Men's Golf
ASU men's golf was on the road at Olympia Fields, Illinois, over the weekend to play in the Fighting Illini Invitational. The Sun Devils finished fourth with a total score of four over par, 13 shots behind tournament winner Stanford at nine under.
ASU senior Ryggs Johnston was the standout performer for the Sun Devils. He finished five under for the three-day tournament, which put him at fourth on the final leaderboard.
Freshman Michael Mjsaaseth got to compete in his first team tournament as a Sun Devil after being called up to the lineup. He finished at six over par and tied for 31st over the weekend.
"We are very excited about Michael ... We're very excited to have him in the lineup, and he's playing some great golf right now," associate head coach Thomas Sutton said.
The only other Sun Devil to finish in the top 20 over the weekend was sophomore Preston Summerhays. He finished the week tied for 17th with a score of three over.
The men's golf team will have two weeks off until its next competition when it'll travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to play in the Colonial Collegiate tournament.
Women's Golf
The ASU women's golf team traveled to Lake Elmo, Minnesota, to compete in the ANNIKA Intercollegiate tournament last week and finished eighth with a combined score of 12 over par after three days of competition.
The finish was in large thanks to two top-20 finishes from junior Ashley Menne and sophomore Calynne Rosholt. The two finished the tournament tied for 19th with a shared score of three over.
"After a slow start the first day, we have played much better the last two days," head coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. "We have some work to do before we compete again in two weeks. This young team is hungry and ready to get prepping for our next tournament."
The Sun Devils also had two other golfers finish in the top half. Sophomore Grace Summerhays finished tied for 26th and freshman Beth Coulter finished tied for 29th.
The team's next tournament comes in two weeks when it travels to Wilmette, Illinois, to compete in the Windy City Classic.
Cross Country
ASU's men’s and women’s cross country season kicked off Saturday at the UC Riverside Invitational in head coach Ryun Godfrey’s ASU coaching debut.
ASU senior Vincent Mauri shined in the men’s 8K. He finished first overall with a 23:25.7 mark, 20 seconds ahead of second place, while six other Sun Devils finished in the top 100 to combine for an eighth-place team finish. Senior Lena Lebrun highlighted the women’s team, running a 20:44.7 in the 6k and placing 16th overall. The women’s team finished 20th out of 31 teams.
The Sun Devils have one more meet for runners to qualify for the Pac-12 Championships. ASU will travel to UA to compete in the Dave Murray Invitational on Sept. 30.
Soccer
The Sun Devils defeated the Grambling State Tigers 5-0 on Wednesday, Sept. 14, in Tempe.
Fresh off her goal record, graduate student forward Nicole Douglas notched a first-half hat trick to give her the most career points in ASU soccer history, passing Stacy Tullock’s number of 50.
The Sun Devils took control of possession and never took their foot off the gas as they ended with 33 shots to go along with their five goals.
The Tigers struggled to move the ball against the energetic Sun Devils, and with conference play approaching quickly, ASU is able to tweak some minor details as the team looks forward to a hefty first couple of games.
ASU wrapped up an undefeated non-conference stint with a 5-0 win over the Toledo Rockets on Sept. 18.
The Sun Devils dominated the game with 21 shots on goal compared to the Rockets' one. They also shared the wealth of goals with all five goals coming from different players.
Three of the goals came in a 13-minute span during the second half of play, leaving no hope of a comeback for Toledo.
ASU begins conference play on Friday, Sept. 23, at 3 p.m. MST on the road against the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Volleyball
Following a rough weekend at the Baylor Invitational, the Sun Devil volleyball squad returned to Texas for the Red Raider Classic in Lubbock. ASU finished the weekend in Lubbock 1-2, a repeat performance to last weekend in Waco.
On Friday, ASU dropped both of its matches on the first day, losing to Southern Methodist University and the hometown Texas Tech University. The Sun Devils lost 3-2 in a tight matchup with SMU in the first game. This match was ASU’s fourth five-set match this season, with the Sun Devils now being 2-2 in such games.
In game two, the Sun Devils gave the hometown Red Raiders a very strong match, winning at least 21 points in each set. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, they dropped the game in straight sets, losing 3-0 to Texas Tech.
Things got back on track on Saturday for ASU, beating Oral Roberts 3-1. After winning the first set, ASU crushed Oral Roberts 25-8 in the second set. After a tightly contested third set went the Golden Eagles' way, ASU finished the weekend with a cozy 25-15 win in the fourth set to secure the win.
The Sun Devils now turn their attention to the big rivalry matchup in Tucson, where they’ll take on UA on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MST.
Edited by Kathryn Field, Wyatt Myskow and Greta Forslund.
Reach the reporters at whsmith8@asu.edu, jeigo@asu.edu, dstipano@asu.edu, alkalmba@asu.edu and bsilvyn@asu.edu and follow them @walkerrTR, @JosephEigo, @dstipanovichh, @adokalm32 and @BSilvyn on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
Walker Smith is a managing editor in the digital department of the State Press. He has previously worked as a reporter and editor on the sports desk and works for Blaze Radio and interned at Big Slate Media in broadcast productions.
Addison Kalmbach is a reporter for The State Press Sports desk. He has previously worked for Detroit City FC and PHOENIX Magazine.
Bennett Silvyn is a reporter for the sports desk at The State Press. He has previously worked for Walter Cronkite Sports Network and FC Tucson.
