Sports shorts: Issue 3, Sept. 12

Thunder volleyball competes in ASICS National Invite

The Thunder traveled to St. Louis this past weekend to compete in the ASICS National
Invite on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Thunder faced off against fifth-ranked Wittenberg University, losing the first match 25-23, but then fell behind to score 13 points in the second match and 14 points in the third.
Saturday, the Thunder faced Washington University-St. Louis, ranked 12th in the nation. After losing the first two sets, first by three and then by eight points, the Thunder rallied to win the third set by six points The match concluded with a loss of 24-26 in the fourth set.
The Thunder closed out their participation in the tournament with a match against Southwestern University, in which they walked away with a 3-0 loss. Senior Andy DeMoss collected 19 kills and an ace this weekend, leading to her being named to the all-tournament team.
With a 1-6 record overall this season, the Thunder geared up to face Lake Forest College last Tuesday night at the King Arena for the Thunder’s first home game this season, and continued on Thursday to take on Benedictine University in Lisle.
Men’s golf
The men’s golf team finished the Tim Kopka Memorial Tournament in Kenosha, Wisc., in 10th place, out of 16 teams present. The Thunder ended the tournament with a total score of 634, with the first round coming in at 318 and the second round completed with a score of 316. Freshman Adam Eaton, playing as an individual, had the lowest individual round for the Thunder, finishing his round on Saturday with a score of 75. Overall, however, junior Bennett Hollar scored the lowest, ending up at 153, followed by sophomore Robby Bowles, who shot a total of 160; freshman Luke Grogger, with 161; sophomore Richard Moomjian, who scored 163; and senior Matt Adams, who wrapped up the Thunder’s score by finishing at 164.
Women’s golf
The Thunder placed fourth out of 14 teams at the Olivet College Fall Invitational in Marshall, Mich. last weekend. The Thunder came in behind Olivet, Hope and Carthage, with freshman Sarah Chang placing third overall with a score of 159 split between the two games played on Saturday. Junior Allie Burgarello and Madeline Bond came in ninth place with a score of 159 and 25th place with a score of 173, respectively, with senior Alexa Tyler carding a 90 and an 85 for 29th place and junior Alexa Pontus finishing in 51st place with a score of 188.
Men’s XC
The men’s cross-country team faced 13 other teams in the Spartan Classic to come in fourth overall with a team score of 85 points. The Thunder came in behind the host school, Aurora University, which finished with 57 points, Harper College with 62 points, and North Central, which scored 78 points. Leading the pack for the Thunder were junior Alex Holle and senior Brett Haffner, who placed sixth and seventh, respectively, out of 163 runners. The Thunder will continue their season by hosting Wheaton Gil Dodds Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 20, with the women’s race starting at 10 a.m. and the men’s race beginning at 10:45 am.
Women’s XC
The women’s cross-country season started out last Friday with a third place finish at the Spartan Classic. Leading the Thunder were junior Jordan Tuin, placing fourth with a time of 23:34.7, and senior Emma Shunk, placing fifth with a time of 23:41.6 over the six km course. Junior Jessica Hawthorne came in seventh, followed by senior Abby Bullmore, who came in 20th, with sophomore Anna Trujillo finishing in 27th place, placing a total of 63 points for the Thunder. The Thunder finished behind Aurora University, which scored 34 points, and St. Norbert, which finished with 54 points.