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European hopes of parity had begun to fade into the shadows of the evening sunshine, with Angela Stanford's visitors seemingly assuming control of the 20th edition of the biggest team competition in women's golf.
It proved to be a hard-fought opening day between Europe and a US team looking to retain the trophy following their 15½-12½ victory in Virginia two years ago.
However, despite Ciganda's heroics, there was also a sense of what might have been for the hosts, who found themselves 6-2 behind at this stage two years ago at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
History has shown a good start to be essential in this competition, with the team holding the advantage after the opening day taking home the trophy 14 out of 19 times.
And the decision to send out Hull and Woad first in both the morning foursomes and the afternoon fourballs failed to deliver the impetus Europe's captain Nordqvist would have hoped for.
When Hull and rookie Woad emerged on the raucous opening tee with daylight barely breaking through at 06:40 BST, they did so as the two highest-ranked players in the European side at eight and seven respectively.
Yet despite winning the opening hole, Nordqvist's gamble never looked like paying off against the formidable pairing of Korda and Allisen Corpuz.
The American duo won all four of their foursomes matches across the previous two editions of this contest and became the first to make it five on the spin with a comfortable 4&3 victory.
Disappointingly for Europe, Hull and Woad then let a three-hole advantage slip on the back nine on Friday afternoon against Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin, who was playing only her third competitive round since June.
They did at least scramble a half point despite loud music being played by an on-course DJ clearly distracting Woad and Noh as they lined up their final putts. BBC Sport has contacted the Ladies European Tour about the incident which clouded the end of a pulsating match.
In contrast Europe's three other debutants, Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mimi Rhodes and Nastasia Nadaud, delivered in style.
England's Rhodes and France's Nadaud produced a superb performance to defeat Corpuz and Auston Kim 2&1, while the big-hitting Lopez Ramirez teamed up with her compatriot Ciganda in that final match against Korda and Lauren Coughlin.
"There's another 36 holes [on Saturday], so not every player's going to play five matches," said Nordqvist of her plans.
"Sometimes you've got to sit out someone, and for me, it was important to play all 12 players [on Friday], and the way the pairings worked out, that's how I had to play it."
