NEW CASTLE, Pa. (Sept. 16) – This past Saturday, both Waynesburg men’s and women’s golf teams traveled up to Mercer County where they competed in the Westminster Invitational. 

The women were represented by three underclassmen, with freshman Karina Volitich leading Waynesburg’s efforts during the afternoon. The Mt. Lebanon graduate had a score of 108, which was 37-over par and good enough to place 40^th of all competitors. The other two competitors included fellow freshman Maeve Hanley and sophomore Jaclyn Rider, with the former not far behind as Hanley notched a score of 116. 

When it comes to the men, Waynesburg placed 12th out of 14 teams, having tallied a four-man score of 356. Just like the women, the best effort was a fellow freshman, as Matthew Karpeal tied for 36th place individually after finishing with a score of 85. Trailing Karpeal for team scores were senior Briston Bennett, who was just behind with an 87 & a placement of 47th, and freshman Hudson Pincavith, who tallied a 91 & 62nd place finish. 

Head Coach Michael Cipoletti addressed the expectations he had for his freshman, considering the large majority of their production came from first-year student-athletes. 

 “My expectations for the freshmen are to get experience playing the course and playing against conference competition,” Cipoletti said.  “Some of the conference players they are competing against have played these courses (Westminster, Grove City, Thiel) multiple times. This is the first time our freshmen have seen these tracks, so they are at a disadvantage from the 1st tee. 

“My goal for the new guys is to come away with positives about the way they played the course well, and to learn from the lay-out so they aren’t in the dark when they come back to play it again.”

Regarding other facets of the team, Cipoletti spoke on what he was looking for from the few upperclassmen he had going into the Invitational. 

“It was an experience for Briston and Carter, too,” Cipoletti said.  “Despite being seniors, both of those guys joined the program in their junior years, so they haven’t played many of these courses either. I do expect those guys to manage their games a little better than the freshmen, because of their maturity level – I thought they both did that well at Westminster.”

Despite seeing a lot to improve on, Cipoletti did close in commenting on how many positives he took away from this event, seeing the team chemistry and desire to win as the most notable factors he was able to take away.

Both men’s and women’s teams are back on the course Wednesday, Sept. 21, as they will be traveling to Wheeling, West Virginia to take on Bethany College, with another match coming against the Bison just six days later on Sept. 27.