TicketsHOUSTON -- The No. 9-seeded Cincinnati golf team split with No. 1 Texas and No. 8 Kansas State in its first Big 12 match play action on Monday.
"What a great experience for our program today," head coach Doug Martin said. "Match Play is a different animal, and it takes a lot of guts to play it. Losing to Texas 5-0 in the morning is no indication of how tight the match was played, and they gave us very few opportunities to win holes. Through the first 10-12 I felt like there was a window for us to win the match. Each player was under par for their match which indicated some great golf."
UC's top three all won their K-State rounds, with Ford especially jumping out to an early lead. McDonald was more of the inverse in winning his final three. For Connor McNeely, it was a tie at the halfway point until winning three in a row to gain the necessary separation. UC defeated the Wildcats 3-1-1.
"The afternoon session we played Kansas State in another extremely highly contested match," Martin said. "We took advantage of their mistakes to build a lead midway through the match, as expected I knew they would make a push at the end and they did, we were fortunate to hang on and get the win."
Cincinnati will face Houston in the morning to complete pool play and another in the afternoon to complete the day.
Morning: Texas 5-0-0 over Cincinnati
Maas def. Ford, 3&1
Stark def. McNeely 4&3
Vo def. Wotherspoon, 5&3
Petronzio def. McDonald, 1-up
Sosa def. Imig, 4-3
Afternoon: Cincinnati 3-1-1 over Kansas State
Ford def. Lindstrom, 4&2
McNeely def. Mason, 4&2
McDonald def. Roller, 3&1
Wotherspoon lost to Schultz, 5&4
Imig tied O'Neill
"What a great experience for our program today," head coach Doug Martin said. "Match Play is a different animal, and it takes a lot of guts to play it. Losing to Texas 5-0 in the morning is no indication of how tight the match was played, and they gave us very few opportunities to win holes. Through the first 10-12 I felt like there was a window for us to win the match. Each player was under par for their match which indicated some great golf."
UC's top three all won their K-State rounds, with Ford especially jumping out to an early lead. McDonald was more of the inverse in winning his final three. For Connor McNeely, it was a tie at the halfway point until winning three in a row to gain the necessary separation. UC defeated the Wildcats 3-1-1.
"The afternoon session we played Kansas State in another extremely highly contested match," Martin said. "We took advantage of their mistakes to build a lead midway through the match, as expected I knew they would make a push at the end and they did, we were fortunate to hang on and get the win."
Cincinnati will face Houston in the morning to complete pool play and another in the afternoon to complete the day.
Morning: Texas 5-0-0 over Cincinnati
Maas def. Ford, 3&1
Stark def. McNeely 4&3
Vo def. Wotherspoon, 5&3
Petronzio def. McDonald, 1-up
Sosa def. Imig, 4-3
Afternoon: Cincinnati 3-1-1 over Kansas State
Ford def. Lindstrom, 4&2
McNeely def. Mason, 4&2
McDonald def. Roller, 3&1
Wotherspoon lost to Schultz, 5&4
Imig tied O'Neill