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Northwestern 4, Arkansas 1 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic Quarterfinal Match UGA Golf Course Athens, Ga. BirdieFire.com Scoring Match Play Bracket  | |
ATHENS, Ga. -- No. 9 Northwestern opened big leads in three of its five matches Saturday morning against No. 7 Arkansas in the quarterfinal round of the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic championship match play bracket, advancing to face Georgia in Saturday afternoon's semifinal.
Arkansas struggled out of the gate in each of the first three matches, and Northwestern was ready to pounce. The Wildcats in those positions in the lineup all built leads they would not relinquish.
Arkansas entered the match as the No. 3 seed after finishing third in Friday's medal play qualifying round while NU was the No. 6 seed among the 12-team field.
Below is a match-by-match account of Northwestern's quarterfinal showdown with No. 7 Arkansas:
MATCH 1: Hana Lee (NU) def. Summar Roachell (ARK), 6 and 5
Senior Hana Lee (Seoul, South Korea/Wilson (Calif.)) and her Razorbacks opponent both got off to slow starts, but Lee was the beneficiary in taking a 2-up lead through five holes. She won the first hole via a bogey and the fifth with a par, and that second victory got her rolling. Lee would make her streak five wins in a row, taking the next four holes with two birdies and two pars to take a commanding 6-up lead at the turn, and she stayed in front by that margin for a resounding 6 and 5 victory.
MATCH 2: Kaitlin Park (NU) def. Jordy Labarbera (ARK), 2 and 1
Kaitlin Park (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) also took advantage of a slow Arkansas start to grab an early lead in her match, building a 2-up lead after Labarbera suffered double bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14. The Razorback came right back, leveling the match with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18.
Heading around to the front nine, Park got back on top via a birdie at No. 2. Both competitors bogeyed the next two in a row before Park stretched the advantage to 2-up at No. 5 when Labarbera made bogey on her third-straight hole. Park then matched Labarbera par-for-par until winning, 2 and 1.
MATCH 3: Kacie Komoto (NU) def. Samantha Marks (ARK), 3 and 2
Kacie Komoto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou) quickly raced to 4-up through seven holes in this match after her opponent made three bogeys and a double bogey in her first five holes followed by Komoto birdies at Nos. 15 and 16. Komoto made the turn with a 4-up edge and birdied the first to go 5-up before Marks fought back, cutting the Wildcat's lead to 3-up with five to play. She could get no closer, however, in a 3 and 2 win for Komoto.
MATCH 4: Regina Plasencia (ARK) def. Hannah Kim (NU), 4 and 3
Arkansas' Regina Plasencia was the lone Razerback to get off to a hot start Saturday morning, making four birdies during the first nine against freshman Hannah Kim (Chula Vista, Calif./Otay Ranch) to make the turn 4-up on the young Wildcat. The two exchanged pars and bogeys on the front nine before Plasencia closed out the match, 4 and 3.
MATCH 5: Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (NU) def. Gaby Lopez (ARK), 2 up
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (Bangkok, Thailand/Bromsgrove Christian School) won the first hole of this match on a Lopez double bogey, but suffered a four-bogey stretch midway through the opening nine to allow Lopez to make the turn with a 1-up lead. That deficit was brief for Tangkamolprasert, who birdied No. 1 to level the match before winning both Nos. 4 and 5 with pars, eventually completing a 2-up victory.
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