A disappointing first round of golf didn't discourage the Penn State women's team from battling its way out of a last-place finish on Monday. The Nittany Lions ended the Indiana Invitational up three spots yesterday, finishing at No. 14 with a score of 63-over 639.

Michigan took home the win, and Michigan State followed close behind with a second place finish.

Senior Maggie Lester said the team was really disappointed with the way it played Monday, so yesterday was a step in right direction.

Lester finished on top for Penn State, shooting 13-over 157. Following her were juniors Christin Pacacha and Megan Padua, who shot 14-over 158 and 17-over 161, respectively. Freshman Katherine Murphy and senior Evelyn Paik rounded out the scores, shooting 22-over 166 and 23-over 167, respectively.

"We played a lot better today, and we're happy we moved up three spots. But there's always room for improvement," Pacacha said.

According to Pacacha, moving up three spots was a "pretty good" achievement considering the competition and the difficulty of the course.

While Penn State improved its performance for the second round of play, some schools, including Michigan State, Illinois State and Ball State took a hit in the second round.

"We shot ourselves in the foot the first round," Pacacha said. "Had we shot what we shot today yesterday, we would have been a lot more in the thick of things. Today we're playing catch up and it's hard to make that many shots on this golf course."

The last competition before the Big Ten Championships is just a week-and-a-half away, and coach Denise St. Pierre's group is looking to use that as preparation. The competition will include many challenging Big Ten schools including Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.

"The Big Ten is getting to be a good conference for golf and is getting competitive," Pacacha said. "Every field is a challenge."

Despite the rough start to its season, the team is making an effort to keep its morale up and benefit from every competition, good or bad.

"It's hard to be up when it seems like nothing's going your way, but we try and learn as much as we can from each tournament and from other teams that are playing well," Pacacha said.

She added that the team considers every tournament a new beginning -- a time to reflect on the positives and improve upon the weaknesses.

"We're tired of [not doing well]," she said. "This isn't reflective of our talent and we're ready to prove that we can play and that we can compete with the schools of the Big Ten. It's true -- we just have to believe that."