Lady Mocs close in on SEC foes
Jeremy Acree
Issue date: 9/10/09 Section: Sports
For any other sport at UTC, the thought of competing against Southeastern Conference teams is daunting. Coach Russ Huesman and the football team will get their chance to play Alabama at the end of the year. The basketball teams try their hand against the Volunteers occasionally, but those are just to draw a crowd or make some money for the program.
When the golf teams play SEC competition, they expect to win.
This weekend the women's team traveled to Daytona, Fla., for the Hooter's Collegiate Match Play Championship. The tournament began with 36 holes of individual stroke play competition in order to establish seeds for the consolation and championship brackets.
Behind the play of Maria Salinas, a sophomore from Lima, Peru, and Emma DeGroot, a junior from Coffs Harbour NSW, Australia, the Lady Mocs clawed into the championship bracket, claiming the eight seed.
Salinas finished tied for 18 in stroke play, and DeGroot finished just inside the top 30, with a T29 finish.
When the brackets were released, Chattanooga was the only non-SEC team in the championship bracket.
"I know it seems like we shouldn't be there," Coach Colette Murray said. "But in all honesty we came here to win this, not just to qualify."
The Lady Mocs went away empty handed, however.
The first match was against top-seeded University of Florida, and UTC came away with a narrow 3-2 defeat.
For a chance at fifth place, the Lady Mocs were defeated by an even slimmer margin, 2-1-2 by the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia.
In the final match of the tournament, Chattanooga faced the University of South Carolina - the original No. 2 seed - for seventh place.
DeGroot claimed a 1 up win and Salinas took her match 2 up against the Gamecocks, meaning the Lady Mocs only needed one more win or two ties for an SEC victory. But South Carolina claimed the other three matches, winning 3-2 and leaving UTC without a match play win.
"We didn't play anywhere near as well as we should have," Murray said. "I know what we have here and I know what we have the potential to do. We should have beaten Florida, we should have beaten Georgia and we should have beaten South Carolina."
There were opportunities. With just one or two more individual victories the Lady Mocs could have been playing for third place or even the championship.
"We sort of just played golf for the first 12 holes then made our move in some of the matches. It was just too little too late," Murray said.
If nothing else, the weekend did create motivation for the next time the Lady Mocs face top-tier competition.
"We're disappointed," Murray said. "We're not going home saying 'Oh well we made it to the championship bracket, that's all we meant to do.'"
Next week the Lady Mocs travel to Primm, Nev., for the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Chattanooga will face 17 other teams, including the University of California, Oklahoma State University, and Ohio State University.
When the golf teams play SEC competition, they expect to win.
This weekend the women's team traveled to Daytona, Fla., for the Hooter's Collegiate Match Play Championship. The tournament began with 36 holes of individual stroke play competition in order to establish seeds for the consolation and championship brackets.
Behind the play of Maria Salinas, a sophomore from Lima, Peru, and Emma DeGroot, a junior from Coffs Harbour NSW, Australia, the Lady Mocs clawed into the championship bracket, claiming the eight seed.
Salinas finished tied for 18 in stroke play, and DeGroot finished just inside the top 30, with a T29 finish.
When the brackets were released, Chattanooga was the only non-SEC team in the championship bracket.
"I know it seems like we shouldn't be there," Coach Colette Murray said. "But in all honesty we came here to win this, not just to qualify."
The Lady Mocs went away empty handed, however.
The first match was against top-seeded University of Florida, and UTC came away with a narrow 3-2 defeat.
For a chance at fifth place, the Lady Mocs were defeated by an even slimmer margin, 2-1-2 by the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia.
In the final match of the tournament, Chattanooga faced the University of South Carolina - the original No. 2 seed - for seventh place.
DeGroot claimed a 1 up win and Salinas took her match 2 up against the Gamecocks, meaning the Lady Mocs only needed one more win or two ties for an SEC victory. But South Carolina claimed the other three matches, winning 3-2 and leaving UTC without a match play win.
"We didn't play anywhere near as well as we should have," Murray said. "I know what we have here and I know what we have the potential to do. We should have beaten Florida, we should have beaten Georgia and we should have beaten South Carolina."
There were opportunities. With just one or two more individual victories the Lady Mocs could have been playing for third place or even the championship.
"We sort of just played golf for the first 12 holes then made our move in some of the matches. It was just too little too late," Murray said.
If nothing else, the weekend did create motivation for the next time the Lady Mocs face top-tier competition.
"We're disappointed," Murray said. "We're not going home saying 'Oh well we made it to the championship bracket, that's all we meant to do.'"
Next week the Lady Mocs travel to Primm, Nev., for the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Chattanooga will face 17 other teams, including the University of California, Oklahoma State University, and Ohio State University.
