NCAA women's golf: Duke falls in semifinal, sudden-death thriller - Durham Herald Sun

BRADENTON, Fla. â€"

After falling behind 4-1 early against seventh-seeded Texas Tech Tuesday morning, the second-seeded Duke women’s golf team rallied to win, 4-1, on its way to advancing to the NCAA Championship semifinals of match play, which will take place today (May 26) beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The Golf Channel will feature overage from 3-3:30 p.m., followed by live coverage from 3:30-7:00 p.m.  There will be post round coverage from 7-8 p.m., as well.

Baylor advanced to the semifinals, after taking down sixth-seeded Tennessee, 3-1, in the morning.  The upcoming contest will be a rematch from earlier this season when the Blue Devils defeated the Lady Bears, 3-2, in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.

The pairings for today's afternoon match will be Duke’s Lisa Maguire versus Lauren Whyte, Sandy Choi against Giovana Maymon, Gurbani Singh versus Laura Lonardi, Leona Maguire against Dylan Kim and Celine Boutier versus Hayley Davis.

In the morning, the Blue Devils trailed in four of the five matches early, but started to mount a comeback as Duke got ready to make the turn.

Just about the same time, twins Lisa and Leona Maguire finished the morning matches. Leona Maguire totaled a 5&4 win over Gabby Barker and Lisa Maguire dropped a 3&2 decision to Sarah Brown.

With the match all square at 1-1, Singh registered a 3&2 win over Lauren Mason to put the Blue Devils ahead 2-1.  Singh was 1-down through six holes, but won holes seven, eight and nine to take a 2-up lead.  She rolled in a birdie on No. 16 to close out the victory.

Boutier, who is from Montrouge, France, was 1-down through three holes, but was able to win the fourth hole to get the match to all square against Kimmy Hill.  The former Duke National Player of the Year then won holes six and seven to go 2-up.  Boutier never looked back closing out the match on hole 16 with a par to win 3&2 and clinch the victory for Duke.

“I feel like I stayed really patient all day,” said Boutier.  “I started with a mistake on number two, but I just managed to stay focused and play my own game.  And I ended up playing better and better throughout the rounds.”

Choi, a sophomore from Seoul, South Korea, trailed by as many as 2-down through seven holes to Stephanie Bertelsen, but battled back on the back nine.  By winning holes 13, 14 and 15, Choi went ahead 2-up and closed the win on No. 17 with a birdie earning a 2&1 win.

“I mean it’s definitely hotter and more humid down here, but we were prepared,” commented Boutier on the Florida heat.  “We knew that in Florida at the end of May it was going to be super hot.  So we prepared ourselves mentally and we stayed hydrated and have been drinking plenty of water throughout the day.

The match against Baylor this afternoon will feature all different contests than the previous match.

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