Women’s Golf: Hoos edged by top-ranked Cardinal in NCAA quarterfinals

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

After a hard-fought duel in which the Cavaliers led multiple matches early, the No. 10 Virginia women’s golf team came up short as the Cavaliers were eliminated by top-ranked Stanford in the match play quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships. The Cardinal defeated UVA, 3-1, on Tuesday at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Starting on the first tee, three out of five Cavaliers led by their eighth hole when Jaclyn LaHa took her first lead through seven. LaHa would maintain the lead for the remainder of her match on the way to a 3&2 victory over Kelly Xu (No. 29 NCAA/No. 29 WAGR).

After leading by three holes early, freshman Kennedy Swedick trailed by just one on the 18th hole. Putting for birdie to tie the match, Swedick’s attempt caught the edge of the cup but would not fall. She fell 1UP to Paula Martín Sampedro (No. 6 NCAA/No. 13 WAGR) as Stanford claimed the first point of the match.

“I knew that that one was going to be a really key match,” said head coach Ria Scott. “I knew what [Kennedy] is capable of in match play. She had a really great mindset, and she had a chance today. She played some incredible golf through about 13 holes, but when she started to slip up, Paula Martín Sampedro really started to hone in on her game. So, the timing of those two things just wasn’t right, but Kennedy has an incredible future ahead of her, both on this squad and in golf in general.”

Megan Propeck trailed by as many as three holes but battled back to tie things up before falling 2&1 to Meja Örtengren (No. 5 NCAA/No. 14 WAGR). Rebecca Skoler fell 5&3 to Andrea Revuelta (No. 7 NCAA/No. 4 WAGR).

Amanda Sambach (No. 18 NCAA/No. 21 WAGR) was tied with Megha Ganne (No. 16 NCAA/No. 11 WAGR) through 15 holes when the match was decided.

“I say this every year,” said Scott. “When you get to the national championship, there’s 29 teams that leave unsatisfied and there’s one team that’s happy at the very end. I think today, our team was sad it was over, but really proud of what they accomplished this year.

“To have such great leaders like Amanda, Megan and Rebecca experience match play at the championship…I think it was just a great way for them to cap off their collegiate careers and know that they could go toe to toe with the best team in the country.”

The Cavaliers qualified for match play at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2016. It marks UVA’s second appearance in match play since the format was introduced in 2015.

Megan Propeck was one of three players tied for fifth place in stroke play (6-under 282) to mark the second-highest finish by a Cavalier at the NCAA Championships. Virginia finished eighth in stroke play at 15-over 1167.

(8) Virginia vs (1) Stanford
Quarterfinal Match Play Results
Paula Martín Sampedro (STAN) def. Kennedy Swedick (UVA), 1UP
Meja Örtengren (STAN) def. Megan Propeck (UVA), 2&1
Jaclyn LaHa (UVA) def. Kelly Xu (STAN), 3&2
Amanda Sambach (UVA) vs. Megha Ganne, Unfinished
Andrea Revuelta (STAN) def. Rebecca Skoler (UVA), 5&3