Sept. 19, 2016 Results and live scoring
ANN ARBOR. - Paige Lee, Samantha Hutchison and Yoonhee Kim each posted wins for the UC Davis women's golf team on Monday afternoon as the Aggies upset host Michigan, 3-2, during the consolation semifinals at the East and West Match Play Challenge at Radrick Farms Golf Club.
The eighth-seeded Aggies will try to lock up fifth place for the second straight year on Tuesday when they face sixth-seeded Penn State. The Nittany Lions beat Nebraska, 4-1 and will face UC Davis for the second straight year.
The East and West Match Play Challenge features a combination of stroke and match play for its eight competing teams. The event is the only one of its kind on the Aggies' schedule this year but will provide great experience for the NCAA Finals if they advance since the national championship uses a similar format.
Lee was a 3&1 winner over Elodie Van Dievoet, Hutchison downed Grace Choi, 2&1, and Kim won the last two holes to defeat Megan Kim, 2 up. Emily White beat Rei Nakatani, 4&3, while Kathy Lim slipped by Christine Danielsson, 1 up, for the Wolverine's two points.
"I'm pleased with our performance today. The match play format forced us to play a bit smarter and stick to our plan which was great," said head coach Anna Temple. "Our players took a lot of good things from the experience today which they can apply to stroke play going forward (the rest of the season). A win against a team like Michigan is exciting for our young team and we're excited to compete against Penn State tomorrow."
Lee, the lone senior on UC Davis' team, never trailed in her match against Van Dievoet, using a birdie on the match's sixth hole to take the lead for good. She captured the eighth and ninth holes of the round before Van Dievoet was able to get it back to a one-hole deficit later. Lee's win on the 17th hole clinched her victory.
Hutchison led UC Davis with a top-20 finish during Sunday's stroke play and kept her strong play going on Monday. She trailed by a hole at her turn before squaring her match against Choi on the 10th hole. She won the 12th hole and to go up for good and then stretched the lead to two holes after her birdie on the par-3 seventh. The competitors halved their 17th hole, clinching the win for Hutchison.
Yoonhee Kim was tied with Megan Kim through four holes and eventually went up by two holes before her Michigan opponent tied it with a par on their 16th hole. But birdies on her final two holes gave Yoonhee Kim the win. Nakatani cut an early three-hole deficit to just one on her back nine before White was able to pull away. Danielsson was also square with Lim through 13 holes but Lim took a one-hole lead that she didn't relinquish.
Courtney Clark, playing as an individual, competed against Oregon's Daniele Giles in a match play tournament for individuals. She fell 5&4 and will face Audrey Judd of Nebraska on Tuesday for seventh place.
UC Davis and Penn State will start play at 5:45 a.m. (PDT) on Tuesday.