PALOS VERDES, Calif.—The University of Oregon women’s team moved up one spot with a 22-over 306 at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Wednesday to finish tied for ninth in its first event of the spring.

The Ducks (303-309-306-918) competed against six of the top ten teams in the country in the event.

“We are pleased that we were able to beat some ranked teams and compete in such an elite field. This tough competition will only prepare us for the national championship in May,” said head coach Ria Scott.

In the team standings, UCLA (288-291-291-870) maintained their steady play to hang onto first place. No. 1 USC (298-280-301-879) finished in second despite shooting their highest round on Wednesday, and Duke (290-295-296-881) finished in third place.

Sophomore Cassy Isagawa (71-76-71-218) had a strong third round as she jumped nine spots to finish tied for fifth overall. Her par-71 on the first and third days matched freshman Caroline Inglis’ par-71 on the first day as UO’s best score of the event. Inglis (71-79-77-227) dropped four spots after the final round to come in 34th overall. Sophomore Cali Hipp (77-78-75-230) played her best round on Wednesday, helping her jump ten spots to finish 44th in the field.

Isagawa posted ten birdies over the three rounds, while Inglis posted seven and Hipp tallied six. “Cassy maintained a positive outlook all week, and that gave her the opportunity to play some steady golf,” added Scott. “Cali had it going for a lot of holes today, and Caroline also played lots of solid golf this week.”

Rounding out the Duck unit were sophomore Monica Petchakan (84-76-86-246) and junior Raphaela Dyer (85-83-83-251).

On the individual leaderboard, UCLA’s Erynne Lee (71-71-69-213) matched the lowest round of the entire event on Wednesday to finish even and move from fifth place to first overall. Oklahoma State’s Kelsey Vines (71-72-71-214) finished just one point behind Lee for second place, while USC’s Kyung Kim (74-69-71-216) finished in third.

Looking ahead, UO’s next event is the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in New Orleans, La. on February 26-28. More event information is available at the host, Tulane University’s website (www.tulanegreenwave.com).