Pairing to play with the host of the event -Vanderbilt – on their home course? Check. Pairing with the defending national champion Arizona State Sun Devils? Check.

Those are just two of the challenges lying ahead for the No. 5 ranked women’s golf team when they return to action Friday-Sunday at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Nashville, Tenn., after setting school records in their dominating victory at the Cougar Classic two weeks ago.

Coach Kelley Hester believes it could be quite the preview for the 2010 NCAA Championships with eight teams ranked in the top-10 and 13 teams in the top 25 in attendance.

“Oh, it’s great,” Hester said of getting to compete against the best just a month into the season. “There is no substitute for it, and our last tournament of the fall, The NCAA Preview, both have a similar field as you’d see at the National Championship, and I think it’s great at this point in the season to see how you stack up with the best; it will keep kids working harder.”

The Lady Dogs confidence is sky high after breaking the school record by six shots at the Cougar Classic, but Hester says they have to put that win behind them.

“We can’t really think about what we did last week, but we can take confidence from it,” Hester said.

Sophomore sensation Marta Silva will be looking to win her second tournament in a row, and fourth tournament of her career, after winning with a final-hole birdie at the Cougar Classic.

“She could,” her coach said of the possibility of her winning back-to-back. “She’s awfully good, and she seems to play well in big events.”

As rain pelted Athens day after day last week, closing golf courses, and limiting the women’s golf team’s practice opportunities, rust could be a concern.

However, while Hester did concede that they didn’t get to practice as much as she would of liked, rust was of no concern for her, as she said her team was “striping it” in the practice round, and she actually believes the poor conditions came at the most opportune time with all of the girls having multiple tests last week and needing the time to study anyways.

The rain could play to an advantage for the Dogs, though, as the Vanderbilt Legends Club also received a lot of rain over the last week and is playing very long, which Hester believes helps her team who has a lot of long hitters on their roster, and they’ve had to practice on a saturated course.

“They’ve had a lot of rain up here like we have had at home, and the course is playing on the longer side,” Hester said. “But I actually think that’s a possible advantage for us because we have a pretty long-hitting team and we’ve played in the wet conditions the last week.”