UCLA came from behind in the final round of stroke-play qualifying to tie Alabama atop the standings and advanced to the match play portion of the NCAA Women’s Championships that will determine the national champion at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
The Bruins earned the No. 1 seed in a card-off.
In the first round of match play, the top-seeded Bruins will play Pacific 12 Conference rival Arizona, which grabbed the No. 8 seed by beating Baylor in a two-hole playoff.
Half of the teams remaining are from the Pac-12.
In the other matches, No. 2 Alabama will face No. 7 Kent State, No. 3 USC goes against No. 6 Duke, and No. 4 Northwestern meets No. 5 Stanford.
UCLA, Pac-12 champion the last two seasons, finished at 294-279-297-291— 1161, 9-over-par, while Alabama totaled 292-286-284-299—1161, followed by USC at 291-298-296-283—1168, and Northwestern at 299-293-290-291— 1173.
The Bruins wound up on top of the NCAA stroke-play standings for the second time in three years and earned their seventh victory of the season, tying their single-season school record for set in 2003-04 and equaled in 2008-2009 and 2011-2012.
Stanford was fifth at 308-291-291-290—1180, followed by Duke at 298-298- 293-293—1182 and Kent State at 296-299-296-293—1184.
Bianca Pagdanganan of Arizona sank a 25-foot eagle putt on the final hole of regulation and the Wildcats totaled 301-291-288-305—1185 to tie for eighth with Baylor, which wound up at 313-295-287-290—1185.
Pagdanganan added a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole, where Arizona finished off Baylor.
Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest, who lost a two-stroke lead in the final holes of NCAA individual tournament last year and tied for second, claimed the title this time with a score of 65-74-70-71—280, 8-under, while Andrea Lee (pictured) of Stanford finished at 77-69-71-65—282 to tie for second with Pagdanganan, who shot 71-68-71-72—282.
Cheyenne Knight of Alabama was fourth at 70-69-70-74—283, while Morgane Metraux of Florida State totaled 70-72-74-68—284 to tie for fifth with Jaclyn Lee of Ohio State, who wound up at 72-72-66-74—284.
Mariel Galdiano of UCLA posted a score of 75-69-72-71—287 to finish in a tie for seventh that included her Bruin teammate Lilia Vu, who shot 72-68-75- 72—287,
Lauren Stephenson of Alabama, who totaled 74-69-70-74—287, Gurleen Kaur of Baylor, who wound up at 79-71-69-68—287, and Kristen Gillman of Alabama, who came in at 73-72-70-72—287.
Jennifer Chang led USC in a tie for 13th at 72-75-74-68—289.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=13662.
