Baylor WGOLF Goes 0-1-1 on Day One at the T.Hession Regional Challenge

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Feb. 3, 2023

Baylor WGOLF Goes 0-1-1 on Day One at the T.Hession Regional Challenge
BU’s Hasegawa dominates her way to a 2-0 day to lead the Bears
For more information contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – Baylor Women’s golf finished Saturday with an 0-1-1 record at the modified Therese Hession Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Golf Club.

Initially scheduled for a 54-hole stroke play event, it was changed to a 16-team match play format with two rounds played on Saturday. With a 4-1 loss in its first match against No. 4 UCLA, Baylor was eliminated from tournament contention but bounced back with a 2.5-2.5 tie against No. 20 Pepperdine.

Sera Hasegawa finished the day as Baylor’s only unbeaten player, with wins of 3&2 and 8&7 to buoy the Bears and improve her match-play record to 8-1 at Baylor.

No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 8 Texas and No. 10 Florida are the four teams left standing after two rounds.

THE RUNDOWN
Morning Session
Hasegawa won the first hole of her match at No. 7 to get the upper hand early. With six match-play wins under her belt entering Saturday, Hasegawa controlled the match for most of the day. While Tiffany Le fought back to tie the match on three occasions at Nos. 9, 11 and 16, Hasegawa picked up a win at No. 18 and would win two of the next three holes to go 3-up with three holes to play. The junior would close the match out with a halve at No. 4.

Ashleen Kaur played a tightly contested match in the morning before falling 1-up to UCLA's Caroline Canales. After Canales took the first hole of the match, Kaur battled back to even the match two holes later with a win at No. 10. The freshman took her first lead with back-to-back wins at Nos. 15 and 16 to go from 1-down to 1-up. Canales tied the match at No. 17 and took the lead back with another win at No. 2. Kaur squared the match through 17 holes before dropping the final hole of the match at No. 7.

Rosie Belsham dropped her opening match to Alessia Nobilo 2-up, falling just short after a big rally. The UCLA junior grabbed the quick lead with a win at No. 6. Wins at Nos. 12, 14 and 16 saw Nobilio’s lead swell to 4-up with four holes to play. From that point, Belsham won three straight holes to get back to within one until Nobilo picked up a win at No. 5 to close things out.

Silje Ohma and Natalie Vo traded wins on each of the first two holes, and the match would stay tied through four holes. Ohma’s first lead came with a win at No. 10 as she led by that margin after 10. Vo won three straight at Nos. 16, 17 and 18 to go 2-up. Vo would clinch the match with a halve at No. 4 to win 2&1.

Yoonjeong Huh picked up an early win at No. 1, and held that lead through eight holes. From there though, UCLA’s Kate Villegas would win six-straight holes to take the match 5&4.


Afternoon Session
Hasegawa continued her winning ways in the afternoon, capturing eight of her first 11 holes against Pepperdine’s KaYee Kowk and dominated the afternoon session 8&7.

Rosie Belsham picked up her first win in the afternoon sessions with a 1-up win over Lion Higo. Belsham took a 2-up lead in the match after four holes before Higo battled back to square the match through seven. BU’s senior built a 2-up lead again with a win at No. 17 before Higo won two of the next three holes to bring it back to even. Belsham got back in control with a win at No. 3 to go 1-up with two to play, and the pair halved the next two holes, giving BU its second point of the afternoon.

Huh never trailed in her match as she battled the Waves’ Jeneath Wong to a draw in the second session. Huh took the early lead on the second hole of the match, pushing it as high as 2-up, and held it for the next nine holes until Wong won two of three holes to pull back even. Huh briefly took back the lead at No. 3 before Wong squared the match for good with a win at No. 4.

Kaur dropped her afternoon match 3&2 to Pepperdine’s Lauren Gomez. The freshman from BU dropped the second hole of the match and could never get back to even as Gomez led by as many as 3-up through 10. Kaur would pick up a win at No. 18 but could draw no closer than 2-down.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Sera Hasegawa improved to 8-1 in her nine matches at Baylor.
  *   Rosie Belsham improved to 8-5 in traditional match play for her career.

STAT OF THE DAY
.889 — Sera Hasegawa improved to 8-1 in her match-play career to boast an 88.9% match-play winning percentage.

WHAT’S NEXT
Weather permitting, the Bears will face Ohio State in the first of two scheduled matches on Sunday. The match will begin with a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring can be found at Golfstat.com.<https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=match&tid=28611>

For more information on Baylor Women’s Golf, follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.


—BaylorBears.com—


Matt Roberts | Associate Director of Athletic Communications (MBB/MGOLF/ WGOLF)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
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