Chippewa Golfers Earn Match Play Title

Sunday, February 28

Greensboro, NC

9 a.m.

Central Michigan University

North Carolina A&T Aggie Spring Inv.

2/28/2021 6:18:00 PM | Women's Golf

CMU goes unbeaten for another historic program first

By: Julia Bice, CMUChippewas.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Another tournament in the books, another historic accomplishment for the Central Michigan golf team.

The Chippewas took three of five matches from host North Carolina A&T on Sunday to complete a perfect 3-0 run through the Aggie Spring Invitational at Forest Oaks Country Club.

It marked the first time that CMU has won a match-play tournament. The Chippewas opened on Saturday with victories over High Point and Appalachian State.

CMU continued its upward trend under coach Jim Earle, who is in his third year guiding the program, which was resurrected in 2014-15 after a three-decade hiatus.

Earle guided the Chippewas to their first stroke-play tournament title in fall, 2019, when they won the Oakland Golden Grizzly Invitational. They opened the 2021 season three weeks ago with a solid fifth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Challenge in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

They set several records, both of the team and the individual varieties, at Lakewood Ranch. The Chippewas are ranked 82^nd nationally this week and were 58^th after their performance in the MAC Challenge. Before this season, the Chippewas had never cracked the top 200.

CMU's victories on Sunday came from freshman Rachel Kauflin, 6 and 5; from sophomore Zoe Vartyan, 6 and 4; and from freshman Ashley Goh, 4 and 2. The Chippewas' Meghan Deardorff, a senior, lost, 2 and 1; and sophomore Padgett Chitty fell, 1-down.

The tournament originally comprised six teams but two opted out at the last minute, forcing tournament officials to adjust it to a four-team, round-robin format. The Chippewas, who were the fourth seed, won all three of their matches, 3-2.

"We beat three really good southern teams," Earle said. "High Point and Appalachian State have had a lot of success. We were the four seed going into this thing, and we just came out ready to play and beat some really good teams we were up against.

"We kept the ball in play, and I think our superior ball striking just showed up."

Kauflin, who hails from Wauwatosa, Wis., won all three of her matches in Greensboro in just her second collegiate event. Goh and Vartyan each went 2-1, while Deardorff and Chitty each finished 1-2.

"Chitty drew the (opponent's) No. 1 player all three rounds and I think she just played great," Earle said. "The final scores of her matches just didn't highlight that."