The ISU women’s golf team will head south again this weekend, traveling to Tucson, Ariz., to participate in the Mountainview Invitational.

The 15-team tournament starts Saturday and runs through Sunday.

The two-day event is a change of pace for the Cyclones, who have played in mostly three-day tournaments so far this spring. The Cyclones will have to play two rounds in one day during the tournament, but ISU coach Christie Martens said that will be to the team’s advantage.

“We condition five days a week, and we are one of the better conditioned teams in the conference,” Martens said.

Last weekend in Austin, Texas, the Cyclones finished Friday in 10th place, ahead of the hosting Longhorns. But they slipped to 13th Saturday before settling into a 14th-place finish.

“After the first round, we were beating Texas on their home course,” Martens said.

She said that a good week of practice was another encouraging sign going into the weekend. Martens also said that sophomore Kendra Hanson seems to be getting back in her groove.

“Kendra [Hanson] has made the turn to get back to where she was this fall,” Martens said.

Hanson finished third on the team with a score of 244 overall.

The leader for Iowa State throughout the weekend was junior Christi Athas. She shot a team-low round of 75 Friday and finished the tournament tied with sophomore Karly Pinder in 36th place with a score of 239 overall.

“[Athas] has her confidence back quite a bit,” Martens said. “She’s done a great job of up and downs. Her short game has improved a lot.”

Martens also said she was pleased with the performance of Pinder.

“Karly [Pinder] finished very well; she just stayed strong,” Martens said. “She started out bad, but did a good job of holding her rounds together and not letting them go.”

The Cyclones are looking for a boost this weekend. They’ve finished 13th or worse in all three tournaments this spring, including the last-place finish in Austin. Martens said she hasn’t considered any changes in the lineup. Instead, she’s focused on some things the team has been working on for this weekend.

“We need to keep going down the same road of improving our short game. To really stay competitive, we need to keep the attacking mentality,” Martens said.

Regardless of what happens in Arizona, the focus will likely switch to the bigger picture soon. At the Big 12 championships April 17 to 19 – less than a month away – the Cyclones will take on the conference’s best.