Buffs Defeat Texas State In Third Round Of March Mayhem

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – The University of Colorado women's golf team won its second consecutive match here Tuesday in the third round of the San Diego State March Mayhem Tournament, defeating No. 13 seed Texas State, 3-1-1.

After splitting the first two rounds on Monday, the No. 9 seed Buffaloes moved into the consolation bracket of the tournament and are set to play No. 6 seed California in the final round on Wednesday. Cal defeated TCU, 3-1-1 in the third round. No. 1 seed Southern California and No. 3 seed Arizona will face each other in the championship at The Farms Golf Club, a 6,211-yard, par 72 course layout.

Junior Esther Lee was the first Buff to complete her third round match as she posted an impressive 6&5 win over Camille Boeffard. For a second straight round, Lee led wire-to-wire and finished 6-up. Of the 13 holes played, Lee won six and squared the other seven. She defeated her opponent by draining one birdie and five pars, while Boeffard recorded six bogeys.

Continuing her undefeated run was senior Alexis Keating as she topped Maty Monzingo, 2-up and improved to 3-0 in the event after winning both matches on Monday. Tuesday's match went back and forth throughout the day with each golfer holding a lead at various times. Keating went 2-down after the first two holes, but won the following two to square it. With a par by Keating on the sixth hole, she would go 1-down again as Monzingo recorded a birdie. Keating squared it three holes later before making the turn. The Elma, Wash. native took her first lead on the 11th hole, only for it to be squared again the very next hole. Keating regained the lead at 1-up with five holes to play and did not look back as she closed the match with a par on the final hole and Monzingo bogeyed.

“The team overall, played better today and eliminated some of those errors from yesterday,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “Esther was more on her normal game. She hit the ball much better and Alexis played solid golf.”

Junior Natalie Vivaldi won her first match of the tournament, defeating Millie Saroha 3&2. Vivaldi controlled the match from the begging as she led during 13 of the 16 holes played. After going 1-down on the first hole, the Oceanside, Calif. native went on to win five and square eight of the 15 remaining holes. Vivaldi held a 3-up advantage with four to play and squared two straight to secure the victory.

Freshman Gillian Vance fell in her third round match to Lora Assad, 3&1. Vance held a 1-up lead through the first 11 holes until Assad came back to square it on the 12th. On the 13th hole, Vance went 1-down as she made par and Assad recorded a birdie. Vance went 1-3 over the final four holes as Assad won 3-up on the 17th hole.

Sophomore Brittany Fan finished her match all-square against Anne-Charlotte Mora. The match only went 16 holes as Colorado had already clinched the team win, which meant they did not have to complete the round.

The Buffs will look to draw from their back-to-back wins as they prepare to face Cal in the final round.

“We're going to have to step it up tomorrow against Cal,” added Kelly. “They're a good team so we'll have to play really well to beat them.”

Colorado will tee off at 9:45 a.m. MDT. Live scoring is available at BirdieFire.com.

(9) Colorado def. (13) Texas State, 3-1-1
Alexis Keating (CU) def. Maty Monzingo (TSU), 2-up
Lora Assad (TSU) def. Gillian Vance (CU), 3&1
Esther Lee (CU) def. Camille Boeffard (TSU), 6&5
Brittany Fan (CU) tied Ann-Charlotte Mora (TSU), AS
Natalie Vivaldi (CU) def. Millie Saroha (TSU), 3&2

TEAM SCORES
Championship Bracket
(1) Southern California def. (4) Stanford, 4-1-0
(3) Arizona* tied (2) UCLA, 2-2-1

Consolation Bracket
(6) California def. (10) TCU, 3-1-1
(9) Colorado def. (13) Texas State, 3-1-1

5th Place Bracket
(7) San Diego State* tied (11) Kansas, 2-2-1
(5) Arizona State def. (8) Oregon, 4-1-0

13th Place Bracket
(14) Memphis def. (15) Delaware, 2-0-3
(12) UC Davis* tied (16) UC Irvine, 2-2-1
*—advances on tiebreaker