CORONA, Calif. --- Biola Women's Golf began the week at Goose Creek Golf Course in a semi-preview of the season-ending PacWest Conference Championships. The Eagles played round one of the California Baptist Joust tournament on Monday. A tournament that which features six PacWest teams.

The Eagles ended the opening round in 13th-place in the field of 18 total teams. Biola shot a team score of 322, led by a 78 from freshman Sophia Karnazes.

That score of 322 put Biola behind three PacWest teams and ahead of the two others. California Baptist (294) is leading the tournament, with the rest of the PacWest teams falling in this order: Academy of Art (306), Holy Names (308), Biola (322), Dixie State (325) and Point Loma (327).

The team score of 322 is the Eagles' new best score of its spring season. Biola shot as low as 300 in the fall, but had yet to dip below 323 until this its second tournament of the spring.

Karnazes was the closest to par for BU today at six-over. That was good enough for 28th on the individual leaderboard. She shot 12 pars and one birdie, including a streak of five pars in a row late in her play on the front nine. Karnazes was especially locked in on par-threes today. She was one of just 10 golfers in the tournament to finish with a par or better score on the par-threes.

"Freshman Sophia Karnazes is quickly establishing herself as one of our top golfers with a solid 78 in today's first round." said Head Coach Jane Carr. " She was striking the ball well hitting 13 of 14 fairways. Sophia has such a great disposition for golf, she is always smiling and carries herself with such a positive attitude."

Following Karnazes among the Eagles' counting scorers was Jules Loibl with an 80. Then Biola's No. 1 and No. 2 seeded golfers, Marcel Manalo and Tori Roeske, both came in with 82s.

"I continue to be impressed by freshman Marcel Manalo who shot 69 to qualify for this event," said Carr. "Despite two triple bogies today she was still able to contribute an 82. You never know if Marcel is having a good or a bad day on the course. Marcel has a calm presence about her  and is able to bounce back better than any player."

Rachel Reynolds was the team's fifth and she carded a strong round with an 84. With the tournament being played so close to campus the Eagles also sent two other golfers, Lauren Van Horn and Alexis Gopfert, who were able to play the tournament as "individuals." They both matched Reynolds' 84 on day one.

The average score on the course among the 96 golfers who completed rounds on Monday was an 80.34. The individual leader at the end of the day is Jocelyn Chee Yi Min of CBU who carded a 70 to hold a one-stroke advantage.

Teams are scheduled for an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday. Follow the finish to the tournament via live scoring at this link.