LINCOLN, Nebraska (Sept. 25, 2016) -- Second place is where FIU women's golf team finds itself after the opening round of the year at the Chip-N-Club Invitational, hosted by the University of Nebraska after Sunday's first round. FIU sits at 14-over with a 302 at the 6,276-yard, par-72 Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in the capital city of Lincoln.
 
The Panthers are 10 strokes back of the leader Kansas State, a team they were paired with on Sunday morning. South Dakota State is third, one stroke back, with fourth-place North Dakota State at plus-17 and UMKC five strokes back of FIU, at 19-over par.
 
Individually, the Panthers were led by senior Camila Serrano (Bogota, Columbia), who posted an even-par 72 on Sunday. She birdied three-straight holes in her opening nine holes, on holes 6-8, to post a three-under 33 on the front nine this morning. Serrano had 13 pars for her round. She was the only player in the field to be under par on the par-four holes. She posted birdies on the seventh and eighth holes (both par fours) and a bogey on the 13^th for the only player at one-under on the 10 par-four holes on the course. Serrano was the only player at even par for the round Sunday.
 
Two strokes behind is freshman Carolina Rotzinger (Puebla, Mexico), who posted a 74 in her first collegiate round of golf. She was very steady, with 16 par scores.  She is in a tie for fifth place in the field.  Junior Katerina Krasova (Ricany, Czech Republic) was third for the Panthers with a four-over 76 in the first round. She had two birdies, second-most for FIU, but had six bogeys for her score. She is tied for 15^th.
 
"Today's round was a little bit up and down," noted Krasova. "The golf course played harder than usual, because we did not know many holes due to the cancelled practice round after thunderstorm yesterday. Overall, the total score is a decent start in our first fall tournament and there is space for improvement to reach scores closer to even par or below in the next two days."
 
FIU is paired with Kansas State and South Dakota State for Monday's round, with the groups teeing off from the first hole starting at 11:10 a.m. Eastern.
 
Live results for the final two rounds can be found at FIUSports.com.
 
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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/.