Chippewas Drop 2 At Match Play

Monday, February 3

Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

8 a.m.

Central Michigan University

MAC Match Play

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

2/3/2020 8:33:00 PM | Women's Golf

CMU closes season-opening event on Tuesday

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – The Central Michigan golf team finished 0-2 on Monday, the opening day of the Mid-American Conference Match Play Challenge on the Royal Lakes at Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club.

The Chippewas opened with a 4-1 loss to Purdue Fort Wayne and then dropped a 3-2 decision to host Bowling Green.

CMU is scheduled to play Western Illinois in its challenge finale on Tuesday morning.

"I felt like we were rusty club-selection wise," CMU coach Jim Earle said. "We were coming up a little short, short siding ourselves on pins. It was more that we were rusty in the whole game management. Those things are quick fixes.

"The matches were decided on the greens and we just did not make a lot of putts. We didn't get beat off the tee, we didn't get beat on approach shots – both matches go a lot differently if we take care of business on the greens.

"It's not like we're hanging our heads by any stretch of the imagination; we hit some great shots. There's a lot of positives to take away from it."

The Chippewas got wins from Jami Laude and Claudia Salvador in their loss to Bowling Green. Their lone win against Purdue Fort Wayne came from Zoe Vartyan. Salvador and Vartyan are freshman playing in their first collegiate match-play event.

In their match with Bowling Green, Laude posted a 4-and-3 victory over Kelsey Sager and Salvador scored a 2-and-1 win over Kayla Davis.

In other matches, the Falcons' Alyson Kovach topped Vartyan, 1-up; Jessica Madry downed Padgett Chitty, 3-and-2; and Nichole Cox defeated Meghan Deardorff, 4-and-2.

Vartyan posted a 1-up victory over Emma Schroder in the Chippewas' match with the Mastodons. Laude dropped a 5-and-3 decision to Kennedy Brooker; Chitty fell to Linzie Richner, 1-up; Deardorff fell, 6-and-4 to Holly Anderson; and Salvador dropped a 2-and-1 decision to Laura Helena de Araujo Caetano.

Laude's performance was particularly encouraging in light of the fact that an injury had cut short the junior co-captain's fall season.

"Jami got a big win (against Bowling Green) after a tough morning," Earle said. "She came back in the afternoon and won big, so we were glad to see that.

"I think she's pain free and that's the biggest thing. For her to come out and get a win I think is pretty huge. It's big for her confidence moving forward."

Salvador finished strong in her win over Bowling Green's Davis, winning the final three holes to rally from 1-down.

"Claudia, that was a tough match," Earle said. "She fought back and finished with a string of birdies. She birdied every par 5 on the golf course, reached every par 5 in two."

Vartyan did likewise in her win over Purdue Fort Wayne's Schroeder. She played most of the first 11 holes 2-down, then won three holes in a four-hole stretch to take a 1-up lead through 15. After Schroeder won 16 to square the match, Vartyan won 17 to go 1-up. She won the match with a par on 18.