Irvine Valley's women's golf team took three losses and fell further behind Saddleback in the chase for the Orange Empire Conference title on Wednesday at Black Gold Golf Club in Yorba Linda.
After finishing second in the season-opening conference match to Irvine Valley, Saddleback won its third consecutive conference match to take a hold of the conference standings.
The Gauchos posted a team score of 328 this week to earn top honors at Black Gold in a match hosted by Mt. San Antonio College.
Mt. San Antonio posted a team score of 348 to finish second for the first time this season while Fullerton posted a score of 357 to place third.
Neither Irvine Valley nor Orange Coast scored as a team.
The Lasers had only three players compete, which was one short of recording an official team score.
Still, Irvine Valley freshman Kylie Sok tied for medalist honors on the day.
Sok and Saddleback's Brittney Do each posted 3-over-par 75 scores.
Kaylee Jeon of Fullerton posted a 79 while Deanna Pagaduan of Saddleback and Mackenzie Kelly of Mt. San Antonio each came in at 10-over 82's.
Also for Irvine Valley, sophomore Akie Sannomiya came in at 84, which tied her low score in conference play, and sophomore Esther Kim shot 91.
The victory gives Saddleback 15 conference wins with two conference matches remaining before the conference championship tournament.
Irvine Valley has 10 conference wins with Mt. San Antonio closing the gap with nine conference wins.
All five teams will meet on Wednesday (Oct. 18) at the Tustin Ranch golf club in a conference match hosted by Irvine Valley.
