The eighth-ranked University of Arkansas women's golf team was beaten 3-1-1 by Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of match play at the SEC Championships on Monday morning in Belleair, Fla.
The No. 3 seed Aggies advanced to play No. 4 seed Mississippi State in the afternoon semifinals at the par 70 Pelican Golf Club. The other side of the bracket featured morning upsets, with No. 8 seed LSU ousting top seed South Carolina 3-2 and No. 7 seed Georgia defeating No. 2 seed Auburn 3-1-1.
Arkansas senior Miriam Ayora won her match in the leadoff position against Aggies senior Zoe Slaughter. Ayora won the 10th hole, lost the 11th, then won the par 3 12th with a par before making the turn with a two-hole lead. Ayora got hot on the front nine, taking holes 2-5 to close out the 5 & 4 win.
Texas A&M's Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and Adela Cernousek won their matches in the second and third spots by the scores of 4 & 3 and 5 & 4 over junior Kendall Todd and freshman Maria Jose Marin, respectively.
The last two matches went down to the wire. In the fourth position, Arkansas senior Kajal Mistry trailed Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio by three with five to play before rallying to win Nos. 5, 6 and 7 to forge a tie. Garica-Poggio bounced back to win the 8th with a par, then matched Mistry's birdie on the 9th to win 1 up.
At that time, Arkansas sophomore Reagan Zibilski was tied through 17 holes with Jennie Park and the match was suspended there. Zibilski trailed for only one hole after her bogey on the 10th, but won it back on 11 and led by two through 15 before Park rallied to tie.
Next up for the Razorbacks is an NCAA regional. The selection day is April 24 and the six regionals are scheduled to tee off on May 6.