Sun Devil wrestling back on mat

The saying ‘It feels good to be back’ may not be quite explain the feelings of the Arizona State wrestling team.

Left for dead after budget cuts temporarily suspended the program, the Sun Devil wrestling team is ecstatic to be back on the matt competing once again.

“It’s exciting to be back, and to get to see where we are and how we are physically,” coach Thom Ortiz said. “It’s not to say we aren’t good but it’ll be nice to see what we need to do.”

The squad kicked off its 47th season with the annual “wrestle-offs” Thursday at the Riches Wrestling Complex and will continue them into Saturday.

Wrestle-offs are preliminary bouts designed to assess individual competitors and award starting positions.

Regardless of ranking within the team, all members of the 2008-09 campaign are given the opportunity to compete this weekend. Saturday will feature 10 battles for starting rights with two exhibitions.

“They’re gonna find out where they are physically,” Ortiz said. “Then we’re (the coaches) gonna find out their strengths and we’ll exploit them. We’ll find out their weakness and work on that, too.”

The first official meet is scheduled for Nov. 8 against UC Davis.

SOCCER

The ASU soccer team has taken an all-for-one approach this season.

“We have a certain amount of values and that’s one of them,” coach Kevin Boyd said. “Everything we do is about the team. Every day it’s, ‘what is our task today and what do we have to do?’”

It’s a good thing too. Put in a conference that won’t hear cries for mercy, Arizona State found itself in a precarious position early in the season, needing upsets over top-ranked conference foes in order to sniff the postseason.

The squad got one of those key upsets last Sunday when they defeated defending national champion and No. 7 USC, 1-0 at home. The lone goal of the game came on a Karin Volpe score in the 17th minute.

“We’re just working hard. Playing physical and together,” Volpe said.

It was Volpe’s seventh goal of the season, tops on the team.

“I’m definitely happy scoring more goals than I did last season. That’s something I always want to do,” Volpe said. “But it’s not all done by myself.”

Arizona State’s schedule isn’t getting any easier. The Sun Devils head to Northern California where they will face California Friday and unbeaten Stanford on Sunday.

“Those games can be devastating for teams because you can lose all of them and put yourself into a must-win situation,” Boyd said. “We have six games left, and I believe we need to be three of six, — .500 to advance (to the playoffs).”

VOLLEYBALL

Despite starting 9-2, the Arizona State volleyball squad has slipped over the past few weeks, losing 8 of its past 10 games.

That hasn’t hampered first year coach Jason Watson, who is still encouraged by his team’s play. “It’s been tough to see the games go the way they are but I feel that overall the program has made some incredible gains. We just need to be good over time,” he said.

The team is coming off a weekend in which it lost to No. 11 USC and No. 10 UCLA Bruins by a combined set total of 6-1.

However, ASU lost many of these sets by close margins.

“We’re actually encouraged by this,” Watson said. “We’re battling and… we are gonna keep on battling.”

Sara Reaves recorded the majority of the kills against the L.A. opponents and has a team-leading 285 kills, 209 digs and 35 blocks.

The Sun Devils are set to compete Friday as they travel to Eugene to face Oregon and then to Oregon State before heading home to host rival Arizona on Nov. 2. The Nov. 2 match will be televised on Fox SportsNet.

TENNIS

Sophomore Kelcy McKenna is on a nine-match win streak after being defeated in her season opener.

“It’s been tremendous really,” coach Sheila McInerney said. “She is probably one of our hardest workers. She realizes she had to just keep on working.”

Junior Nadia Abdala is expected to be back playing after an illness kept her off the court for much of the season.

The squad is currently competing in San Diego at the ITA Regional Championships before team scoring events begin.

CROSS COUNTRY

It’s been a very active season for the Arizona State cross country teams. The women have met expectations thus far while the men have worked to keep up, hampered by youth and inexperience.

“My goal is to get them in the top 5,” coach Louie Quintana said. “We aren’t looking ahead to next year, that’s not what we do. Our foot is still on the pedal but we understand that these guys have a lot to work on.”

The men recently placed 17th at the NCAA Pre-National Meet in Terre Haute, Ind. and will travel with the women to Springfield, Ore for the Pac-10 Championships on Oct. 31.

With the women however, Quintana is not so open-ended.

“We’ve got one of our most talented squads we’ve ever had here at ASU—and that’s saying a lot,” he said.

Quintana is hoping for a return to nationals yet again for the women’s squad, which is ranked eighth nationally.

Should that occur, it’ll be in part due to runners Kari Hardt, Jenna Kingma, and Ali Kielty, the Sun Devils “three-headed horse” as Quintana calls them.

Coach Quintana also said sophomore Camille Olson is expected to return after injuries kept her out much of the season. “She’s very energetic and brings a lot to this team,” he said.

The women are coming off a sixth place finish at the NCAA-Pre-Nationals.