JMU wins third-straight CAA title

Bishop, women's golf qualify for NCAA regionals

Every time the JMU women’s golf team played the University of North Carolina-Wilmington this spring, they lost — except once. That was when it counted the most — in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships.

The Dukes took the lead the first day of the three-day championship tournament and never looked back. They defeated their biggest rival, UNC-W and were crowned CAA team champions for the third year straight. In addition, a JMU golfer also won the individual title for the third year in a row.

Sophomore Kiley Bishop took the individual title in a playoff between three players. Bishop, who was told her senior year of high school that she was not good enough to play at UNC-W, had a little taste of revenge. Becky Berzonski, the player Bishop ultimately defeated, was ranked 35th nationally, and, coincidentally, from UNC-W.

This year’s victory was not only sweet for Bishop, but also for the team.

The win puts the Dukes into the NCAA regional tournament — somewhere they have never been before. When women’s golf was established as a CAA championship sport in the spring of 2003, the CAA was able to start the clock on the NCAA automatic qualification. Their target date for the automatic qualification was the spring of 2005. They reached their target, and that has what allowed the Dukes to be where they are now.

"My sophomore year, Coach told us that we would have a chance to make it to regionals, because the conference would be old enough," senior Meg Davies said. "To represent JMU in something JMU women’s golf has never done is unbelievable."

Coach Paul Gooden said, "Last year we had an unbelievable record, but we couldn’t get into the NCAAs."

To mention unbelievable, one would need to reference Bishop’s performance throughout the weekend.

"On the third day, I was two strokes back from Diana [Meza] and Becky Berzonski," Bishop said. "I knew I had to bring it in at the end, and finish strong."

Finish strong is exactly what Bishop did. She birdied her final hole of regulation to tie Michelle Jarman and Berzonski — both from Wilmington. She finished regulation play at 73-78-73 -- 224.

In the playoff for the individual title, Bishop won with a birdie on the fourth hole.

"Kiley is a tough kid," Gooden said. "She beat two of the best golfers in the CAA in that playoff."

Bishop said, "When I was 10 years old and a junior golfer, I actually played on the course. I shot something like a 12 on that hole."

Results on that fourth hole proved to be different this time around.

In general, this season has been different for the Dukes in many ways. After playing a tougher spring schedule and not having the stellar results they had last year, they took a different route to success.

"Ever "Every match we were looking to learn something," Davies said. "We have been competing against some of the best teams in the country, and that prepared us for the CAAs. We were able to face our fears and any doubts that we had earlier in the season."

Evidently, the Dukes got over any fears and doubts they had at just the right time. None of the five players shot higher than a 77 in the final round, and as a team they shot a three-round score of 304-316-303 --923.

"We all did a good job together," Meza said. "You need five players to win, not just one. We knew we had to fight for every stroke out there."

Davies, Carol Green, Joanna Traeger, Meza and Bishop were those five Dukes who brought the championship home.

"We did feel pressure," Bishop said. "We wanted to keep the title in the JMU name."

Bishop helped the team to do just that, and as an added bonus, she kept the individual title at JMU as well.