly
: 5' 10"; Junior

Abby Luke
: Sophomore

Maddy Martens
: Sophomore

Gabriella Moreau
: 5' 6"; Senior

Abbie Pietila
: Sophomore

Sara Hasse
: Freshman

Aavra Relich
: Freshman