The Texas Wesleyan women’s golf team wrapped up their 2014-2015 season with a ninth place finish last week at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament.

The 72-hole event at the Savannah Quarters Country Club in Georgia concluded Friday, and head coach Kevin Millikan was excited with how his team performed at the tournament, which was the Lady Rams’ first trip to the national tournament in the program’s three-year history.

“For the girls, it was exciting in our third year to make it,” Millikan said. “I thought they handled it really well. We went in with the expectation to not just be happy to be there but wanted to be competitive, and I think they were excited and prepared, it was a really fun atmosphere to be a part of.”

Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year Alex Schies was Wesleyan’s top finisher, shooting 310 to finish 26^th among 143 players, according to ramsports.net.

Schies, who was named a first team All-American, was happy just to have the opportunity to compete in the tournament.

“Being able to compete at the national championship gave me the opportunity to golf and compete against all of the best golfers in NAIA,” Schies wrote in an email.

Schies notched her first individual win, at Embry-Riddle University’s Eagle Invitational at the Ladies Professional Golf International (LPGA), in March. She had four individual top-5 finishes, and six top-10 finishes this season, according to ramsports.net.

Senior Alexis Belton, an honorable mention all-American, capped her season and career as Wesleyan’s first two-time tournament winner, first at the Al Jones Memorial held at UT-Tyler in September 2013, and then at the Mulerider Spring Classic at Southern Arkansas University in March. She will graduate as the program’s record holder for tournaments played (26), wins (2), top-5 finishes (5), top-10 finishes (8) and top-20 finishes (14), according to ramsports.net.

Millikan told his team after the national tournament that he was proud of how well they played, and that they should be proud of themselves.

“They all know that we could have done better,” Millikan said. “But in the big picture finishing in the top 10 in the country, third year program or not I don’t care if you’ve been around for 20 years, finishing in the top 10 is quite an accomplishment.”

Schies said the biggest thing she wanted to take away from the tournament was how much fun it was.

“The thing I want to take away from nationals is mainly the fun the team had while we were there,” Schies wrote. “It was a lot of fun on the course and we got to see some really neat places in Savannah. I am ready for us to go back next year.”

Millikan said that he wants his team to “look towards the future, and see what they can accomplish in the future.”