10 days after winning the Texas State Invitational in New Braunfels, the Texas State women’s golf team traveled up I-35 to Kyle to face Sam Houston State University at the Plum Creek Golf Course on Friday.
Texas State finished with four wins and two ties to defeat the Bearkats 5-3 for its first match win of the season.
“It was great to beat a solid Sam Houston team,” Texas State Head Coach Pars Nilsson said. “The experience of playing match play at a high level is worth even more for our team.”
Junior Matilda Svahn was the first player to win with a 6-4 victory against Sam Houston junior Viera Rosada. Svahn got out to an early lead over Rosada after beating her on five of the first nine holes.
Texas State senior Marine Griffaut was in a close match with Sam Houston senior Zulaikah Nasser, both fighting for the number three spot in the lineup.
Griffaut eagled the ninth hole to take the lead as Nasser birdied. Griffaut followed up with back-to-back pars to make it two-up, then finished with a birdie and a par on holes 14 and 15 to extend her lead.
Graduate student Hailey Jones won four of the first six holes to establish an early lead over Sam Houston freshman Amelia Guo. Guo almost caught up as she battled through holes 9-14, but it wasn’t enough as Jones clinched the win on the 15th hole.
Texas State senior Junia Gabasa got a big victory with a two-and-one win out of the number eight spot in the lineup against freshman Gracie Heinle.
Gabasa was behind after the first few holes but turned it around after winning the fifth and seventh holes. Gabasa took a two-hole lead at the 10th, but Heinle kept the match close until the 17th. Gabasa shot par to clinch the win for herself and Texas State.
Texas State junior Mattingly Palmer and freshman Fia Lindblom each tied but never led by more than two until Lindblom parred hole nine and birdied hole 11 to tie the match. Sam Houston junior Cari Denson eagled hole 15 to lead by one-up again, but Lindblom achieved the comeback by shooting par on the 16th hole compared to Denson’s bogey.
“With the format changing at the Sun Belt Conference tournament, where it now will be decided by match play, having played a few match play events is a great advantage for us,” Nilsson said. “Our older players – Hailey, Junia, Marine and Matilda all played great.”
Texas State’s next match will be in the Chevron Collegiate hosted at the Golf Club of Houston on Feb. 26-27.
