WACO, TX (KXXV) -
Baylor women’s golf saw its run end in the 2017 NCAA Championships match play quarterfinals, as the Lady Bears fell 3-2 to No. 1-ranked Stanford on Tuesday morning at Rich Harvest Farms.
Senior Maggie Beth Byers and junior Amy Lee both won their matches, but Stanford earned points against freshman Fiona Liddell, sophomore Maria Vesga and redshirt sophomore Dylan Kim.
Lee rolled to a 6-and-5 victory in her match against Madeline Chou, winning six holes, losing none and halving seven. She won Nos. 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 to take the turn at 5-up, then went 6-up with a win on No. 10 before halving the next three to clinch the match after 13 holes and give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
Vesga lost 4-and-3 in her tough matchup No. 3-ranked Andrea Lee. Vesga dropped Nos. 1, 4 and 5 to go 3-down early, and she won No. 6 to reduce the deficit to 2-down, but that was as close as the match would get. Lee won No. 8 to go 3-up, but Vesga responded with a win on No. 9 to take the turn 2-down. Lee clinched the match with wins on Nos. 11 and 15, giving Stanford its first point and evening the match at 1-1.
Liddell faced a difficult task against No. 20-ranked Casey Danielson, and though she never led the match, she pushed it to 16 holes before falling 3-and-2. Liddell was 2-down through seven, but she came back to win the next two holes to take the turn all-square. Danielson then won Nos. 10 and 11 to go 2-up and halved the next two holes, leaving Liddell only five holes to make up a 2-hole deficit. Liddell fought back with a win on No. 14 to get back to 1-down, but Danielson won the next two to clinch the match and give Stanford a 2-1 edge.
Kim fell 2-and-1 to No. 17-ranked Albane Valenzuela in a tightly contested match that neither player led by more than one hole until Valenzuela claimed No. 17 to seal her match and clinch Stanford’s semifinal berths. Kim needed to win one of the final two holes to force a playoff, and her aggressive approach from the rough on No. 17 found the water. Kim reached the back of the green after a drop, but she missed a 15-foot bogey putt and conceded the match with Valenzuela in position to two-putt from three feet.
Byers was the first one out and defeated the nation’s No. 112-ranked player Shannon Aubert, 1-and-1. The match was all-square through three holes before Byers won Nos. 4 and 5 to go 2-up. The players alternated wins over the next four holes, and Byers claimed consecutive wins on Nos. 9 and 10 to go 3-up with eight to play. Aubert rebounded with wins on Nos. 12, 15 and 16 to get back to all-square, but Byers went 1-up by winning No. 17, the final hole completed before Stanford clinched the match.
Baylor concludes its sixth season under head coach Jay Goble with the second-best NCAA Championships result in program history, trailing only the 2015 national runner-up finish. Goble has led Baylor to the NCAA Tournament in five of six seasons and is responsible for three of the four NCAA Championships berths in program history.
STANFORD 3, BAYLOR 2 (in order of finish)
No. 24 Amy Lee (BU) def. Madeline Chou (Stanford), 6-and-5
No. 3 Andrea Lee (Stanford) def. No. 101 Maria Vesga (BU), 4-and-3
No. 20 Casey Danielson (Stanford) def. Fiona Liddell (BU), 3-and-2
No. 17 Albane Valenzuela (Stanford) def. No. 82 Dylan Kim (BU), 3-and-2
Maggie Beth Byers (BU) def. No. 112 Shannon Auburn (Stanford), 1-and-1
BAYLOR’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
2004 – t-19th place
2012 – t-16th place
2015 – 3rd place (lost in match play finals)
2017 – 7th place (lost in match play quarterfinals)
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor has completed its 2016-17 season. The Lady Bears will lose Byers to graduation, but every other player on the roster has collegiate eligibility remaining. The 2017-18 schedule will be announced this summer.
