Mary Kate Bird fired a one-under-par 71 to lead the Nebraska women's golf team to an opening-round 295 to close the first day of the UNLV Spring Invitational in eighth place on Monday afternoon.

The hosts from UNLV scorched the 6,246-yard, par-72 layout of the Boulder Creek Country Club for a seven-under-par 281 to lead the 18-team field, while Idaho enters Tuesday's second round four shots back in second place at 285. Ball State closed the first 18 holes at one-over-par 289 in third place, while Big 12 Conference schools Missouri (290), Baylor (293) and Texas Tech (294) held the next three spots in the team standings.

Bird's 71 placed her in a six-way tie for 10th heading into the second round, six shots behind Idaho's Kayla Mortellaro, who notched a stellar seven-under-par 65 on Monday. Texas State's Valdis Jonsdottir was two shots back at 67, while UNLV's Therese Koelbaek added a 68 to close the day in third.

Nebraska senior JC Stevenson produced a solid 73 for the Huskers to end the opening round in a tie for 20th, while sophomore Maddie Sheils added a 74 to sit in a tie for 29th. Senior Charlotte Wendner rounded out Nebraska's top-four scorers with a 77 (54th), while freshman Erin Sharpee managed a 78 (T66th).

"I was certainly encouraged by what happened out on the course today," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "We played some great golf for 15 holes, and then we kind of let some shots get away from us. But overall we still had a pretty good day, and we certainly improved from our first spring tournament to today's first round. Hopefully we can clean some more things up tomorrow and put up another good score, but it sounds like weather and high winds might be a factor tomorrow."

Nebraska is scheduled to play the second round of the UNLV Spring Invitational on Tuesday beginning at 8:30 a.m. central time. Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com.