Commodore freshman Marina Alex, on the strength of her fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Regionals in Gainesville, Fl., will move on to play in the NCAA Championships May 19-22 in Maryland.

Alex fired a three-day score of 214, with a Saturday score of three-over par 73 to pace the Commodores.

"We really are thrilled for Marina," said Vanderbilt coach Greg Allen. "She hit a lot of good shots today and even had a lot of good putts not drop for her. Her experience getting to nationals will really her and our program as we move forward."

The Vanderbilt team, however, struggled on the final day of competition at regionals to drop from third on Friday all the way to an 11th-place finish and will not go on to the NCAAs. Only the top eight squads in the 24-team field advance to nationals, and the Commodores finished five strokes back of the eighth spot.

Senior Jacqui Concolino also shot a 73 Saturday, but junior Brooke Goodwin shot an 82 and freshman Andrea Messer shot an 81 in uncharacteristic performances; the two carded a 69 and 71 respectively on Thursday.

"I never really imagined having to count two scores in the 80's," Allen said. "It's really disappointing and our team is really hurting right now."

Andy Boggs contributed to this article.