The Wildcats’ last two tournaments consigned No. 39 Northwestern to the bottom half of the standings. Even though coach Emily Fletcher said the schedule was among the toughest in program history, she lamented her team’s failure to compete with the best.

NU will get another chance to break through to the top tier when it plays in the 2010 Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., this weekend against a strong field of 18 teams.

“There’s an opportunity when we go to North Carolina to move ourselves up in the rankings,” Fletcher said.

This will be the third consecutive tournament in which the Cats will face teams with an average ranking (31) better than theirs. Despite the strength of opposition, including third-ranked Auburn and fourth-ranked Duke, sophomore Kylie Fuller said she is confident the Cats can keep up the pace.

“Just having teams that are so strong sets the bar really high and shows us that we can compete with them,” she said. “We have as much talent as them.”

Fuller is playing at the top of her game after having led the team in scoring in the last two tournaments. She has already dropped her scoring average to 76.08 this season from 80.59 last season, placing her third on the team after freshman Lauren Weaver and sophomore Alex Lederhausen.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work this year,” Fuller said. “It just seems to be paying off, and I’m more confident in my game. The team has stepped up, and the lineup is stronger so there’s more competition.”

The Cats can improve their Golfweek/Sagarin performance index only by going up against higher ranked opponents, as the ranking system assesses the strength of a team’s schedule. A strong tournament this weekend would bolster the Cats’ ranking and give the team confidence that it can play with the best.

“It’s absolutely so beneficial (to play high-ranked teams),” freshman Mei Liu said. “It’s amazing to see how competent, if not better, our team’s ball striking is compared to the better teams.’ It points out where our weaknesses are-in putting. They are so skilled in those areas and it just shows that we’re not that far away and we just need to put the time in the areas.”

After last week’s 12th-place finish, Fletcher also pointed out the team’s need to improve its short game, attributing Weaver’s recent slump to her iron play.

Last week, Liu made her debut in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational and hit a 23-over 241. Liu was very familiar with the course, as the tournament was played in her hometown of Austin, Texas.

“I knew a lot of people playing in the tournament,” Liu said. “I’d played that course a lot, but I got to see how much I’ve improved from being at NU.”

For the second consecutive week, a freshman will make her debut in collegiate golf. Anne Ormson, Indiana state champion at her high school, will tee off alongside Lederhausen, Weaver, Fuller and Kelsey Lindenschmidt this weekend.

The Bryan National Collegiate is the second-to-last tournament before the Big Ten Championships.[email protected]