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Oregon
UCLA Advances to Match-Play Semifinals
May 24, 2016 | Women's Golf
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EUGENE, Ore. - The top-seeded UCLA women's golf team moved on to the NCAA match-play semifinals with a 4-0-1 victory over #8-seed Oregon on Tuesday morning at the Eugene Country Club.
The Bruins will face #4-seed Washington in the match-play semifinals, which begin at 2:20 p.m. Live scoring will be available here, and Golf Channel coverage will begin at 3 p.m.
UCLA will go out in the same order against the Huskies as Tuesday morning versus the Ducks:
2:20 p.m. - Bethany Wu vs. Julianne Alvarez
2:30 p.m. - Louise Ridderström vs. Sarah Rhee
2:40 p.m. - Hadas Libman vs. Wenyung Keh
2:50 p.m. - Lilia Vu vs. Ying Luo
3 p.m. - Bronte Law vs. Charlotte Thomas
Wu was the first to clinch on Tuesday morning against Oregon, defeating Petra Salko, 5 and 3. The first nine holes of the match were halved until Wu broke through on the 10th. The Bruin freshman then won four in a row on #12, #13, #14 and #15 to close out Salko.
Ridderström was next to put up a point for the Bruins, also ending the match on the 15th green with a 4 and 3 victory over Kathleen Scavo. The first four holes went either way, as Ridderström took the second and fourth, while Scavo won the first and third. Ridderström took her first lead of the match at #7 and never looked back, also winning the eighth, the 11th and the 13th to put the Bruins up 2-0.
Law, who was named PING WGCA Player of the Year and WGCA First Team All-American during the round, would be next, getting the clinching point for the Bruins to move on to the semifinals. She never trailed against Cathleen Santoso, winning holes #1, #2, #8, #10 and #11 to take a commanding 5-up lead. Law gave one back on the 12th, but got to within five feet on the par-3 14th and buried the birdie to win the contest, 5 and 4.
Libman and Vu's matches each ended before completion, with Vu winning a point and Libman claiming a half-point. Vu, who was also named a WGCA First Team All-American, dropped the first hole versus Caroline Inglis before getting all square on the sixth, which started a string of three-straight wins (#6-#8) to take a 2-up lead to the back nine. Vu lost the 14th, as her match ended on #15 with a 1-up victory.
Libman's match versus Marcella Pranovia ended all square after the 15th hole. Libman dropped the first, but got back to even on the fourth, her first of three-straight wins (#4-#6). Pranovia took the lead back with wins on #9, #10 and #11 before Libman got all square on #13 and then re-took the lead on the 14th. Pranovia won the 15th, as the match ended with three holes to go after the overall contest was decided.
Carrie Forsyth Post-Round Quotes
On the Bruins' quarterfinal win over Oregon…
“We started off a couple down after one or two holes, but our girls, especially our freshmen, were kind of working through the nerves a little bit and getting comfortable again. After the first few holes, we played some really quality golf. [We had] some really good shots and took advantage of the holes when we had the opportunities. It was good golf, and good golf tends to do well.”
“It's great. I'm just happy. If we're going to play somebody, I'd prefer it to be a Pac-12 team that wins their match and moves forward. I love [Washington], and we love their team. We're really good friends with the coaches. It will be bittersweet for whoever is not the winner, but it's going to be a lot of fun and we're looking forward to it.”