NCAA Louisville Regional Begins on Monday for Spartans

EAST LANSING – The Michigan State women's golf team will begin play in the 2021 NCAA Louisville Regional on Monday. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played at the par-72 Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville, Kentucky.

The Spartans are the No. 8 seed in the 18-team regional. Following the conclusion of the final round on Wednesday, the top six teams and top three individuals not from one of the qualifying teams will advance to the NCAA Championships, May 21-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The 18 teams competing in the Louisville Regional, listed in order of seed, include: 1. South Carolina, 2. Florida State, 3. Auburn, 4. Texas, 5. Arkansas, 6. Texas Tech, 7. UCLA, 8. Michigan State, 9. University of Central Florida, 10. Tennessee, 11. North Florida, 12. Louisville, 13. University of Texas at San Antonio, 14. Mercer, 15. College of Charleston, 16. Xavier, 17. James Madison, 18. Fairleigh Dickinson.

>> GOLFSTAT | MSU Regional Notes

Starting Five...
• The Spartans are making their fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and 21st since 1999.
• Michigan State won the Big Ten Championship by five shots (April 23-25) at TPC River's Bend ... MSU has won three of the last four (2017, 18, 21) and six of the last 10 Big Ten titles.
•The Spartans have three tournament wins this season and have been in the top five in four of eight events this season.
• The Spartans had three players earn All-Big Ten honors: Valery Plata (first team), Paz Marfa Sans (second team) and Yurika Tanida (second team)
• Valery Plata, who has been the Spartans' top finisher in five tournaments this season, was a semifinalist at the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur.

WGolf starting five graphic

Familiar Territory
Michigan State is making is fifth straight NCAA Regionals appearance and 21st since 1999. The Spartans are looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2017 when they finished third in the Athens Regional.

Regionals Experience
While head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll is making her 21st appearance in NCAA Regionals, just two of the five players in the Spartan lineup have seen Regional action. Paz Marfa Sans, who is in her fifth season, will be making her fourth NCAA Regional appearance, while senior Yurika Tanida will be playing in her third Regional. Junior Valery Plata will be playing in her first regional, along with freshmen Leila Raines and Valentina Rossi. Haylin Harris, who is the Spartans' alternate for the Louisville Regional, played in the 2019 East Lansing Regional and advanced to the NCAA Championships.

Marfa Sans is tied for the fourth-best NCAA Regional score in program history as her even-par 216 at the 2017 Athens Regional put her in a tie for 10th place.

The Spartans' two lowest 54-hole team scores at an NCAA Regional have both come since 2017, as their 872 in Athens in 2017 is the lowest, while the 882 in 2019 in Austin is the second-lowest.

All-B1G Spartans
Michigan State had a trio of players garner All-Big Ten accolades as Valery Plata was voted to the All-Big Ten First Team, while Paz Marfa Sand and Yurika Tanida were both named to the All-Big Ten Second Team.

For Plata, it marked her second straight first team honor. Plata was the Spartans' top finisher in five of eight tournaments this season and placed in the top three of three of those events. After taking second place, and leading MSU to the team title at the IU Spring Challenge (April 5-6), Plata tied for medalist honors the following weekend at the Indiana Invitational at 4-under-par 212. At the Big Ten Championships, Plata shot 4-under-par 68 in both of the last two rounds to tie for third place individually.

Over the last three tournaments, in which she placed in the top three of each, Plata has a 70.2 average. The native of Floridablanca, Colombia has recorded a team-high 10 rounds under par this year, including career-best 65 at the IU Spring Challenge.

Marfa Sans is now a four-time All-Big Ten honoree. The graduate student is coming off an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships where she carded her best round of the tournament on Sunday with a 2-under-par 70.

Marfa Sans finished in the top 10 in four of eight tournaments, including in each of the last three. Her best finish of the year came at the IU Spring Challenge where she took sixth place. The native of Barcelona, Spain has a 73.75 scoring average and has recorded five rounds under par so far this season.

Tanida is earning All-Big Ten accolades for the third time in her career. The senior posed a 73.38 scoring average and has finished in the top five twice so far this season. She was MSU's top finisher, taking sixth place at 2-under-par 214, in helping lead the Spartans to their first tournament win of the season at the FAU Paradise Invitational in February.

2021 Big Ten Championships

For the Record Book
Valery Plata's 73.37 career average is currently third best in program history, behind only Ally Geer (72.87) and Sarah Burnham (72.92) … Four current Spartans own five of the 11-lowest rounds in program history: Paz Marfa Sans (64 – twice); Valery Plata (65); Leila Raines (66); and Yurika Tanida (66) … Valery Plata's 7-under-par 209 at the IU Spring Challenge was the lowest 54-hole total by any Spartan this season and tied for ninth-best in program history.

A Fitting Year to Win the Fossum Award
In addition to being named to the All-Big Ten First Team, Valery Plata was also the winner of the conference's Mary Fossum Award, which is named after legendary Spartan coach Mary Fossum, who passed away in December at the age of 93. The award is for lowest stroke average to par, which Plata won at -0.57 and became the first Spartan to win the honor since Sarah Burnham in 2018.

Fossum guided the Spartans from 1973 until her retirement in 1997. Under Fossum's guidance, the Spartans won an unprecedented five straight Big Ten titles from 1974-78 and played in six consecutive AIAW National Championships (1973-78). The Spartans regained the conference crown in 1982 and played in the 1982 and 1984 NCAA Championships. MSU claimed its third conference runner-up spot under Fossum at the 1987 Big Ten Championship.

She was honored as the first-ever NCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 1984 and was inducted into the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988. In January of 1998, Fossum was honored by the College Golf Foundation with the Rolex/Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award for outstanding service and contributions to collegiate women's golf. She was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.

Valery Plata won the 2021 Mary Fossum Award

Valery Plata won the 2021 Mary Fossum Award

Model of Consistency
The Michigan State women's golf program has appeared in 21 of the past 22 NCAA Regionals (1999-2014; 2016-21) and has earned a berth in the NCAA Championships 11 times since 2000 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017).

In addition, since the inception of the conference championships in 1974, only Ohio State (18) has won more league titles than the Spartans (14). MSU won five consecutive Big Ten titles from 1974-78, and has won conference crowns in 1982, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021.