Another First For Chippewa Golfers

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – Spring-season opener and another first for the Central Michigan golf team.

The Chippewas won four of five matches in defeating Ohio on Monday in their opening match at the Mid-American Conference Match Play Challenge at Lakewood Ranch Golf & Country Club.

It marked the first time that CMU, which went into the event as the ninth seed, has opened the spring-season opening MAC Match Play with a win. The Bobcats were seeded eighth.

CMU then fell to No. 1-seed Florida Gulf Coast, 3-1-1, and is scheduled to play Western Michigan on Tuesday morning in a consolation-bracket match.

"Didn't seem like the girls had really missed a beat," said first-year Chippewa coach Jim Earle, whose team put together a remarkable fall, during which they broke out with top-five finishes in four of their five tournaments. "They've hit the ball really well. We were playing really well (against Ohio) and it was a good exciting match. To come up with four wins was really good for us."

Against Ohio, CMU's Bria Colosky posted a 4-and-2 victory over Alicia Porvasnik; Danielle Sawyer was 5-and-4 winner over Catherine Loftus; Meghan Deardorff downed Nicole Smiley, 2-up; and Jami Laude scored a 3-and-2 victory over Emily Hughes.

Ohio's lone victory came from Marissa Balish, who defeated Holly Hines, 2-and-1.

"Sawyer was 3- or 4-under (par) by the time she won her match," Earle said. "Jami was even par and Bria was about that as well. They were playing some good golf. I thought Ohio was playing some good golf too. It's not like they were playing poorly, they were playing pretty well."

Florida Gulf Coast earned the top seed in the event based on its national ranking, 119^th. The Chippewas are ranked 220^th.

Hines rebounded to post CMU's lone win against Gulf Coast, a 2-up triumph over Natalie Nassar. Deardorff, a sophomore, played Gulf Coast's top player, senior Madeline Marck-Sherk, to a halve.

Colosky lost, 4-and-3, to Alisa Clark; Sawyer fell, 4-and-2, to Kelsey Holbert; and Laude dropped a 5-and-3 decision to Laura Edmonds.

"We ran into some buzzsaws," Earle said of the Eagles. "They're a pretty talented team for sure, especially the girls that were playing Bria and Jami. They were on fire right out of the gate. We gave it our best out there. We didn't play as well as we did in the morning matches (against Ohio)."

Deardorff, playing match play for just the fourth time in her career, was 3-up with three holes to play. Marck-Sherk birdied two of the final three holes to even the match.

"Meghan was disappointed that she didn't get the win, but it was a great experience for her," Earle said, adding that Deardorff is the lone Chippewa to have gone through the opening day of the tournament without a loss. "She didn't give it away by any means. She played fantastic. (Marck-Sherk) isn't the No. 1 player on a very good team for nothing."

If the Chippewas beat Western Michigan, which is seeded seventh, on Tuesday morning, they will take on either sixth-seeded Eastern Michigan or fifth-seeded Illinois State on Tuesday afternoon in the fifth-place match. Western Michigan opened with a 5-0 victory over Morehead State and then bowed to Northern Illinois, 4-1.

"We went into it wanting to really learn from this experience, learn a little something about ourselves and take something away from playing against a really highly ranked team," Earle said. "And I think we have. Can't wait to tee it up again."

Central Michigan University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Bria Colosky

Meghan Deardorff

Holly Hines

Jami Laude

Danielle Sawyer

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