UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio -- The wind swirled and blew and the pressure mounted. In other words, the conditions were ripe for Duke to take over the NCAA women's golf championship.
The defending champions pulled away from the pack Thursday while Pepperdine's Eileen Vargas maintained her lead in the individual race through the third round.
The Blue Devils, chasing their fourth national title, blitzed the field with a 1-under-par 287. What was a three-shot deficit to Arizona State at the start of the round became a 13-stroke lead over Southern California at the finish.
Windy conditions turned club selection into so much guesswork at Ohio State's reconstructed Scarlet Course.
"We knew we'd get some sort of weather today," Duke's Anna Grzebien said. "We take that as a good thing, because we know what to do. In the past, we've seemed to just creep away when we've had some inclement conditions."
Teammate Amanda Blumenherst knew it was a good omen when she saw the weather report.
"Whenever the wind starts blowing or it's raining or bad weather, we just seem to play well -- or at least stay on course when no other team is playing well," she said.
Their latest performance mirrored what they did a year ago when they went 6-under in the third round at Sunriver, Ore., to take an eight-shot lead. They eventually held off UCLA by five strokes to take the title.
Blumenherst, ranked No. 1 in the nation during the regular season, led the way on Thursday with a 70 that matched the low round of the day. Elizabeth Janangelo had a 71 and Jennie Lee a 72. Jennifer Pandolfi shot a 74 and 2005 medalist Grzebien parred the first 16 holes before closing with two bogeys to also post a 74.
Duke was at 12-over 876 through 54 holes -- and has improved by five strokes each of the past two rounds.
"Good players like adversity, so whenever it's windy or the course is long or the course is a tough, championship course, the better players are going to like that," Duke coach Dan Brooks said. "We like that."
USC totaled 298 strokes and was at 889, followed by Pepperdine (894) and Purdue and Arizona State (896).
"What do we have to do tomorrow?" USC coach Andrea Gaston repeated. "We have to do what Duke did today. They obviously separated themselves. In the conditions today, they played phenomenal golf."
With a solid lead, the Blue Devils know what they have to do.
"We've got to take first things first. You can't get ahead and think about winning or think about the last hole," Lee said. "You have to think about what you're going to do in the moment and play that shot."
Duke's previous NCAA titles came in 1999, 2002 and 2005.
Vargas, a junior from Colombia, has led the individual race from the beginning, shooting a tournament-best 4-under 68 in the opening round and following that with a 71.
She got off to a rocky start in the third round, bogeying five of the first 10 holes. Her 75 included seven bogeys and four birdies and pared what was a four-shot lead to begin the day to three strokes.
"I was just trying to stay focused," she said. "I was a little nervous. I was making birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey. I was going up and down and the end I was able to maintain a little
bit."
Vargas stands at 2-under 214 heading into the final round. Tied for second are Florida's Sandra Gal (71), Duke's Lee, USC's Schreefel (70) and Stanford's Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana (72) at 1-over 217.
A year ago, Vargas was in contention for medalist honors through the first two rounds but then slumped to shoot 83 and 75 and finished in a tie for 55th, 16 shots behind Grzebien.
Vargas believes she's a stronger player now -- particularly in her mental approach.
"I'm just going to stick to my plan and hit fairways and greens, and we'll see," she said. "I'm more patient now. I'm not playing that aggressive. I'm just trying to keep it in play because
with this course and the tough conditions, you never know what could happen. If you keep making pars, that's a good score."
Da Sol Chung of UNLV was alone in sixth at 218 after joining Schreefel and Blumenherst with a 70.
Janangelo shared seventh with Purdue's Maria Hernandez (71) at 219, with Blumenherst, Florida's Tiffany Chudy (76) and UCLA's Amie Cochran (71) next at 220.