Emily Paulson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Vista High School for AZPreps365.com

The Valley Vista girls golf team struggled to keep up with No. 9-ranked Millennium in a three-team match Wednesday at Tres Rios Golf Course at Estrella Mountain. 

Millennium dominated their home course, finishing with a score of 171 (31-over-par), while Valley Vista finished runner-up in the 9-hole match with a 101-over-par total of 242. Copper Canyon was third with a 146-over-par score.

Nissi Garcia, a co-captain and No. 1 golfer of Valley Vista, led the team with a score of 54 (19-over-par) and finished in fifth place. Co-captain and No. 2-seed junior Alyse Hryb finished close behind at 23-over-par for a final score of 58.

The rest of the Monsoon team had a tough day with junior Jannet Resendiz-Martinez and senior Rosemary Gonzalez tying for seventh at 30-over-par and freshman Jessica Pond finishing at 33-over-par.

Millennium’s underclassmen were among the top four on the leaderboard, but Valley Vista coach Larissa Scott was happy with her team’s effort.

“I am proud of the team for growing as a team and being there for one another,” Scott said. “And honestly, their character, character above anything else and just having fun.”

Garcia, a sophomore, had a rough start, triple-bogeying two out of the first three holes, but finished strong, bogeying the last two holes. Even though she felt she could have done better, she was content with her performance.

“There wasn’t one thing that was really bad or really good. Everything went pretty well,” Garcia said. “It could definitely be better, but it could be worse.”

Like Garcia, Hryb struggled to find her swing at the beginning of the round. She scored a double-bogey on hole 2 but ended with a bogey on hole 8. Despite the difficult round, Hryb tries to fulfill her leadership role on the team.

“I try to look out for the others and keep the team encouraged because it’s easy to get discouraged in golf,” Hryb said. “It’s a very mental game, so I try my best to make jokes and make everyone happy.”

Staying focused and present on the course is hard when you are alone and trying to do well for yourself and your team. Garcia touched on how she keeps her composure during a round against a highly-ranked team like Millennium.

“I just have to play my game and don’t worry about what everybody else is doing,” Garcia said. “When I play with people better than me, it pushes me because I want to be able to play like them, too.”

Heading into the home stretch of the golf season, Scott had takeaways from the round leading into Valley Vista’s state qualifier round on Thursday.

“Today was a little tough and we had to overcome a couple of obstacles on the course,” Scott said. “I think it was good practice heading into the state qualifier.”

Valley Vista will compete in the Husky Open at Encanto Golf Course in Phoenix on Thursday in hopes of qualifying for the state tournament.