Women’s Golf Run Concludes in ACC Championship Semifinals

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Following a gritty morning win in the first round of match play, the Duke women's golf team dropped a 3-0 decision to top-ranked Stanford Saturday afternoon to conclude action in the semifinals of the ACC Championship held at Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Blue Devils had a slow start to the match falling behind early in four of the five contests.
Freshman Rianne Malixi continued her stellar play against Kelly Xu of Stanford. Malixi rolled in her first birdie of the afternoon on the 333-yard, par-4 third hole to go 1UP. She extended her lead to 2UP with a par on No. 6. After dropping a shot on No. 8, Malixi rebounded with another birdie to go back ahead, 2UP. She increased her lead to 3UP through 11, 4UP through 13 and had a chance to win the match on No. 14 but missed the put. When the team match was clinched, Malixi was leading, 4UP, but the match was abandoned.
Graduate student Andie Smith was in a battle with Megha Ganne in the second match of the afternoon. Both parred the first six holes, before Smith bogeyed No. 7 to give Ganne a 1UP lead. Ganne birdied No. 8 to go 2UP, but Smith wouldn't back down. She rolled in a birdie par on No. 10 and birdied No. 11 to tie the match. Ganne regained the lead with a birdie on No. 12 and Smith had a chance to even the match with a birdie on No. 14, but missed the putt. Ganne won No. 15 and No. 16 to win the match, 3&2.
In the final match of the afternoon, fellow golfers from Spain – Duke's Anna Cañado Espinal and Paula Martín Sampedro faced off. Both birdied No. 2 and then Cañado Espinal took a 1UP lead with a par on No. 3. On the fifth hole, Martín Sampedro hit her drive left and was heading out of bounds, but came off the tree and landed near the fairway. She ended up birding the hole to tie the match and then took a 1UP lead on the next hole. Trailing by a couple of holes, Cañado Espinal tried to rally with a birdie on No. 12, but Stanford went back ahead, 2UP, with a birdie on No. 13. The match was abandoned following that hole.
Avery McCrery went off first and struggled against Meja Örtengren. Örtengren jumped out to a 4UP lead through five holes. McCrery tried to mount a comeback on the back nine with birdies on No. 10, No. 14 and No. 15, but ended up running out of holes and falling, 3&2.
Duke's Katie Li struggled in the afternoon against Andrea Revuleta and dropped a 5&4 decision.

NOTES

Duke advanced to the semifinals of match play for the fourth time in six seasons.

WHAT IS NEXT

Duke will next await the NCAA Championship selection show on Wednesday, April 29.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's golf, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWGOLF".

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Match Play – Semifinals
No. 1 Stanford 3, No. 4 Duke 0
Meja Örtengren (STAN) def. Avery McCrery (DUKE), 3&2
Megha Ganne (STAN) def. Andie Smith (DUKE), 3&2
Andrea Revuelta (STAN) def. Katie Li (DUKE), 5&4
Kelly Xu (STAN) vs. Rianne Malixi (DUKE), Unfinished
Paula Martín Sampedro (STAN) vs. Anna Cañado Espinal (DUKE), Unfinished
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2