Troy Women Impressive in Season Debut

Tuesday, September 8

Pawley's Island, S.C.

All Day

Troy University

Golfweek Challenge

Photo by: McDuffie Images,LLC 2026

9/8/2026 4:10:00 PM | Golf (W)

Final Results (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – Despite fielding one of the country's most inexperienced rosters, the Troy women's golf team delivered a solid performance to open the season, finishing eighth at the Golfweek Fall Challenge at the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club.

First-year head coach JD Lamm's lineup featured just one player with more than five collegiate tournaments on their resume, including three making their college debut. The Trojans finished just five shots off a top-five finish and nine shots behind third.

Manya Saini was stellar across her first 54 holes of the season and just missed an individual title, as she was tied with Campbell's Miah Rivas heading into the final hole. However, she double-bogeyed the 18^th, slipping into fourth place at 1-under for the week. She finished the week with 12 birdies, tied for the most in the field, and was under-par on both the par 3s (-1) and par 5s (-2).

"Manya's game has taken a big leap over the past couple of months," Lamm said. "She's playing as well as she ever has in her career and smarter than ever. Manya has put in a lot of work and is seeing her effort pay off. She's leaving herself in positions where she can score."

Saini shot 73 on the day, with four birdies, after shooting a personal-best 66 in the opening round.

The Trojans shot 12-over on the day, their second-best effort of the week, to finish 23-over par for the tournament. Troy's 875 would have been its best score of the year last season overall and one stroke off its best score relative to par a season ago.

UNC Wilmington won the team title by three shots over Campbell, while Austin Peay, High Point and Memphis rounded out the top five. A pair of Sun Belt schools finished just ahead of Troy, with Old Dominion clipping the Trojans by just two strokes and Coastal Carolina by one shot. Both teams finished 47 shots ahead of Troy at the SBC Championship last spring. The Trojans finished 11 shots ahead of Arkansas State.

"We saw a lot of positives this week, especially in the first round," Lamm said. "The work we've done in practice, particularly on course management and working the scoring areas, is starting to pay off. This is a young team, and nerves played a factor at times. The more we put ourselves in positive situations, the better we're going to do, and the nerves will calm. Far more positives than negatives this week, and we've set ourselves up well for ECU next week."

First-year Mara Dajer added three birdies to her tally, shooting a 1-over 72 in Tuesday's final round to finish tied for 26^thin her debut. Roberta Alvarez tied for 36^th at 7-over after shooting 75 in the final round. Anna Roldan Sewald added a pair of birdies in her final round and tied for 57^th, while Evelyn Tankersley carded three birdies on the day and finished 101^st overall.

Troy carded 38 birdies as a team over the 54 holes, good for fourth in the field, while the Trojans' 1-over on the par-3s tied for second in the field.

The Trojans return to action Sept. 14-15 at the Pirate Classic, hosted by East Carolina at the Greenville Country Club.

Team Standings
1. UNCW 284-281-289--854, 2. Campbell 278-292-287--857, 3. Austin Peay State 282-295-289--866, 4. High Point 273-296-299--868, 5. Memphis 282-290-298--870, 6. Old Dominion 282-300-291--873, 7. Coastal Carolina 283-301-290--874, 8. Troy 282-297-296--875, 9. East Tennessee St. 280-304-293--877, 10. Stetson 286-299-293--878, 11. UNCG 289-293-299--881, 12. Lipscomb 288-297-298--883, 13. Arkansas State 298-297-291--886, 14. Morehead State 291-300-296--887, 15. Mercer University 294-305-294--893, 16. Radford 291-300-304--895, 17. Central Arkansas 294-299-303--896, 18. UNC Asheville 295-305-308--908, 19. Texas A&M-Corp. Chris. 299-306-308--913, 20. USC Upstate 304-309-304--917, 21. Presbyterian 302-313-315--930, 22. Stephen F. Austin St. 317-316-320--953, 23. Queens, Univ. of Charlotte 314-323-325—962

Troy Individuals
4. Manya Saini 66-73-73-212, T26. Mara Dajer 71-75-72—218, T36. Roberta Alvarez 71-74-75—220, T57. Anna Roldan Sewald 74-75-76—225, 101. Evelyn Tankersley 81-75-78—234