The University of Indianapolis women’s golf team played in the Great Lakes Valley Championship last weekend from April 25-27, following six top-five finishes out of 10 golf meets this regular season, according to UIndy Athletics.
After being named UIndy women’s and men’s golf head coach in August 2024, Andy Serketich said he did not know what to expect after a historic season last year. UIndy women’s golf won the GLVC championship before going on to win the NCAA Division II national championship during the 2023-24 season, according to UIndy Athletics. Serketich said he had never been the head coach of a women’s team, and it had lost members from the roster that led to winning the national championship. However, he said he knows what good golf is and still expected that from his teams this season.
“I think we’ve played a lot better in the spring, which is the right time to do it with the postseason coming up,” Serketich said.
Junior golfers Ava Ray and Macey Brown, as well as senior Ellen Caton, have been key contributors on the course and leaders off it for freshman Abby Stone and sophomore Caroline Whallon, Serketich said. He said his goal for this season is for his golfers to have the ability to lead.
“Hopefully I have just been a good role model,” Serketich said. “As far as showing them, I just want them to show up in a high-quality way, give it their best effort, have fun while doing it and then everything else will kind of fall into place.”
Whallon said due to the team’s turnover this past summer, this year was a rebuilding season. She said it was an uphill battle losing a lot of girls but that the team has gotten better “little by little” each tournament. Despite this being a down year the team won “Female Team of the Year” at UIndy’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee second-annual awards ceremony on April 21.
“I think from the springtime to now, we’ve definitely grown a lot,” Whallon said. “We still had some setbacks, but … I’m definitely proud of some of the accomplishments that we made in still being able to play and contend and being up there on the leaderboard. It definitely helps a lot to build that confidence [back] this year.”
Whallon said with the team being relatively small this year, they have all become close, can voice their opinions on what needs to be worked on and stay on the same page. She said that going into the postseason, everyone has a good gauge of what they need to work on, and this season has been a very positive change. Whallon said Serketich is very open-minded when hearing the team’s concerns, is very personable, is patient when things are not going as planned and has been a big light for the golf program.
“I think just understanding that this year was going to be a rebuilding year … was a challenge for me, but again, I think in hindsight of everything, it’s been a very positive change,” Whallon said. “So it’s been a big help, leading us and leading myself, into these next two years.”
