Women's Golf Battles Third Ranked Duke To The Wire

Nov. 4, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. - The No. 18 Michigan State women's golf team was one hole away from beating the third-ranked team in the nation at the Hooters Match Play Championship on Nov. 4. After earning victories over two-top 15 teams in Arizona and Auburn yesterday, the Spartans gave No. 3 Duke all it could handle in round three. Forcing a playoff that needed two holes to decide, MSU finished one behind the Blue Devils.

"We have had an exciting three matches of golf in the past two days," Spartan head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll said. "This program has shown that it is one of the best in the nation and is proving its stability within not only the Big Ten, but the country."

With each team having won two matches apiece, the contest came down to MSU's Laura Kueny against Duke's Anna Grzebien. Battling back and forth the entire day, Kueny fought from one down to tie the match on 17, and both golfers ended the round even at par. A 19th hole could not settle the score and Grzebien eventually gave the Blue Devils the win with a birdie on 20.

"I was really proud of Laura," Slobodnik-Stoll said. "The composure and mental toughness she showed today as a freshman was amazing. She was playing against a well-experienced golfer, and it came down to the fact that Anna (Grzebian) was able to literally put the ball two feet from the hole on her last drive."

It was the second day in-a-row that Michigan State's fate would be decided by Kueny's play, as she was able to win the swing match against Auburn a day before.

Michigan State jumped ahead of Duke early in competition, winning the second and third pairings. Coming off her first collegiate victory at the Landfall Tradition a week ago, junior Sara Brown continued her stellar play and earned a decisive victory over Duke's Jennie Lee. Brown needed only 13 holes to close out the match, winning 6&5. Lee was listed as the No. 4 women's collegiate golfer in the nation entering play, while Brown was ranked No. 23.

Mandi McConnell was able to give the Spartans a 2-0 advantage, also winning in an impressive fashion. McConnell won four straight holes to defeat Jennifer Pandolfi in 14, 5&4.

Duke took the next two matches, setting up the Kueny versus Grzebien dramatics. MSU's Jordyn Wells fell in 13 holes to Alison Whitaker, 5&4. After trailing the entire match, Heather Rose clawed her way back in holes 14-16 and pulled even with Duke's Amanda Blumenherst, but fell by two strokes in 18. Blumenhurst was ranked No. 5 by the Golfweek/Sagarin Index.

Play will not get any easier for the Spartans at the Hooters Match Play Championship, as they face top-ranked Georgia in a battle for third place tomorrow. Georgia defeated Nebraska and Arkansas, before falling to No. 4 Vanderbilt. Live scoring of the match-up will be available at golfstat.com.