FLORENCE, Ala. – For ACU it was the best team finish under Mike Campbell's tenure and the highest finish since 1997 as they knocked off Ft. Lewis, 4-1 before falling in the National Semifinal match with Cal State-Monterey Bay, 2-2-1 due to a tiebreaker of team score losing by six strokes on Thursday at the NCAA National Championships on the Fighting Joe Course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
ACU knocked off Ft. Lewis in their National Quarterfinal match as they lost their first match by only one stroke on a comeback from
Kyle Dickerson. After Dickerson, the other two Wildcat underclassmen carded the largest margin with
Alex Carpenter winning by six strokes and
Trey Sullivan bringing home an 11 stroke victory.
Cyril Bouniol brought in the winning point for ACU with a one stroke victory as
Tyler Sheppard continued his solid play with a three stroke win in his match for good measure.
Carpenter's 68 (-4) was the low round in the quarterfinals for the Wildcats as he only recorded one bogey in his round coming on the par-4 fourth. At the turn he would sit at even par before hitting back-to-back birdies on No. 12-13 and No. 17-18 extending his lead to six strokes. Carpenter was also named PING First Team All-America late Wednesday night after the individual champion was crowed at the end of stroke play.
No. 12 also proved to be a very rewarding with a pair of eagles for the Wildcats as
Tyler Sheppard and
Trey Sullivan each recorded an eagle on the par-5 fifth. Both players knocked in a two putt as they both went for the green in two with the tees in the morning round moved up shortening the courses second longest par-5. Sullivan recorded the largest margin of victory for the Wildcats winning by 11 strokes, firing a -2, 70.
In the afternoon match ACU and CSU-Monterey Bay traded leads multiple times throughout their roun
d as each shot loomed large for both schools. Dickerson split his first match, followed by a pair of wins from Carpenter and Sullivan giving ACU a two point lead with two matches remaining.
However, the two matches left, both ACU players trailed with
Cyril Bouniol trailing by one stroke and Sheppard struggling after playing well all week. Bouniol, who was also named PING First Team All-America on Wednesday, had fought back needing a birdie on No. 18 to win the match for the Wildcats. Facing a 10 foot putt, Bouniol missed just left, as CSU-MB was able to take the match via tiebreaker.
With the win, CSU-MB moves into Friday's National Championship match with Lynn University who knocked off Central Missouri in the days other National Semifinal.
ACU ends their season in the National Semifinal with their best finish since 1997 and their second appearance in the National Tournament since 2007. The Wildcats were one of two teams to place multiple players on the PING First Team All-America squad with
Cyril Bouniol and
Alex Carpenter both getting nods, while Carpenter broke the ACU wins record adding seven during his sophomore campaign after notching four as a freshman.
