HONOLULU – In head coach Lori Castillo's final season, the University of Hawai'i women's golf team completed 2016-17 with marked improvement from every team member.
 
Among the highlights included four Top 4 team finishes and six individual Top 10s. UH concluded the season with a Golfstat ranking of No. 106 and the team's overall scoring average dropped by 5.3 strokes per round for a 302.9 average. In the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, the Rainbow Wahine had the fourth biggest improvement nationally from the fall (No. 147) to spring (No. 92) moving up 55 spots.
 
The team posted 13 rounds under 300 compared to six last year with a strength of schedule ranked second in the Big West behind UC Davis. Senior Izzy Leung led the Rainbow Wahine with a 74.6 scoring average, an improvement of 1.63 strokes per round from last season. The most improved golfer was senior Kelli-Anne Katsuda, who bested her average by 3.31 strokes per round (78.69).
 
Hawai'i led the Big West with the most academic awards – Lauren Kirkwood and Malia Ebersberger were named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll Highest Honors while Daezsa Tomas, Raquel Ek, Katsuda, and Leung were named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll with Honors.
 
Leung completed her career by being named to the all-conference first team. The Shatin, Hong Kong native began the year with a tie for second at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate and finished the season third at the Big West Championship with a 1-over 217 total. In her four-year career, she had nine career Top 10 finishes with one title.
 
Ek was an honorable mention all-Big West honoree after averaging 76.1 strokes per round. Masuda was third on the team with a 76.4 average while Tomas was fourth at 77.3. All four golfers competed in all nine tournaments throughout the season. Freshman Megan Ratcliffe joined the squad in the spring and played all five tournaments with a 78.7 average.
 
Castillo, a second generation head coach following in her father Ron's footsteps, was the longest tenured coach in program history. She guided UH to a pair of runner-up finishes at the conference tournament – at the 2010 Western Athletic Conference Championship and at the 2015 Big West Championship. In addition, she coached two UH medalists – Leung, who captured the 2014 Oregon State Invitational and Eimi Koga, who won the 2016 Hobble Creek Fall Classic. The Rainbow Wahine also captured the Hobble Creek Classic team title, a first since for the program since 1996.
 
Stephen Bidne was hired to replace Castillo. Bidne, the 13^th coach in program history, spent the past four years at the helm of his alma mater Northern Colorado.