Women's Golf Announces Addition of Three Student-Athletes for Fall of 2011
8/15/2011 10:35:00 AM | Women's Golf
NEW YORK -- The Columbia women's golf team will welcome three newcomers to the squad this fall, head coach Kari Williams announced on Monday. Lisa Combs, Joanna Henry and Maria Lu have all made commitments to join the Lions in September.
"I am very excited to have our first-year student-athletes join us this fall," Williams said. "I anticipate that they will make a difference in our team performance as they will push our five returning starters to improve."
Combs was a four-year letterwinner and two-time captain of the Fauquier golf team in Warrenton, Va. She qualified for the state tournament all four years she played for the Falcons, winning the Zone I State Qualifier by seven strokes in 2008. Combs was also a member of the International Junior Golf Tour's Euro Cup Team in 2010, where she won all of her matches and helped Team USA to a third-place finish.
"Lisa will bring not only experience and talent to the team, but she is fiercely competitive," Williams says. "I look forward to seeing her play as a Lion over the next four years."
A product of Rosary High School in Fullerton, Calif., Henry was a first team All-Trinity League selection as a junior and senior, placing in the top 10 in the Trinity League finals in each of those years. She also finished fourth at the 2010 Palm Desert Invitational, and fourth at the 2011 Desert Horizons Country Club tournament.
"Joanna is going to be exciting to watch as her career grows at Columbia," Williams says. "She is fairly new to competitive golf on the national level, however she is a talented athlete that hits the ball a long ways."
Another resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Lu was a starter on the girls' varsity golf team at McLean High School for three years, and for the boy's varsity team as a junior and senior. She advanced to the Virginia High School League State Championship in two consecutive years (2010-11), and finished 30th as a senior.
"Maria has put in a tremendous amount of work this summer, and she is already reaping the rewards from her swing changes," Williams says. "She has won her last three tournament and has increased her driving distance. I expect her summer play to carry over to the fall, where she will have an immediate impact on the team."
