MEMPHIS (October 17, 2016) -- Senior Camila Serrano (Bogota, Columbia) was one of two players to shoot a round of par or lower and sits in third place after a grueling 36-hole opening day of the Memphis Women's Intercollegiate in Tennessee.
 
Serrano sits at 3-over par (71-74  145) with one round to go in Memphis. She is just four strokes behind the leader, Martina Edberg of Cal State Fullerton. Serrano was the only player to play the par-3 holes at even par through the first two rounds. She was also third in the tournament field with six birdies through 36 holes.
 
"It was tough today as it was super windy and the pin locations were difficult," said Serrano after the 10-hour day on the course.
 
"I hit it pretty high so I started to play with the wind and try to use it to my advantage. It was hard to hole putts and I think that is what gave the field so much trouble."
 
Eight strokes back of Serrano is freshman Diana Velez (Dorado, Puerto Rico), who is 11-over (75-78  153) and in 18^th place in the field of 74 golfers. Velez posted five birdies so far, tied for fourth in the field.
 
The FIU squad sits in fourth out of 13 teams at the par-71, 6,105-yard Ridgeway Country Club in Memphis, with one round to go on Tuesday. The Panthers are tied with Houston Baptist for the tournament lead with 16 birdies through two rounds.
 
"We will need to erase in our minds how we played today," said FIU Head Coach Joe Vogel.
 
"A good day tomorrow will be a positive moving forward to our host event."
 
The Panthers will be paired with Tennessee Tech and Fullerton in the final round, with a shotgun start at 9:15 Eastern. They will tee off on holes four through eight.


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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.