PALM DESERT, Calif. --- Biola Women's Golf continued to churn its way through the spring season with its first Thursday round of play today. The Eagles opened up the Augustana College Spring Fling tournament with a 325 to sit fifth halfway through the tournament.

The 12-team field is competing at the Classic Club in Palm Desert and is currently paced by CSU San Marcos, which turned in a team scorecard of 306 in the first round.

Biola is in the clubhouse at 37-over, which puts them within nine strokes of fourth place and two strokes ahead of sixth-place Chico State. The Eagles are one of two PacWest schools in the field and have a 25-stroke advantage over Point Loma (10th).

Jules Loibl had the hot hand for Head Coach Jane Carr's team on Thursday, turning in a team-best round of 78. She sits tied for 11th in the overall individual standings and was four strokes better than the Eagles' number two scorers.

Loibl built her round on the strength of three birdies and seven pars. She birdied her eighth, ninth and 12th holes of the day. Two of the birdies came on par fives, with the middle one coming on a 337-foot par four.

Loibl and Alexis Gopfert were the only Eagles to shoot any hole under par on the day. Gopfert hit her birdie on the par five fourth hole, which was her 17th hole of the day. Unfortunately, she had some adventurous other holes and is in the clubhouse with Biola's highest round of the day (89).

The rest of the Eagles' scorers relied on pars to put up scores in the low-80s. Tori Roeske and Sophia Karnazes each came in with 82s and Marcel Manalo finished the day with an 83. They all find themselves amongst the top-28 golfers after day one.

The 12 teams are scheduled for one more round to close out the tournament on Friday. The weather is forecast to be sunny and in the 70s at The Classic Club.