Auburn eliminates Arkansas at SEC Tournament

Razorback head covers are shown at Pinnacle Country Club on Thursday, June 23, 2015, in Rogers.

No. 14 Auburn made a late push to trip up the defending champion Arkansas in the quarterfinals of match play on Saturday morning at the SEC women’s golf championships.

The Tigers, led by Elena Hualde’s comeback victory over Kaylee Benton in the second pairing, posted a 3-1-1 victory to eliminate the No. 6 Razorbacks at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.

Arkansas, which is serving as host of the NCAA championships starting May 17, will await its NCAA regional assignment.

Auburn moved on to face South Carolina in one afternoon semifinal, while top seed Florida and Georgia played in the other semifinal.

Freshman Brooke Matthews of Rogers logged the Razorbacks’ lone victory by a 3 up count over Brooke Sansom in the three spot.

Benton and Hualde swapped the lead four times in a tight match, with the senior Benton taking the first two holes and Hualde fighting back to 2 up through seven. Benton took her final 1 up lead after 15 holes, but Hualde evened the match on the next hole, then took the lead with one to play.

Arkansas senior Maria Fassi, who took medalist honors on Friday, was all square through 19 holes in the one spot against Kaleigh Telfer when the match came to an end.

The Tigers also got 3 up victories in the four and five spots, as Julie McCarthy downed Arkansas freshman Ximena Gonzalez and Mychael O’Berry defeated Arkansas senior Dylan Kim.

Arkansas won three rounds of match play, with Benton and Fassi each going 3-0, to win the inaugural match play title at the SEC championships last year.