Puhakka competes internationally: Sophomore diver Joona Puhakka placed fifth in the 3-meter springboard event at the Fina Diving World Cup in Athens, Greece this weekend. It was Puhakka's highest finish in international competition on the 3-meter.
Puhakka, the reigning national champion on the 1-meter springboard, barely qualified for the final round of the meet, as he made it into the final round as the last qualifier in 12th place. In the final round of the competition, Puhakka hit all six dives to finish with a score of 680.13, a career best.
The international competition featured the top divers from around the world, all of whom will be at the Olympics in Athens this summer. Puhakka's finish all but assures him of representing his native Finland at the Olympics.
Last year, in the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Puhakka finished third on the 1-meter springboard to earn the bronze medal, the highest a Finnish diver had ever placed in international competition.
Women's tennis falls: The No. 18 ASU women's tennis team suffered a disappointing weekend as it fell to No. 8 UCLA, 5-1 on Friday in Los Angeles.
Senior Cindy Sureephong came away with the only point of the day for the Sun Devils (2-2), defeating the Bruins' Lauren Fisher 6-2, 6-1. The doubles matches were not played because of a rain delay.
ASU's match with USC, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled due to rain. The match will not be made up because it would not have counted towards Pac-10 standings.
The Sun Devils' next match is tomorrow against NAU at 1:30 p.m. at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Water polo wins two, loses two: Breaking even is something the ASU women's water polo team has grown accustomed to this season. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, the trend failed to cease over the weekend as they spilt their four contests in the UC Davis Shootout.
After notching victories over Santa Clara and Pacific on Saturday, ASU dropped its two games Sunday with losses to San Diego State and host team UC San Diego. However, the team's 2-2 record over the weekend was good enough to give the No. 15 Sun Devils (6-6) third place at the event.
Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe will be a welcome sight for ASU Friday afternoon, as the team will host its first home game of the season in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match up against No. 10 Hawaii.
