Four holes into Tuesday's match with Marriotts Ridge, Atholton's Bryana Nguyen had her sights set on the record books.
However, much like the Raiders' bid to knock off last year's county-champion Mustangs, things down the stretch didn't exactly go as planned.
After starting her round at Waverly Woods with an eagle and three birdies, moving her to five-under par through four holes, Nguyen played her final five in three-over par. She still finished with a two-under-par round of 29 points, her best score of the season, but it was two worse than the record-setting 31 points she put up last fall at Hobbits Glen.
In the team competition, Marriotts Ridge used its balance behind top player Rachel Lee (25 points) to pull away for a 59-47 victory. Marissa Davey (13), Ariel Biegel (13) and Michelle Kim (8) rounded out the scoring for the Mustangs.
"I knew coming in that this was a big match and that I had to play my best to help out the team," Nguyen said. "I felt like that if we could find a way to win this one, we had a real shot at (winning) the county. Unfortunately we came up a little short, but we will have another chance at the county tournament."
It was the first match of the season for Marriotts Ridge, while Atholton dropped to 2-1 on the year. The Raiders backed up Nguyen with 10 points from McKenzie Fields, six from Jenny Tae and two from Amanda Peterson.
For Nguyen, she couldn't have scripted a better start to her round. Playing the back nine, she drove the green on the par 4 tenth and then sunk the putt for eagle. She followed that up by hitting the green in two on the ensuing par 5 and two-putting for birdie. On her third hole, she sunk a long putt from off the green for another birdie and then finished off the torrid start with a birdie on the par 3 13th.
From there, however, the putts simply stopped falling. She missed a relatively short putt for birdie on 14 and then three-putted for bogey from just outside 10 feet on 15. Bogies on 16 and 18 left her with the round of 29 points.
Under the county's modified stableford scoring system, two points are awarded for a bogey, three for a par, four for a birdie and five for an eagle.
"After the way things went on those first four holes, you almost expect to keep making putts. But I couldn't make anything after that," Nguyen said. "I'm not upset, though. I hit the ball well and I've improved now in every match so far."
Nguyen opened the year with 26 and 27 points against Hammond and Howard, respectively.
Lee's round included birdies on both of the par 5s, along with a quartet of pars, two bogies and a double. She played her final five holes in even par.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
Marriotts Ridge 59, Atholton 47
MR (1-0): Lee 25, Biegel 13, Davey 13, Kim 8.
A (2-1): Nguyen 29, Fields 10, Tae 6, Peterson 2.
Glenelg 21, Reservoir 12
G (1-0): Hong 10, Frost 6, Cho 4, Gabriella M. 1.
Re (0-1): Parater 6, Howard 3, Garuth 2, Muir 1.
Long Reach 38, Hammond 0
LR (1-0): Lee 20, Caspar 10, Sample 8.
Ha (0-2): No one scored.
Howard 28, Oakland Mills 28
Ho (0-1-1): Song 15, Higgins 13.
OM (0-0-1): Lewis 24, Tullis 4.
Atholton 45, Howard 30 (Friday)
A: Nguyen 27, Fields 8, Peterson 7, Tae 3.
Ho: Higgins 18, Song 12.
Boys
Atholton 81, Marriotts Ridge 79
The Raiders picked the perfect day to put it all together, getting career-best rounds from three of their four guys to edge the Mustangs by two.
Garrett Wallace (24 points), Chris Robinson (23) and Brandon Potter (19) led the way for an Atholton team that was coming off a disappointing loss to Howard, 76-64, at the end of last week. On Tuesday against the Mustangs, though, Atholton played like a completely different team.
"This is an enormous win for us and I was very impressed with our guys composure," coach Scott Robinson said. "We hit some very clutch putts when we needed to."
In the losing effort, Marriotts Ridge was led by 24 points from Chris Yoo and 21 from Joe Dorsch. Both Yoo and Dorsch finished with one birdie each.
The loss drops the Mustangs to 0-1 after finishing last season 8-2-1.
A (2-1): Wallace 24, Robinson 23, Potter 19, Wolfe 15.
MR (0-1): Yoo 24, J. Dorsch 21, Park 18, M. Dorsch 16.
Glenelg 97, Reservoir 46
The Gladiators made quite the statement in their season opener, getting a two-under par round of 29 points from freshman Steven Segrist and rolling past Reservoir. Segrist finished with two birdies, on holes four and nine at Cattail Creek, to go along with seven pars. Matt Forester was close behind for Glenelg with a round of 25 points.
Pat Kendall was the Gators' top player with a round of 17.
G (1-0): Segrist 29, Forester 25, A. Leake 23, C. Harrison 20.
Re (0-1): Kendall 17, Reybold 10, Sabot 15, Leadbetter 4.
Hammond 32, Long Reach 23
Ha (1-1): Kopnitsky 15, Stanton 11, Creighton 5, Mitchell 1.
LR (0-1): Tafuri 16, Appler 7.
Howard 70, Oakland Mills 35
Ho (2-0): Andrews 22, Crawford 18, Park 17, Balter 13.
OM (0-1): Diggs 17, Bailey 16, Huewe 2.
Howard 76, Atholton 64 (Friday)
Ho: Park 21, Andrews 20, Song 18, Reid 17.
A: Robinson 19, Wallace 18, Potter 14, Wolfe 13.