Cal Men, Women Fall Short In Big Match

WOODSIDE, Calif. – California's pairings of Aaron Du and Cristina Ochoa and Sampson Zheng and Jieming Yang earned match victories, but it was Stanford that came away with the team win in the Big Match on Thursday afternoon at Menlo Country Club.
 
Six pairs consisting of one man and one woman from each rival school competed in foursome match play, with the Cardinal pulling out a 4-2 victory. It was the first time in three years that the Big Match had been played due to a COVID-19-induced hiatus; the Golden Bears had won the first two editions of the competition in 2018 and 2019.
 
A start-to-finish effort by Du and Ochoa in the second match ended in a 2&1 win for the Bears. Du's birdie on No. 2 – one of three by the junior – vaulted Cal into a lead it never relinquished. The duo extended its lead to 4-up on an eagle by Du at 13 before staving off a late rally by the Cardinal.
 
Though Stanford had already clinched the overall victory, a birdie by Sampson Zheng on the 18th secured a 1-up win for he and Yang in the fourth match. After Stanford's Barclay Brown and Caroline Sturdza went 2-up after six holes played, Cal rallied to make it square through nine played with birdies by Zheng on No. 7 and 9. A birdie from Yang on 11 gave Cal a 1-up advantage that it maintained through the 14th. Stanford knotted it with a birdie by Brown on 15 before Zheng ended it on the final hole.
 
The first win of the day went to Stanford when Dean Greyserman and Brook Seay (3&2) won four straight holes from 13 to 16 to rally past Jeewon Park and Adora Liu, who held a 1-up advantage through 12. In the third match, Daniel Heo and Jasmine Lew went 1-up on a birdie by Lew on No. 10 before ultimately faltering down the stretch in a 2&1 defeat to the Cardinal's Ethan Ng and Sadie Englemann.
 
Tony Chen and Mika Jin fell to Rachel Heck and Karl Vilips, 4&2, in the fifth match while Nathan Wang and Annika Borrelli came up short against Michael Thorbjornsen and Rose Zhang (5&4) in the sixth match.
 
RESULTS

• Dean Greyserman & Brooke Seay (Stanford) 3&2 Jeewon Park & Adora Liu (Cal)
• Aaron Du & Cristina Ochoa (Cal) 2&1 Alex Yang & Megha Ganne (Stanford)
• Ethan Ng & Sadie Englemann (Stanford) 2&1 Daniel Heo & Jasmine Lew (Cal)
• Sampson Zheng & Jieming Yang (Cal) 1UP Barclay Brown & Caroline Sturdza (Stanford)
• Karl Vilips & Rachel Heck (Stanford 4&2 Tony Chen & Mika Jin (Cal)
• Michael Thorbjornsen & Rose Zhang (Stanford) 5&4 Nathan Wang & Annika Borrelli (Cal)

 
UP NEXT
The Cal men's and women's teams will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Blessings Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 3-5. The three-day, 54-hole tournament will be televised on the Golf Channel from 1:30-4:30 p.m. PT daily.
 
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