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BY MIKE SCANDURA U P UNTIL 2015, THERE WAS an empty space in the Univer- sity of Virginia women's golf team's trophy case. It was a spot that had been reserved for an ACC championship trophy ever since Kim Lewellen was named the head coach in 2008. Fast-forward nine years and now that space is occupied two-fold because the Cavaliers captured their second consecutive ACC title June 17 at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. In the process, the Cava- liers earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional May 5-7 in Stanford, Calif., which marked the 12th consecutive year they quali- fied for postseason play. (UVA went on to fin- ish sixth in the regional and advanced all the way to match play in the NCAA Champion- ships May 20-24 in Eugene, Ore., before fall- ing to Washington 3-1-1 in the quarterfinals.) "I would say last year was a milestone be- cause this was the first time Virginia had won an ACC championship," Lewellen said. "We like that golf course. I do think we had the confidence that we did it last year so we could do it again this year. "We went in with a lot of confidence." A year ago, the Cavaliers literally blew North Carolina, Florida State and Wake For- est (the three universities that finished in a three-way tie for second) off the course by shooting a 27-under-par 837 — a hefty 29 strokes ahead of the Tar Heels, Seminoles and Demon Deacons — which was the lowest score in tournament history. Even though redshirt fourth-year Lauren Coughlin — who led by three strokes enter- ing the final round after carding a 6-under 66 in the first round and adding a 1-under 71 in the second round — won the ACC individual title with a 9-under 207 (Coughlin shot a third- round 70 and finished with a three-round total of 16 birdies), this year's margin of victory was tighter at 11 strokes. When the final 18 holes played out, 18th-ranked Virginia fin- ished with a 9-under team score of 855 — making the Cavaliers the only team to finish the tournament under par. In addition, it marked the sixth consecutive round in which the Cavaliers held the lead at the ACC Championships. "I wasn't that apprehensive because the course sets up so well for our players," Lewellen said of her team that only led by six shots after two rounds. "I knew we could have to play well because Wake was right behind us. But this team likes this golf course. We felt really good going into the last day." When the final scores were tabulated, two other Cavaliers joined Coughlin in the top five on the individual leaderboard. Third-year Lauren Diaz-Yi placed fourth with a 2-un- der 214 and first-year Anna Redding finished in a three-way tie for fifth with an even-par 216. Rounding out Virginia's scorecard were fourth-year Elizabeth Szokol and first-year Morgan Gonzales who tied for 14th with a 5-over 221. Coughlin and Diaz-Yi were two of a mere five golfers who broke par in the second round with Diaz-Yi's 2-under 70 being Virginia's lowest round for the day. "We were fortunate in that we had three ladies [Coughlin, Diaz-Yi and Szokol] who had played before," Lewellen said. "But we had two freshmen [Redding and Gonzales] who were getting better. "Anna Redding had her best tournament the week before and she came in well prepared. The first years really came through. Looking back, everybody came through. But not only were their scores important, but so was their camaraderie."