LOUISVILLE, Ky. – South Dakota sits 15th overall after a 315 in its first 18 holes at the Cardinal Cup, buoyed by Emma Sabbagh's even-par 72 in her opening round on Friday afternoon at the University of Louisville Golf Club.
 
Sabbagh's 72 is her second round of even-par or better this fall, topped only by the 71 that she fired in the third round at the Johnie Imes Invitational two weeks ago. The sophomore notched a trio of birdies, including back-to-back on the sixth and seventh holes, and is tied for seventh after the opening round.
 
Campbell leads the formidable field by three strokes after an opening-round 292; Kentucky (No. 20 in the latest Golfstat rankings) and host Louisville (No. 42) are also inside the top five on the team leaderboard. Louisville's Mairead Martin leads the field by two shots over Campbell's Stacey White on the player leaderboard. The Cardinal Cup's field also include three individually-ranked golfers in Kentucky's Jensen Castle (No. 31) and Casey Ott (No. 98) and Louisville's Lauren Hartlage (No. 75).
 
Julia Hall, who has been among the Coyotes' top two finishers in each of the last three tournaments, sits just behind Sabbagh after tallying a 77 in her opening round to tie for 40th.
 
Up next were Laerke Jensen (82) and Megan Munneke (84) to round out the counting scores for South Dakota on Friday, and Elizabeth Duncan, competing for the first time since the Payne Stewart Memorial in early September, notched an 86 to close out the card for the Coyotes.
 
Duncan will tee off first for South Dakota from the first hole on Saturday morning at 9:50 a.m. (CT), with the remaining four Coyotes going off in 10-minute increments until 10:30 a.m. South Dakota will be paired alongside Murray State and East Carolina for play on Saturday.