PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – The #20 Pepperdine women's golf team got the spring campaign underway a day early on Saturday, kicking off the Therese Hession Regional Challenge after transitioning the tournament to match play in an attempt to beat the rain plaguing southern California this week. 
 
The Waves started things against #10 Florida, falling 4-1, though senior Kaleiya Romero highlighted with a 5&3 win over Inès Archer.  Pepperdine started the next round of match play against #61 Baylor and though the Bears won two matches, the Waves countered with wins of their own from Romero and Lauren Gomez.  Jeneath Wong was tied at the end of her round and the tournament will advance to the next round without settling up.
 
Tomorrow, Pepperdine will continue the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, facing #24 Arizona State beginning at 7:30 a.m.
 
PLAYER SCORE

• Senior Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.) went 2-0 today, beating both opponents from each Florida and Baylor.  She picked up a point on her second hole of the day and didn't look back, having posted a four-point lead over her Gators' opponent after nine holes.  She posted one more on the second hole, finishing with a 5&3 win.  She had continued success in the following match, defeating her Baylor opponent 2&2 to put the Waves on the board.  She had an early edge and though Ohma tied things up on the 12^th hole, Romero recovered and pulled ahead by three before the turn, heading towards the match victory.
• Junior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.) dropped her first match of the day 6&5 against UF.  She rallied in her second match of the day, besting her Baylor opponent with a score of 3&2.  After tying the first hole, Gomez won the next point and pulled ahead by two by hole 14.  She continued that momentum to a three-point lead at the third hole, eventually taking the win to tie things up.
• Sophomore Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia) dropped a tight match 2&1 to open against Florida.  She and her opponent were tied through four holes before the opposition collected on the 12^th and 14^th holes to pull ahead by two.  Another point on hole one put Wong behind, and though the Wave collected a point on hole five, the opposition closed things out for the win.  She dropped the first point to her Bears' opponent early, falling behind by two as late as the 16^th hole, but rallied to tie the score after the turn from 18 to one, eventually remaining tied as the sun downed for the day.
• Senior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia) lost her opening match 5&4, taking on #5-ranked Filler from Florida.  Higo faced off with her Baylor opponent with a see-saw battle through the majority of the round.  Though the two were tied after the second hole, which was on the pairs back nine of the day, the opposition was able to pull ahead by one and win the match 1&2.
• Junior KaYee Kwok (Tianjin, China) earned the first point of the match against her opponent, but the opposition eventually tied the score back up and pulled ahead on the next hole, winning the match 4&2.  She faced another tough opponent during the Baylor match, falling 8&7.
• Sophomore Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China) also played in the individual bracket, facing off against UCLA's Zoe Campos and falling 5&3.