ATLANTA, Georgia – Veterans Derek Hitchner and William Mouw posted wins, but the Pepperdine men's golf team couldn't get the third point it needed in a 3-2 match-play loss to Arizona State in Tuesday's semifinals at the East Lake Cup.
 
This was the rubber match between the Waves and Sun Devils, who were meeting in match play for the third time in a year. The Waves won the third-place match at the 2021 East Lake Cup, 3-2, while the Sun Devils were victorious in the 2022 NCAA semifinals, 4-1. Hitchner and Mouw played in all three meetings.
 
This is Pepperdine's third straight appearance at this exclusive tournament, which invites back the final four teams from the previous spring's NCAA Championships. The Waves won the East Lake Cup in 2020 (en route to winning the 2021 national title) and took third place in 2021 (before going on to reach the NCAA semifinals).
 
MATCH RESULTS

• Luke Potter (ASU) def. Ian Maspat (PEPP), 4&3 – Potter won the first hole, followed by Maspat evening it up on 2. Potter regained the lead on 3, and picked up points on 7, 12 and 14 before closing out the first match of the day.
• Preston Summerhays (ASU) def. Sam Choi (PEPP), 1 up – Choi never led in the match, but repeatedly came back to tie it up. He was down two after seven, but evened the match on 13. The players alternated winning holes the rest of the way, with Summerhays getting the victory after a birdie on 18.
• William Mouw (PEPP) def. Michael Mjaaseth (ASU), 2&1 – Mouw took the lead for good on 4, and grew his lead to three holes after wins on 6 and 7. The lead stayed between two and three the rest of the way, and the Waves earned their first point after they halved 16 and 17.
• Derek Hitchner (PEPP) def. Ryggs Johnston (ASU), 1 up – Hitchner dropped the first three holes and was forced to play catch-up nearly the entire round, but those would be the only three holes that he would lose. Hitchner got the deficit down to one after eight holes, and it stayed that way until 15. Hitchner won 15 to tie the match, then birdied 17 to take his first lead. The players halved 18 and that tied the overall match at 2-2. Hitchner improved to 4-1 in match play over three East Lake Cups.
• Jose Luis Ballester (ASU) def. Luke Gifford (PEPP), 3&2 – Gifford won the first two holes, but Ballester tied it up on 8, then won holes 10, 11, 12 and 13 to go up four. Gifford got one back on 14, and hit an extremely long putt on 16 for birdie, but Ballester also birdied 16 to end the match.

QUOTABLE
 
Derek Hitchner said: "I knew it would be extremely tough. I was playing a phenomenal player. It was just kind of one of those matches where I knew if I slipped a little bit, that he would capitalize. I just kept the mindset of trying to really play as well as I can, and thankfully the putter got kind of hot on the back nine. That was pretty key for me."
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will face 2022 national champion Texas in the third-place match. The Longhorns lost their semifinal on Tuesday to Vanderbilt by a 3-1-1 score. They'll tee off beginning at 8:15 a.m. PT. There will be live Golf Channel coverage from 12-3 p.m. PT.