The 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship was Sunday-Tuesday, April 13-15. All 12 MVC institutions competed in the championship, played at the par-72, 6,067-yard layout at Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill.
Results Link for the MVC Championship --
Click Here
Championship Central --
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ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Jillian Cosler, Bradley (medalist)
Sloane Biddle, Belmont
Amber Henson, Drake
Kate Petrova, Evansville
Elise Fennell, Illinois State
Jessica Jolly, Illinois State
Morgan Jones, Illinois State
Jinyoung Yun, Illinois State
Anna Jensen, UNI
Jiayi Zhang, Missouri State
Freshman of the Year: Elise Fennell, Illinois State
Newcomer of the Year: Morgan Jones, Illinois State
Golfer of the Year: Jinyoung Yun, Illinois State
Coach of the Year: Breanne Hall, Illinois State
Elite 18 Award: Jillian Cosler, Bradley
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM (Top 5 Finishers)
Jillian Cosler, Bradley
Anna Jensen, UNI
Morgan Jones, Illinois State
Elise Fennell, Illinois State
Jinyoung Yun, Illinois State
TUESDAY RECAP
Behind a MVC Championship-record team score of 874, the Illinois State women’s golf team won the 2025 MVC Championship – the team’s second straight – by 31 strokes, the fifth-largest margin of victory in MVC Championship history. The team championship is ISU’s 16th in the program history, twice as many as the next closest on the list.
The 2025 medalist was Bradley’s Jillian Cosler. Cosler shot a 71-72-72 - for a three-round 215 to win the tournament. It’s tied for the third-lowest 54-hole tournament in MVC championship history. She is the 7th Bradley individual to earn medalist honors. UNI senior Anna Jensen led the Panthers by finishing in second place with a final score of 217 (+1). Jensen's second-place finish is her best all-time at the MVC Championships. Jensen set a new best low-round score in round three with a 69, while sinking 10 birdies and 9 bogeys over the three-day tournament.
Following the championship, the conference gave out its championship trophy and individual awards, which the Redbirds dominated. Aside from bringing home the tournament title, Jinyoung Yun was named the MVC Golfer of the Year for the second consecutive season, Morgan Jones was the MVC Newcomer of the Year, Elise Fennell was the MVC Freshman of the Year, and head coach Bre Hall – on her birthday – was tabbed MVC Coach of the Year.
Yun is one of only three golfers in MVC history to win the award twice. Yun entered the championship with a season scoring average of 71.9, which is on pace to be nearly a stroke lower than her previous season-best – if she maintains that average through regionals it would be an Illinois State and MVC single-season record. Two other Redbird golfers have earned the MVC’s top award, which the MVC started presenting in 2007.
Jones is the fourth golfer from ISU to earn Newcomer of the Year honors. She entered the championship with a scoring average of 73.1 -- the third-lowest in program history and on pace to be the fourth-lowest single-season scoring average in MVC history.
Fennell entered the week third on ISU's in stroke average at 73.1, which is on pace to be the fifth-lowest single-season scoring average in MVC history. This is the first season the league has honored a Freshman of the Year.
The Elite 18 Award program recognizes a student-athlete who finishes in among the Top 18 and has the highest cumulative grade point average among those golfers. This year’s recipient of the league’s Elite 18 Award was Bradley’s Jillian Cosler (medalist). She has a 4.0 and is a Learning Behavioral Specialist major.
The league’s 10-person team is a hybrid, with half of the team determined using a statistical formula provided by the NCAA scoring system (Clippd) before the tournament. The remaining five golfers were voted on by head coaches.
MONDAY RECAP
Illinois State extended its lead over the field at the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championship to 20 strokes with 18 holes to play, as the Birds look to be the first school to win back-to-back conference titles since the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The Redbirds have each of their five golfers tied for 10th or better in the field, led by Jinyoung Yun and Elise Fennell who are each tied for second individually. In the second round, ISU shot a 289, tied for the third-lowest score in MVC Championship history, and the Birds now have two of the five lowest Championship single-round scores in conference history.
ISU’s 579 out-distances Southern Illinois and Drake’s 599, as Bradley (600), Missouri State (602), Evansville (606), Northern Iowa (615), Murray State (616), Belmont (617), UIC (619), Indiana State (632), and Valparaiso (648) chase behind.
Bradley's Jillian Cosler is in sole possession of first after 36 holes, as she has carded a 71-72=143 (one under) for a two stroke-lead over ISU's Yun, Fennell, and Southern Illinois' Kayla Sayyalinh -- all tied for second at 145. Morgan Jones of Illinois State is 5th (146), Amber Henson of Drake is 6th (147), while Erika Holmberg of Drake, Anna Jensen of UNI, and Jessica Jolly of Illinois State are all tied for 7th at 148.
SUNDAY RECAP
Illinois State had its top four players finish the opening 18 holes among the top nine golfers in the field, and the Redbirds have an eight-stroke lead heading into Monday's second round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. The Redbirds got even-par 72’s from Jessica Jolly and Morgan Jones, and one-over 73’s from Jinyoung Yun and Elise Fennell to lead ISU to an opening-day 290 (+2). The team’s 290 is the lowest single-round score by a school in the three seasons that the Championship has been held at Annbriar Golf Course, and the lowest by a team since the 2018 third round and is tied for the fifth-lowest single-round score in MVC Championship history. Second-place Evansville placed three individuals among the Top 12, including Louise Standtke (73), Elizabeth Mercer (74) and two-time defending MVC Championship medalist Kate Petrova (75). The individual leader after 18 holes is Drake's Erika Holmberg. She shot a two-under-par 70 in Sunday's round and leads the field by a stroke. Two others eclipsed par on Sunday, including Bradley's Jillian Cosler (71) and Southern Illinois' Kayla Sayyalinh (71).
2025 MVC WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Sunday, April 13 -- 9:30 am – Round 1 (18 holes, split tees)
Monday, April 14 – 9:30 am – Round 2 (18 holes, split tees)
Tuesday, April 15 – 8:30 am – Round 3 (18 holes, split tees)
CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
The top three MVC women's programs in the most recent NCAA rankings are Illinois State, Missouri State, and Bradley - those three schools will be paired with one another on the first day of the MVC Championship. The top four-rated golfers in Clippd are all from Illinois State: Jinyoung Yun, Elise Fennell, Morgan Jones, and Jessica Jolly. Missouri State's Jiayi Zhang is No. 5 in the ratings. Yun leads the Redbirds with a season scoring average of 71.9, which is on pace to be nearly a stroke lower than her previous season-high of 72.6 which is an Illinois State and MVC single-season record … In 27 rounds on the season, she has 17 at or under-par rounds (a single-season school record), with eight top-10 finishes in 10 total events (third-most in school history)
2024 REVIEW
In 2024, for the second time in the last three years, Illinois State took home the MVC Women's Golf Championship, topping the field of a dozen schools at the tournament hosted at Annbriar. The Redbirds held a seven-stroke lead after the first 18 holes, and never trailed again in the program's 15th MVC Championship – most in MVC history. Kate Petrova of Evansville earned individual medalist after a three-hole playoff (against Ali Schrock of Illinois State). Petrova birdied hole No. 18 on the third attempt, while Schrock had a par). Jinyoung Yun of Illinois State was Golfer of the Year; Jillian Cosler of Bradley was Newcomer of the Year; and Breanne Hall of Illinois State was tabbed Coach of the Year.
- 2024-25 NCAA Team and Player Rankings: Click Here
- Preseason Poll (voted on by coaches in February prior to Spring play): Click Here
- MVC Golf (Men's/Women's Record Book): Click Here (PDF)