PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The Penn State women's golf team began its spring 2022 campaign in the Sunshine State at the Big Ten Match Play Tournament at the Innisbrook Resort on Monday morning.
The Nittany Lions played a pair of competitive matches but were ultimately defeated in each with the afternoon match being cut short due to darkness. Penn State will be back on the course tomorrow morning to conclude the tournament with a match against Rutgers while Purdue and Northwestern will battle it out for the tournament championship.
Freshman Katie Scheck (Greensboro, Ga.) was victorious in both of her matches on the day.
"I felt very confident out there with my swing and with what I was doing," commented Scheck. "I had a clear mind every time I was about to hit my shot.
My driver put me in really nice spots, which allowed me to attack the pins and I was reading the greens really well and was able to hole some very critical putts."
Scheck raced out of the gates in her first match of the tournament against Northwestern's Kelly Su winning the first three holes and pushing her lead to as much as five up after 11. Su won a few holes on the way in, but Scheck was able to hang on for the 2Up victory and secure a full point for the Nittany Lions in the morning match.
The Wildcats ultimately won the match 4-2 with freshman Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) and junior Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) each earning half a point for Penn State with their respective ties.
Penn State then tee'd it up against Minnesota in the afternoon match which unfortunately was ended short due to darkness with Minnesota leading two of the six matches, Penn State leading one and three others tied. By default, Minnesota was awarded the victory with control over 3.5 of the six total points.
Scheck again was the lone victor for the Nittany Lions having a one up lead through 13 holes over Alexis McMurray. The freshman came from behind in her second match of the day going from one down through the first five holes to winning the next three holes to grab a two up lead that shrunk to one up when the horn sounded.
The Nittany Lions were tied in three additional matches through 13 holes as Dhruva along with senior Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) and junior Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) had played their competitors even in the afternoon match. Both Dhruva and Waller erased a multiple hole deficit while all three players had tied their respective matches over the final few holes before darkness prevailed.
Full Day One Results
