DeKalb | After posting some of the best rounds of the season, the women’s golf team will travel to Indiana for its fall finale.

The trip to the Hawthorns Golf Club in Fishers, Ind., will wrap up the Huskies’ fall portion of the season. The event is an early-season version of the Mid-American Conference tournament and most teams from the conference will be represented.

Kent State will be the lone conference opponent to not make the trip. The 16-team tournament is not just a MAC competition and will feature schools from outside the conference, including Western Illinois and Eastern Kentucky.

During NIU’s last tournament, the Kangaroo Invitational, the Huskies played their best golf of the year, totaling a 932 for a fourth-place finish out of nine teams. The Huskies look to build off that going forward.

“It has been good starting to see everyone play well at the same time,” said head coach Kim Kester. “But at the same time when somebody is not playing that well somebody has been picking them up; we have been having the best of both worlds. Everyone is making the most of each tournament and we are learning some things at each tournament.”

Junior Taylor Ellett was one of the Huskies who contributed to NIU’s strong finish in Kansas City, carding a (81-78-76=235). Ellett has shown improvement and likes what she is seeing from her teammates.

“The fourth-place finish was nice,” Ellett said. “It has been nice seeing everyone improve throughout the year. It shows that they have been putting in time on their own and practicing. It is tough balancing schoolwork and golf at the same time, so it has been nice to see.”

Kester has noticed a similarity in the way the team started off last year and this year.

“Last year was the same thing: We started off a little slower,” Kester said. “We really took off the start of the spring. It comes and goes every time of the year. You just keep grinding away at it put the work in and good things will happen.”

Hawthorns Golf Club will be the home of the MAC tournament in the spring so the Huskies have a chance to get a feel of conference play when they get out to the course.

“Conditions in the spring will be a lot different than they are now,” Kester said. “But just to get a visual off the tee and in the fairways will be good. The more times you can get on a golf course that you are going to play one of your biggest tournaments of the year, the more likely you are to succeed.”

Ellett and senior Jenny Niemiec are the only Huskies who have experience on the course, having gained it when NIU traveled to Hawthorns Golf Club two seasons ago. Ellett was not pleased with her play last time she visited the course and is hoping for a better outcome.

“It is a tough course, so we definitely have to play well to shoot a good score,” Ellett said. “But I think heading into it we are playing pretty well and it is going to be a good tournament for us.”

NIU tees off the two-day event at 8 a.m. Monday.