Monday, May 6
East Lansing, Mich.
Pepperdine University
at
NCAA East Lansing Regional
Photo by: Jeff Golden
Waves Head to NCAA East Lansing Regional
5/3/2024 2:35:00 PM | Women's Golf
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's golf team will begin NCAA tournament play by heading to the East Lansing, Mich. this weekend. Coming off another victory at the West Coast Conference Championships, the squad qualified for NCAA Regional play for the 25th-consecutive year, earning the #4 seed.
EVENT INFO — The tournament will be held at the par-72, 6,189-yard Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich., hosted by Michigan State. It's a three-day event (May 6-8) with 18 holes of golf each day. The top-five teams will advance to compete in the national championships to be played May 17-22 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Pepperdine will tee off at 7 a.m. PT on Monday, paired with Michigan State and Kentucky. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat with links found on www.PepperdineWaves.com.
FIELD — The 12 teams competing in the East Lansing Regional include, in order of seed, Southern California, Northwestern, Florida, Pepperdine, Michigan State, Kentucky, Denver, Oklahoma State, Indiana, Augusta, Illinois State and Oakland.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of junior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.), senior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia), sophomore Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia), senior Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.) and sophomore Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China). Junior KaYee Kwok (Tianjin, China) will be the alternate.
For those in the lineup, it would be the fourth NCAA Regional for Lion Higo and Kaleiya Romero, third for Lauren Gomez and second for Jeneath Wong.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #21 in the Clipp'd national rankings this week. In the Clipp'd national individual rankings, Wong is #31, Lauren Gomez is #78, Lion Higo ranks #138 and Kaleiya Romero is #145. In the WAGR, Jeneath Wong is ranked #64 and Lion Higo ranks #93.
NCAA HISTORY — Pepperdine is competing in NCAA Regional play for the 25th-consecutive time. The Waves have advanced to the NCAA Championships 13 times, last making it in 2023. Last season was the first time they advanced to match play since the format was adopted by the NCAA in 2015. The Waves best-ever NCAA Tournament finish was second in 2003 when the tournament was still stroke-play format. Pepperdine has recorded four top-five and nine top-10 finishes at nationals.
The Waves best-ever finish at a regional was a tie for first place twice - first at the 2002 NCAA West Regional at Stanford and then again last season at the NCAA San Antonio Regional. The top individual finish was a tie for second place by Katherine Hull that year and by Tatiana Wijaya in 2017.
WCC CHAMPS — Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference Championships in Bremerton, Wash. at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club, for a league-best 21st time (out 27 possible tournaments) in the end of April. The Waves had three of the tournament's top-four finishers, led by medalist Lauren Gomez who won her second WCC career title (2022, 2024). Her win was the fifth-consecutive WCC Tournament win by the Waves. Lion Higo and Jeneath Wong finished in second and fourth respectively.
WCC POSTSEASON HONORS — Jeneath Wong became the 10th Pepperdine women's golfer, and the third in as many years, to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Year acclaim. Laurie Gibbs was named WCC Coach of the Year, her 16th time winning the award, Lion Higo, Kaleiya Romero, and Lauren Gomez all earned All-WCC first team acclaim as well.
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS — The Waves have played in five tournaments, one - the Therese Hession Regional Challenge - that turned into a match play format and four that were formatted for stroke-play. Kaleiya Romero highlighted the former by going undefeated at 2-0-1, besting opponents from #10 Florida and Baylor.
At The Show at Spanish Trail in Las Vegas, Pepperdine finished tied for fourth with a 12-over 876. Jeneath Wong led the squad with the best finish of her career after tying for second with a 4-under 212, only three shots behind first-place. Lauren Gomez, Romero and Lion Higo also finished in the top-27 as well. The Waves went on to win the Silicon Valley Showcase the following week and Wong earned her first collegiate victory, while closing up the month of March in third-place at the Fresno State Classic. In April, Pepperdine finished tied for fifth-place at the ultra-competitive Silverado Showdown before ending the month with the conference championship crown.
SMART COOKIES — Three Waves tabbed WCC All-Academic honors this season, led by a first team nod for Kaleiya Romero who has amassed a 3.634 grade point average while studying psychology at Pepperdine. Junior Lauren Gomez and sophomore Jeneath Wong also received acclaim with honorable mention honors.
WCC MONTHLY HONORS — Lauren Gomez garnered the season's third and final golfer of the month accolade after capping the month off with the WCC Championship title. She shot a 3-under 213 (70-68-75) to lead the field and helped propel the Waves to its 21st WCC Championship team title and fourth in the last five seasons. Earlier in the month, she also finished tied for 23rd at the Chevron Silverado Showdown with a score of 220 (74-74-72). Through six rounds of action, she led the Waves with a solid 72.17 scoring average. Gomez posted three rounds at par or below in that time as well, while tabbing 17 birdies in total through the two tournaments.
Kaleiya Romero tabbed the season's first golfer of the month accolade, having put in a strong performance at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge for the month of February. The accolades kept rolling for the Waves as Jeneath Wong tabbed the same honor for the month of March.
EVENT INFO — The tournament will be held at the par-72, 6,189-yard Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich., hosted by Michigan State. It's a three-day event (May 6-8) with 18 holes of golf each day. The top-five teams will advance to compete in the national championships to be played May 17-22 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Pepperdine will tee off at 7 a.m. PT on Monday, paired with Michigan State and Kentucky. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat with links found on www.PepperdineWaves.com.
FIELD — The 12 teams competing in the East Lansing Regional include, in order of seed, Southern California, Northwestern, Florida, Pepperdine, Michigan State, Kentucky, Denver, Oklahoma State, Indiana, Augusta, Illinois State and Oakland.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of junior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.), senior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia), sophomore Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia), senior Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.) and sophomore Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China). Junior KaYee Kwok (Tianjin, China) will be the alternate.
For those in the lineup, it would be the fourth NCAA Regional for Lion Higo and Kaleiya Romero, third for Lauren Gomez and second for Jeneath Wong.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #21 in the Clipp'd national rankings this week. In the Clipp'd national individual rankings, Wong is #31, Lauren Gomez is #78, Lion Higo ranks #138 and Kaleiya Romero is #145. In the WAGR, Jeneath Wong is ranked #64 and Lion Higo ranks #93.
NCAA HISTORY — Pepperdine is competing in NCAA Regional play for the 25th-consecutive time. The Waves have advanced to the NCAA Championships 13 times, last making it in 2023. Last season was the first time they advanced to match play since the format was adopted by the NCAA in 2015. The Waves best-ever NCAA Tournament finish was second in 2003 when the tournament was still stroke-play format. Pepperdine has recorded four top-five and nine top-10 finishes at nationals.
The Waves best-ever finish at a regional was a tie for first place twice - first at the 2002 NCAA West Regional at Stanford and then again last season at the NCAA San Antonio Regional. The top individual finish was a tie for second place by Katherine Hull that year and by Tatiana Wijaya in 2017.
WCC CHAMPS — Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference Championships in Bremerton, Wash. at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club, for a league-best 21st time (out 27 possible tournaments) in the end of April. The Waves had three of the tournament's top-four finishers, led by medalist Lauren Gomez who won her second WCC career title (2022, 2024). Her win was the fifth-consecutive WCC Tournament win by the Waves. Lion Higo and Jeneath Wong finished in second and fourth respectively.
WCC POSTSEASON HONORS — Jeneath Wong became the 10th Pepperdine women's golfer, and the third in as many years, to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Year acclaim. Laurie Gibbs was named WCC Coach of the Year, her 16th time winning the award, Lion Higo, Kaleiya Romero, and Lauren Gomez all earned All-WCC first team acclaim as well.
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS — The Waves have played in five tournaments, one - the Therese Hession Regional Challenge - that turned into a match play format and four that were formatted for stroke-play. Kaleiya Romero highlighted the former by going undefeated at 2-0-1, besting opponents from #10 Florida and Baylor.
At The Show at Spanish Trail in Las Vegas, Pepperdine finished tied for fourth with a 12-over 876. Jeneath Wong led the squad with the best finish of her career after tying for second with a 4-under 212, only three shots behind first-place. Lauren Gomez, Romero and Lion Higo also finished in the top-27 as well. The Waves went on to win the Silicon Valley Showcase the following week and Wong earned her first collegiate victory, while closing up the month of March in third-place at the Fresno State Classic. In April, Pepperdine finished tied for fifth-place at the ultra-competitive Silverado Showdown before ending the month with the conference championship crown.
SMART COOKIES — Three Waves tabbed WCC All-Academic honors this season, led by a first team nod for Kaleiya Romero who has amassed a 3.634 grade point average while studying psychology at Pepperdine. Junior Lauren Gomez and sophomore Jeneath Wong also received acclaim with honorable mention honors.
WCC MONTHLY HONORS — Lauren Gomez garnered the season's third and final golfer of the month accolade after capping the month off with the WCC Championship title. She shot a 3-under 213 (70-68-75) to lead the field and helped propel the Waves to its 21st WCC Championship team title and fourth in the last five seasons. Earlier in the month, she also finished tied for 23rd at the Chevron Silverado Showdown with a score of 220 (74-74-72). Through six rounds of action, she led the Waves with a solid 72.17 scoring average. Gomez posted three rounds at par or below in that time as well, while tabbing 17 birdies in total through the two tournaments.
Kaleiya Romero tabbed the season's first golfer of the month accolade, having put in a strong performance at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge for the month of February. The accolades kept rolling for the Waves as Jeneath Wong tabbed the same honor for the month of March.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
