PALM DESERT, Calif. (Feb. 14, 2024) – The Spring season couldn't have gotten off to a better start for the Northern Arizona University golf team as the Lumberjacks defeated St. Thomas, 3-0-2, in the championship round of Mountain Classic Match Play.
NAU has been in action the past three days at The Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif., for its first event of the Spring. The Lumberjacks topped Montana State 3-0-2 in the first round and Wyoming 4-0-1 in the semifinals to advance to today's championship.
Lizzie Neale (3&2),
Lorel Hayward (4&3) and
Ekaterina Malakhova (3&2) all came away with victories today, with Malakhova finishing competition 3-0-0 on the week.
Nina Lukyanenko, who was competing as an individual, easily topped her Boise State opponent 8&6 to claim the individual bracket championship. The sophomore finished 2-1-0 in her matches throughout competition.
"It's obviously great to win a golf tournament, it's not that easy to do anymore in college golf. We haven't won a tournament since we won the Big Sky Championships in the Spring of 2022, and we were here in the championships last year and didn't play well enough to win. We had a tough match against Montana State in the first round, but pulled through, and yesterday we didn't play great, but today we played pretty good.
Lorel Hayward and
Ekaterina Malakhova really stepped up and played great, they were getting beat but turned it on. It was really cool, there were a lot of great things that happened and some great golf," said head coach
Brad Bedortha. "We didn't play well in the practice round, and in the first round I was watching golf shots I hadn't seen in a long time, so my message to them was to just try and get better each round, and today we played well enough to win."
Neale was up after the first two holes before her St. Thomas opponent birdied hole three to move the match all square. Neale took the lead back on the next hole and never let up, defeating her opponent 3&2 with two birdies, including one on hole 15.
Hayward had a strong match as well. Just like Neale, Hayward led the first two holes, but consecutive bogies moved the match all square. On the sixth hole, she retook the lead with a birdie and never looked back, leading the rest of the way to finish 2-1 on the week.
For Malakhova, competition was all square through the first four holes before her opponent took the lead through the next four. On the ninth hole, Malakhova birdied to move the match all square. Her St. Thomas opponent would double bogey the next two holes, allowing Malakhova to take the lead and never return it, winning 3&2.
Ellena Slater (5&4) and
Amy Hodgkins (1&0) fell in their respective matches.
Lukyanenko led from start to finish in her final match of the week, finishing with a birdie on the eighth hole to claim the victory.
Frankie Dezis also ended individual match play on a high note, defeating her Portland State opponent 2&1 in a back-and-forth battle. Dezis held the lead in three out of the first five holes until back-to-back bogies on the sixth and seventh holes put her behind. On hole 12, Dezis' opponent bogeyed to move the match all square. PSU would double-bogey the next hole, allowing Dezis to take her first lead of the match on hole 13. She would never relinquish the lead, finishing at par in four out of the last five holes to win.
Northern Arizona returns to the course on Feb. 27-28 at the GCU Invitational, hosted by Grand Canyon at its host course in Phoenix.
