BELLEVUE – The 60th Nebraska Girls’ Match Play Championship is down to four players and the 33rd Nebraska Junior Match Play Championship is down to eight players after the first day of matches at Platteview Golf Club in Bellevue on Tuesday.
The top two seeds in both the girls and boys brackets survived the first day of matches. No. 1 seed Julia Karmazin of Omaha won big in her first match, 7 and 5, over Cali Wisdom of Omaha, and then took a 2-and-1 in over Camryn Johnson of Berwyn in the Quarterfinals. The boys’ No. 1 seed, Thomas Bryson of Lincoln, won handedly in both of his matches. He won 5 and 4 over Andrew Niemann of Omaha and then 4 and 2 over Jackson Lapour of Omaha.
Both No. 2 seeds also advanced, with Omaha’s Kaitlyn Hanna taking down Olivia Lovegrove of Lincoln, 2 and 1, in the Round of 16. Hanna birdied the 18th hole in her Quarterfinal match to close out Omaha’s Emily Karmazin, 2 up. Ashland’s Coltrane Mittag, the boys’ No. 2 seed, came out on top in a couple close matches, also making birdie on No. 18 to win his first match, 1 up over Omaha’s Sam Vocelka. Mittag jumped out to a 3-up lead over Brayden Schram of Hastings through 12 holes, and held on for a 2-and-1 win.
Julia Karmazin will face Omaha’s Katie Ruge, the 2020 Nebraska Women’s Match Play Champion in the first semifinal match, at 8:10 a.m. Ruge won her matches 6 and 4, then 5 and 3 to cruise into Wednesday. Hanna, the 2019 Nebraska Girls’ Amateur Champion, will take on Scottsbluff’s Emily Krzyzanowski in the 8:20 a.m. semifinal match.
Bryson will square up against Kolby Brown of Omaha in the first boys’ quarterfinal match at 7:30 a.m. Brown won both of his matches on the final hole, 1 up. Cole Feddersen of Kearney, a 2021 Junior Cup team member, is set to face Will Mullin of Omaha, the 2022 NSAA Class B Champion.
Mittag takes on Andrew Whittaker of Elkhorn in the 7:50 a.m. match, while Jackson Benge of Omaha and Ethan Smith of Doniphan are in the 8 a.m. match.
