No. 21 Virginia women’s golf finished strong in the second leg of a two-day tournament Wednesday at the 10-team Glass City Invitational in Toledo, Ohio, scoring a second-place finish. The Cavaliers shot a 10-over 874, six shots behind champion No. 23 Florida. The tournament was their second of the season, following an eighth-place finish last week at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Tournament.
Junior Amanda Sambach — the reigning ACC champion — led the way for her team with a score of 8-under 208, capturing her fourth career win. The win came after Sambach went her final 27 holes without shooting a bogey.
“In terms of individual golf I played really solid,” Sambach said. “I wish my team could have finished a little bit higher but that’s something that we’re striving for in the next one.”
Along with Sambach, junior Megan Propeck, freshman Jaclyn Laha, senior Rebecca Skoler and graduate student Celeste Valinho made up the Virginia team. Freshman Kiera Bartholemew also competed as an individual.
The first round of competition saw the Cavaliers in third place scoring 11-over 299, 10 shots behind Florida. With a team-best score of par-72, Sambach was sitting in fifth place, with Propeck one shot behind her in eighth. LaHa was in 16th at 2-over 74, while Valinho, Skoler and Bartholemew were 44th, 59th and 27th, respectively.
When play was suspended due to darkness during the second round, the team had slipped to fourth, behind Michigan State, scoring 13-over par.
However, the second day of competition saw Virginia improve on day one, shooting 2-over 874 in the second round. They kept the momentum going in round 3, shooting 3-under 285 to secure second place.
Along with Sambach, several other Cavaliers completed standout performances to help the team’s efforts in the tournament.
In her best collegiate finish to date, Propeck finished ninth overall, with a final score of 3-over 219. The score followed a final round in which she shot 1-under 71.
LaHa, in her second collegiate tournament, posted her first top-20 finish with a score of 5-over 221 earning a 15th-place finish. The freshman — who was a 2022 first-team Rolex Junior All-American — is sure to be a contributing factor to the Cavaliers’ efforts in the coming years.
Skoler and Valinho finished 41st and 47th with scores of 232 and 237, respectively. Both shot 1-over 73 during the tournament’s final round.
Though Bartholemew’s score did not count towards the team’s overall score, she finished in 22nd with a score of 9-over 225, a remarkable performance for the freshman who was ranked 10th in her class when she signed with Virginia.
The tournament’s results are positive for Virginia, which is looking for its 18th consecutive NCAA berth following a season in which it recorded the best stroke average in school history at 291.10. While Sambach clearly played well, in order to reach the team’s ceiling her supporting cast will have to all play at their best for the team to compete with the top of NCAA women’s golf
The Cavaliers’ next outing will be at the Windy City Collegiate Classic. The tournament will begin Monday in Chicago, where they will attempt to continue the season’s momentum with a strong performance.
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