Virginia faced some tough competition this week at its home regional — other programs competing in the Charlottesville Regional included No. 4 South Carolina, No. 16 Ole Miss, No. 21 Florida and No. 27 UCLA. However, with the benefit of playing its home Birdwood Golf Course, as well as being the second seed in the region, the Cavaliers always looked likely to finish in the top five and qualify for the NCAA Championships.
They managed to do just that, turning in a solid performance to tie for third out of 12. Virginia shot 12-over par overall, placing four golfers in the upper half of the field. It shot six-over in Wednesday’s third round, a score that perhaps seemed inauspicious but that did enough with the day’s conditions.
“If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the day that six-over par would have moved us up the leaderboard, I would’ve thought you were kidding,” Coach Ria Scott said.
It was a series of days littered with good outings from multiple Cavaliers, even in a tournament where the average team score was greater than 30-over.
Senior Megan Propeck was particularly impressive, maintaining consistent high-caliber performance throughout. She began with her best round, a one-under 70, and although she did not go below that for the rest of the tournament, she came close with a one-over 72 in the second round and an even-par 71 in the third. Propeck tied for fourth overall at even-par.
While her third round ended up being her weakest, sophomore Jaclyn LaHa still ended things with a solid three-over 74. Her strong start of a one-over 72 and an even-par 71 balanced with her dip in the third round to slot her into a tie for 18th. She shot four-over for the tournament.
Senior Amanda Sambach, who has now — along with fellow senior Propeck — made the NCAA Championships in every year of her Virginia career, had an identical first two days of the tournament to LaHa, shooting a one-over 72 and an even-par 71. She stumbled Wednesday in the third round with a six-over 77, but, like LaHa, her strong start helped her place 23rd at seven-over par.
Graduate student Rebecca Skoler started strong with a one-over 72 but declined with each round, shooting a four-over 75 in the second round and a six-over 77 in the third. However, despite her drop in performance over the course of the tournament, she still managed to tie for 32nd on the leaderboard, just within the top half of competitors.
Freshman Kennedy Swedick subbed in for graduate student Chloe Shiavone after the first day of the tournament. Shiavone shot a five-over 76 in her lone round. Swedick, after entering the competition Tuesday, shot a three-over 74 in the second but concluded with one of the more notable rounds from any Cavalier in the third. The freshman shot a three-under 68 in the final round, her career best. She tied with fellow freshman — and tournament winner — Marie Madsen of N.C. State for the best score of any golfer in that round. Her 68 also tied for the second-best score of the entire tournament. Swedick, like Scott, noted the tough conditions.
“Wind kept up a little bit, and then obviously the rough, which has been the biggest thing of the week,” Swedick said. “Super thick, super penalizing. I think the major theme of the week for our whole team and then me personally was just patience.”
The Cavaliers have over a week to rest up before the NCAA Championships begin May 16, where they will join 29 other programs in Carlsbad, Calif. at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. The other top five seeds in the Charlottesville Regional — South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida and UCLA — all qualified.
In addition to the Gamecocks, the Rebels, the Gators and the Bruins, the Cavaliers will be joined by multiple other ACC schools. No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 Florida State and No. 7 Wake Forest all finished first in their regionals. Although NC State did not qualify, Madsen will compete as one of six individuals in Carlsbad.
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