Looking for a boost to commence the postseason, the ISU women’s golf team is heading to Columbia, Mo., Monday to play in the Big 12 Conference women’s golf tournament hosted by the University of Missouri.

Expectations are high as the Cyclones are trying to overcome last weekend’s performance in Purdue’s Lady Boilermaker Invitational where they had a 12th-place team finish.

As equally important is that this meet will be the last conference meet for the seniors on the team. Senior Laura Wells has emphasized both high expectations for herself as well as the team.

“The last couple of years we have really grown as a team and matured a lot,” Wells said. “As a team our expectations will be high.”

The key to the Cyclones’ success this week will be to relax, go out and have fun. Wells, as well as sophomore Louise Kenney, who are both Scotland natives, said there was too much pressure last weekend in Indiana.

“Last weekend, we worried too much about who had to beat and where we were placed in the region — the very thing we shouldn’t have been thinking about while trying to play,” Kenney said. “Coach [Julie] Manning just wants the team to go out play and relax because that is when we play very well together.”

Added pressure was brought on due to the relative inexperience of the team, as there are only two seniors, Wells and Sarah Gilbert.

“We had a hard time convincing ourselves that we could play as a nationally ranked team,” Wells said. “This week we just need to go out there and swing at it.”

In Columbia this week, the Cyclones plan on going back to their old way of playing, which has brought them all their success. They will go out and just play golf with a goal of a fourth-place finish or better.

“We’re not going to worry about our ranking, whether nationally or regionally,” Wells said. “We’re not going to worry about who is playing good, we’re just going to go out and play the best we can and have fun while we’re doing it.”

Individually, expectations are equally as high for the Cyclones. Both Kenney, Wells and Gilbert have played well recently, each placing within the top 50 last weekend in Indiana.

Kenney led the squad with an 8th-place finish.

“Being a senior, I feel that I have put a high expectation on myself,” Wells said. “My goal for this tournament is to finish in the top 10 to cap off my last Big 12 tournament with a bang.”