GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College women's golf team will open the fall portion of its 2009-10 schedule this weekend as the Pioneers play in the Maryville College Invitational. Tusculum head coach Bob Dibble returns five letter-winners from last year's squad that finished fourth in the South Atlantic Conference. The Maryville Invitational is being played at Lambert Acres Golf Course on Friday and Saturday.

Leading the way for the Pioneers is two-time South Atlantic Conference senior Mary Ann Vizcarondo. The Anaco, Venezuela native posted six top-15 finishes in 10 tournaments last season. Vizcarondo posted an 81.60 stroke average, which was the fifth best in Tusculum history. She enters her final collegiate season with a career scoring average of 81.90 which is the lowest in school history. She also is ninth all-time with 58 career rounds played.

Finishing second on the team last year in scoring is junior Emily Palenkas. This weekend's tournament will be a homecoming for the Maryville, Tenn. product. Palenkas averaged 84.35 strokes per round last season, which was 12th all-time in school history. She had five top-20 finishes and finished tied for eighth at the SAC Championship, earning her a spot on the SAC All-Tournament Team.

Also returning this season is junior Adriana Vizcarondo. An Anaco, Venezuela product, Vizcarondo finished third on the team in scoring average at 87.61. She posted four top-25 finishes, including an 11th place showing at the Aramark Collegiate. Entering her junior campaign, she is 13th in school history with her 87.61 scoring average.

Sophomores Aly Pugh and Katie Doane round out the solid corps of veteran talent for the Pioneers. Pugh, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., played in only three events posting a 90.00 stroke average before having her season cut short due to injury. Doane, a native of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., finished last season with an 88.50 scoring average which was fifth on the team. She posted four top-25 finishes, including an eighth place finish at the Aramark Collegiate.

Haley Rye and Jillian Corum are two incoming freshman competing for the Pioneers this season.

Rye played her prep golf at Montgomery Central High School in Cunningham, Tenn. She placed second in the region two years in a row in 2007-08 and tied for ninth place in the State in 2008. The incoming freshman won the 2009 Clarksville City Amateur Championship this past summer.

Corum, a native of Knoxville, Tenn. played her prep golf at Fulton High School, where she helped lead her team to 2008 District Championship.

The Maryville Invitational will be the first of five events for the Pioneers this fall. Tusculum will be at the Anderson Invitational on Sept. 14-15, followed by a trip to Etowah, N.C. to take part in the LMU Invitational on Sept. 19-20. The Pioneers will host the Tusculum Fall Classic on Sept. 28-29 at Link Hills Country Club. TC will close out the fall schedule Oct. 5-6 when the Pioneers travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to play in the Lenoir-Rhyne/Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate.

- TC -