The top two teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings presented by StrackaLine will go head-to-head on Wednesday in the championship match of the East Lake Cup being held in Atlanta, Ga.
Top-ranked Vanderbilt rolled over Texas, 3-1-1 to advance to the final against second-ranked Arizona State, which prevailed over Pepperdine, 3 and 2 to earn a spot in the championship match alongside the Commodores.
After freshman
Christiaan Maas put the first point on the board for the Longhorns with a 4 and 2 win over
Reid Davenport, the middle of Vanderbilt's powerful lineup took control of the match, as
Matthew Riedel,
William Moll and
Cole Sherwood all rolled to easy 5 and 4 victories, rendering the marquis anchor match between Texas'
Travis Vick and Vandy's
Gordon Sargent mute.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the guys came out and played today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We talked last night about being excited to play and competing with pride in performance. Every day you get a chance to play is a learning and growing opportunity. I thought each guy did a great job locking in from the start. I’m proud of Matthew and William, who got our first two points, and Cole and Gordon both played really well on the back.”
• • • • •
The retooled Sun Devils, down four players from last year's team that advanced to the national final at Grayhawk, continue their strong play in the fall by defeating Pepperdine, 3 and 2 to advance to the title match.
Freshman
Luke Potter got the Sun Devils rolling with a 4 and 3 win over
Ian Maspat.
Preston Summerhays then downed Pepperdine's
Sam Choi, 1 up with a birdie on 18 to give the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead.
Pepperdine's top two players,
William Mouw and
Derek Hitchner came through to square the match at 2-2. Mouw defeated
Michael Mjaaseth, 2 and 1 while Hitchner rallied from a three-hole deficit to down
Ryggs Johnston, 1 up.
Hitchner dropped the first three holes of the match and was still one down after 14 holes, however, the senior from Minneapolis, Minn. won the 15th to square the match then birdied the 17th to take his first lead. Both players halved the 18th with pars, putting a second point on the board for the Waves.
All eyes then turned to the match between Arizona State's
Josele Ballester and
Luke Gifford. The match was all square through eight holes, but Ballester won holes 10, 11, 12 and 13 to take a 4 up lead and after Gifford got one back with a birdie on 14, the Spaniard closed out the match with a birdie of his own on the 16th to advance the Sun Devils to the championship match.
"Josele has had two awesome days," ASU head coach Matt Thurmond said. "He's playing great. Having him dominate that last match was huge today. When the whole thing was in the balance he won five of six holes from 8 to 13, then made a huge bird to win on 16. He's been very impressive."
Minus the services of Cameron Sisk, James Leow, David Puig and Mason Andersen, the Sun Devils have a much different look than the team that fell just short of winning a national championship last year. However, the results this fall have been positive with three top-five finishes at the Maui Jim Invitational (2nd), OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational (4th) and Colonial Collegiate (t-3rd).
Wednesday's East Lake Cup championship match will be televised live by GOLF Channel beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.
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Championship Match Lineups
Luke Potter (ASU) vs. Cole Sherwood (Vanderbilt)
Michael Mjaaseth (ASU) vs. Reid Davenport (Vanderbilt)
Ryggs Johnston (ASU) vs. Matthew Riedel (Vanderbilt)
Josele Ballester (ASU) vs. William Moll (Vanderbilt)
Preston Summerhays vs. Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt)
Arizona State and Vanderbilt Athletic Communications contributed to this report.View results for East Lake Cup
ABOUT THE East Lake Cup
Started in 2015 and hosted by the historic
East
Lake Golf Club Atlanta, this collegiate, three-day
match
play competition features the top-performing
teams
from the previous year's NCAA Men’s
Golf Championships. There is an individual award for
the low 18-hole scorer
in the seeding round.
View Complete Tournament Information