The Illinois women’s golf team will be back in action this weekend as the team heads to Noblesville, Indiana, for the Hoosier Fall Invitational.

Illinois is coming off a big win at Iowa City, Iowa, helped by the team’s 2-over-par final round, which was the best round posted by any team all tournament.

This weekend’s tournament will feature a different format for the Illini, as the first round will consist of stroke play, and the final two rounds will be match play.

This format should work well for the Illini, as they have been in the top two in birdies in each of their previous three tournaments. Match play breaks the round down hole-by-hole, meaning individual birdies are all the more important.

The Illini have spent the week adjusting to the different tournament format and according to sophomore Stephanie Miller, they’re feeling very confident heading in to the weekend.

“I think, as a whole, all of us have been very competitive this week, and it shows that we’re going to have that competitive edge against whoever we play,” Miller said. “It doesn’t really matter who we play. It just comes down to each hole and how we play that hole.”

The team has been playing well recently, especially freshman Chayanid Prapassarangkul, who put up 3-under par in her final round at Iowa City, the best individual round of any player at the tournament. Prapassarangkul rebounded from her rough first two rounds to jump 30 spots on the leaderboard. Coach Renee Slone is looking to see more of the same out of Prapassarangkul heading into this weekend.

“(At Iowa City), she did a great job of mentally not letting that first day distract her,” Slone said. “She was able to look at Sunday as a new opportunity. Moving forward, it is a great opportunity to build off of.”

The Illini will be led by Dana Gattone and Miller, who finished first and fifth, respectively, at Iowa City. Gattone looks to lower her team, leading 74.88 stroke average, and Miller looks to bring her scoring average back down below 75.

Illinois will face off against conference rival Indiana, along with Illinois State, Fresno State and Ball State. The Illini will look to climb up the Golfweek rankings, as they currently sit at 41st in the nation.

Lucas can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @LucasWright95.