Dayton Flyers

RICHMOND, Va. - Dayton’s Grace Nikolai earned CAA Women’s Golfer of the Week after posting her best finish in her career.

Nikolai carded 76-81=157 on the 5,822-yard, par 72 Stone Ridge Golf Club in Bowling Green, Ohio tying for a seventh place individual finish.

The sophomore, who earned her best finish of her career at the Dolores Black Falcon Invitational, led Dayton to a ninth place team finish.

For Nikolai, this is her first career conference honor. 

“These last few tournaments she’s been a medalist for our team and shot in the 70’s,” UD Head Coach Sally Kosters said. “Once she got healthy, she started to play really well.”

It has been a long journey back for Nikolai. She suffered a shoulder injury which eliminated her freshman year. She did not make her first career collegiate appearance until the 2011 UD Fall Invitational.

At that tournament, Nikolai shot a 79 and 77 in her first two rounds of play and finished tied for 10th among individuals. Since that tournament, she has been UD’s best scoring golfer.

“I saw this coming last fall,” Kosters said. “She made some adjustments and in the last tournament in the fall she broke through. That was the watershed moment for her.”

During the spring season, Nikolai has been Dayton’s top golfer with an 81.3 stroke average through eight rounds of play.

This is the third time this season the Flyers have earned the conference’s top women’s golf weekly honor. UD’s Clara Ang was selected on Sept. 28, 2011 and Heather Jorgensen won the award previously back on Sept. 21, 2011.

In their final tournament of the 2011-12 campaign, the Flyers will compete in the Colonial Athletic Association Women’s Golf Championship.

The event will take place from April 20-22 at the Reserve Club at the St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C. Live Scoring will be available through CAAsports.com and GolfStat.com once the event has started.