UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State was sleeping on a nine-stroke lead overnight as the skies in Happy Valley opened leaving behind a soggy course and delaying the start of the final round on Sunday morning by more than an hour. It took a while for the Lady Linksters to adjust to the conditions and find their footing, but a four-hole stretch of 6-under over the middle portion of the round sparked the run to a tournament record 13-under finish.
The Nittany Lions shot 4-under, 284, on Sunday holding off Delaware (1-under) during the early stages of play as the Blue Hens used a strong start to cut the deficit to a single stroke after Oihana Etxezarreta rolled in an Eagle on the par-5 sixth hole. Delaware was 6-under through six holes at that point while Penn State had dropped a few shots. Princeton (5-over), Boston College 11-over) and Seton Hall (12-over) round out the top-5.
Penn State's total score of 13-under, 851, is a new Nittany Lion Invitational record shattering the previous mark of 862 set by the Nittany Lions in 2012. The 13-under score is also a 54-hole program record. PSU was in red figures all tournament long carding rounds of 2-under, 7-under and 4-under.
The Nittany Lions secure their 24th Nittany Lion Invitational team title and their fourth in the last six (2015, 2016, 2018, 2021). Junior Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) carded her third-straight round under-par to secure the individual championship with a score of 10-under, 206, the second-lowest 54-hole total in Nittany Lion Invitational and program history only one shot shy of Sarah Willis' mark from the 2018 NLI.
Delavallade had a back-and-forth battle with Etxezarreta all day and was finally able to pull away on the back-nine going 4-under during an eight-hole stretch finishing the day 3-under to secure her first individual collegiate title. The junior is now the 15th Nittany Lion to earn individual medalist honors at her home tournament with the most recent being Willis in 2018.
"The speed [of the golf course] definitely changed with the rain overnight and it took some time to adjust," mentioned Delavallade. "I just stayed patient and by the end of the round the putts started to fall."
Junior Isha Dhurva (Katy, Texas) was the big mover of the day despite a bogey-bogey finish she concluded the day with a career-best, 1-under, 71, moving up 19 spots and finishing tied for 11th marking her best collegiate finish to date.
Senior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) faltered a bit in the final round, but still finished in solo-fifth at 4-under, 212, earning her sixth career top-10 finish and her third career top-five finish.
Sophomore Victoria Tip-Aucha (Vienna, Va.) had a very consistent weekend also finishing in red figures at 1-under, 215, good for solo ninth marking her highest career finish. Tip-Aucha sandwiched a second round 73 between a pair of 71's to account for her total.
Freshman Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) bookended her final round with a pair of birdies to move up six spots finishing tied for 35th following a 1-over, 73, the lowest round of her young career.
Individually, senior Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) finished tied for 30th at 6-over par while sophomore Maria Arizaga (Samborondon, Ecuador) finished tied for 35th following rounds of 75 and 73, respectively.
Freshman Katie Scheck (Greensboro, Ga.) finished her first collegiate tournament tied for 40th after a final round 75 (3-over) while junior Lauren Freyvogel (Gibsonia, Pa.) finished tied for 48th and freshman classmates Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) and Jami Morris (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) rounded out the individual scoring tied for 60th and 78th, respectively.
"I was happy to see the team being patient early on [when things weren't going their way]. It was something we talked a lot about this past week," commented head coach Denise St. Pierre. "They stayed in each moment, and they stayed on each hole and that made a huge difference."
Penn State returns to the links at the Cougar Classic next Sunday through Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina.
FULL DAY 2 RESULTS
