Final Results

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. " The Pepperdine women's golf team will make its 12th appearance at the NCAA Championships next week after securing a comfortable third-place finish at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional on Wednesday.

Junior Tatiana Wijaya (Jakarta, Indonesia) finished in a tie for second place to lead the Waves, matching the program's best-ever individual finish at an NCAA Regional.

The #36 Waves entered as the ninth seed but played a remarkable first two rounds " including taking the first-round lead " and built a cushion that easily handled a slightly rockier third round. Pepperdine ended with a three-day total of a 15-over 879 (287-290-302) at the par-72 UNM Championship Course. The top six teams advanced to nationals and the Waves ended with an 11-stroke advantage over the seventh-place team.

Pepperdine only finished behind #1 Stanford and #9 Duke, while beating #6 USC, #26 California and #16 Miami (the other qualifiers), as well as non-qualifiers such as #17 Oklahoma State and #24 North Carolina State.

The Waves' first NCAA Championships appearance since 2012 will take place at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois, beginning a week from Friday (May 19-24).

"This group is amazing," Pepperdine Coach Laurie Gibbs said. "I'm so happy for them. They've worked hard all year. We're just really comfortable on this course. They set it up for a regional and it played tough, and there were a lot of rough conditions, but the fact that we played here in the fall meant we had the knowledge and the experience to do well.

"The other big thing for us was that we enjoyed the experience. We were watching Pepperdine's beach volleyball team play at the NCAA Championships over the weekend and you could tell they were enjoying it. I told our girls to be in the moment and enjoy every experience. The first day, we relaxed and had fun. Yesterday was a big day, and we did the same thing. Today, we had a good front nine and although the back nine was a little sketchy, we had the strokes in hand."

Wijaya became only the second Wave ever to post a top-two finish at an NCAA Regional, joining Katherine Hull, who tied for second place in 2002. Wijaya shot a 3-under 213 (70-72-71), giving her the best result of her career, both in terms of magnitude and overall finish. She led the Waves with 10 birdies over the three days, which tied for fourth-most in the tournament, and had four of them on Wednesday.

Freshman Momoka Kobori (Rangiora, New Zealand) and sophomore Patricia Wong (Walnut, Calif./Walnut HS) both turned in top-20 performances. Kobori tied for 14th place at 220 (73-72-75) and Wong tied for 18th place at 221 (72-72-77). Kobori posted 44 pars over the three days, more than any other player in the field. Wong was one of the best scorers in the tournament on par-5s at 5-under.

Sophomore Hira Naveed (Perth, Australia) tied for 43rd place at 227 (72-76-79) and junior Katherine Zhu (Vancouver, B.C.) tied for 79th at 235 (79-74-82).

Pepperdine was playing in its 19th consecutive NCAA Regional. This is the fourth time that the Waves have posted a top-three finish at a regional.

Team Standings: 1. Stanford 290-283-293=866; 2. Duke 297-288-288=873; 3. Pepperdine 287-290-302=879; 4. USC 296-285-303=884; T5. California 295-291-302=888; T5. Miami 303-288-297=888; 7. North Carolina State 301-294-295=890; 8. Washington 295-292-304=891; 9. Campbell 297-298-298=893; 10. Oklahoma State 304-286-308=898; 11. Illinois 306-287-308=901; 12. Denver 305-300-298=903; 13. SMU 302-301-302=905; 14. New Mexico State 307-297-305=909; 15. Sacramento State 310-298-303=911; 16. Cal Poly 308-312-315=935; 17. Houston Baptist 314-310-326=950; 18. Texas Southern 365-350-355=1,070.

Individual Leaders: 1. Albane Valenzuela (Stanford) 71-69-70=210; T2. Tatiana Wijaya (Pepperdine) 70-72-71=213; T2. Martina Edberg (Cal State Fullerton) 73-68-72=213; T4. Ana Belac (Duke) 73-71-70=214; T4. Bianca Pagdanganan (Gonzaga) 73-69-72=214.

Other Pepperdine Scores: T14. Momoka Kobori 73-72-75=220; T18. Patricia Wong 72-72-77=221; T43. Hira Naveed 72-76-79=227; T79. Katherine Zhu 79-74-82=235.