Following a three-month hiatus, the Illini women’s golf team is back in action this weekend at the Illinois Challenge in Venice, Florida.

Illinois will return from a much-needed break, during which players had time to fine-tune their games. In sophomore Stephanie Miller’s case, this was time well spent.

“I had a funk in my back swing, which caused me to hit everything left,” Miller said. “My swing coach and I worked on that for about two and a half weeks, but now I’ve finally got it right, and things are going straighter.”

Miller closed out her fall season on a tear, claiming two Big Ten Player of the Week awards in late October and early November. With her swing fixed, she seemed confident that she will continue her dominance going into the spring season.

Miller was not the only Illini putting in work over the winter break. Freshman standout Dana Gattone spent her time in Florida gearing up for her first spring season as an Illini. Gattone played throughout the break on the unique Florida courses that Illinois will play in upcoming tournaments. She said it was an opportunity to scout out the courses for her teammates.

“It was my job to look over the Bermuda grasses and get a feel for it around the greens,” Gattone said. “I was just trying to bring back some tips to our coach, and give her an idea of what types of shots we need to practice.”

The players’ consensus was that the break was a positive one, and head coach Renee Slone agreed that the extra rest for the players will be crucial going into such a busy spring season.

The effect of the offseason will show itself this weekend. Illinois will face off against Illinois State in the Illinois Challenge, a one-day match-play event. The Illini have won six straight Illinois Challenges.

Illinois has not lost to Illinois State since the event began in 2009, which has coach Renee Slone very confident in her team and its ability to use this event as a building block heading forward. 

“I feel that everyone is well-prepared and that we can go down there and focus on ourselves and stick to the process,” Slone said. “We can use this as a gauge to see where we are at and what we need to focus on in our next few weeks.”

The Illini enter the event as the 62nd-ranked team in the nation according to Golfweek, 85 spots higher than Illinois State.

With a win, Illinois will notch its first of the spring and third of the 2014-2015 season, which would be the Illini’s most in a season since 2002-03.

Lucas can be

reached at lswrigh2

@dailyillini.com or on Twitter @LucasWright95.