Wildcat Wrap: Arizona women’s golf earns runner-up finish at Clover Cup

Arizona women’s golf finished second out of 12 teams at the Clover Cup in Mesa this past weekend.

The Wildcats shot a 13-under over three rounds, three shots back of first-place Arizona State. The runner-up finish was the UA’s best showing of the season thus far.

Sophomore Vivian Hou led the team with a seven-under, tied for third in the individual tournament. Junior Ya Chun-Chang placed 10^th individually a three-under, while senior Yu-Sang Hou tied for 13^th at one-under.

“The ladies played a solid three rounds of golf, and I am tremendously proud of their effort,” head coach Laura Ianello told ArizonaWildcats.com. “Vivian was our top finisher with a third-place finish followed by Ya Chun with a top ten showing. We saw a lot of good things this week and we will carry this forward heading to our next tournament in Phoenix in two weeks.”

Men’s tennis

Men’s tennis swept Virginia Commonwealth 4-0 on Sunday to move to 15-1 on the season. No. 16 Arizona won the doubles point, then got wins at the No. 2, 4, and 5 seed courts to clinch the match.

The Wildcats will now embark on a challenging road trip where they’ll take on No. 2 Baylor, No. 6 Texas and No. 26 Oklahoma in a span of five days.

If Arizona can win even one of those matches, it should give the team plenty of confidence heading into Pac-12 play.

Women’s tennis

Women’s tennis dropped a pair of road matches to Washington and Washington State over the weekend, dropping the team to 8-6 and 0-3 in conference play.

The Wildcats dropped the doubles point to UW and split in singles. In the all-deciding No. 3 seed game, Abby Amos took her opponent to a third set tiebreaker but ultimately lost 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (6).

Facing Washington State on Sunday, Arizona found itself in a quick 2-0 hole before making things interesting with a pair of singles points. It wasn’t enough, however, as the Cougars pulled away for a 4-2 win.

Beach volleyball

Beach volleyball continued its perfect start to the 2021 season with a 4-1 win at UC Davis Friday.

Arizona’s top four seeded pairings won their games, led by Alana Renniel/Alex Parkhurst at the No. 1 slot.

The 6-0 Wildcats have this week off, then will host the Pac-12 South Invitational the following weekend where they’ll face Stanford, Oregon, Utah and ASU.

Track and Field

A pair of Arizona athletes finished runner-up in their respective events at the NCAA Indoor Championships last Thursday and Friday.

Israel Oloyede threw a personal record 23.79m (78-0.75) in the weight throw contest for second place and First-Team All America honors.

“I’m extremely proud of him in terms of his overall development since he’s been here at Arizona,” head coach Frank Harvey told Arizona Athletics. “For him to progress to the level that he’s at right now is pretty spectacular. Just watching his whole demeanor this championship and through the season, this easily was his best overall competition in terms of his consistency. It was spectacular.”

Samantha Noennig placed second in the women’s shot put with a mark of 17.69m (58-0.5). She was one of two female Arizona athletes to earn First-Team All-America honors, joining Lillian Lowe, who finished seventh in the high jump with a clearance of 1.81m (5-11.25).

Jordan Geist rounded out Arizona’s showing with a 13^th place finish in the men’s shot put. He threw a mark of 18.89m (61-11.75), good enough for Second-Team All-America honors.

Track and field begins its outdoor season this weekend at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson.