Sophomore women's golfer Marina Alex finished off a sensational fall campaign this past weekend, shooting a 4-under par 209 (66-71-72) to finish in third place at the stacked Stanford Intercollegiate in Palo Alto, Calif.

Her performance led the Commodores to a third-place overall finish out of 15 teams behind champion Arizona State and runner-up UCLA.

In all four tournaments so far this season, Alex has finished in the top-10, and she has finished third or better in each of the last three.

She played in the U.S. Open earlier this season after notching a fourth-place finish in a sectional qualifier in her home state of New Jersey and got to meet and play a practice round with her idol, and former pupil of current Commodore head coach Greg Allen, Lorena Ochoa.

If that weren't enough, Alex was also Vanderbilt's lone representative at the NCAA Championships in May.

Needless to say, Vanderbilt doesn't just have a rising star on its hands. Alex already is a star.

Allen called her the future of Vanderbilt women's golf earlier this summerr, and she has certainly lived up to that billing in a terrific follow-up to a breakout freshman year.

It's difficult to find any weaknesses in her game. A solid driver, accurate with her irons and very steady in the short game, she keeps her scores consistently low and never seems to have that one bad hole that can derail a round.

The Commodores return to tournament play on March 1 at the Kinderlou Forest Challenge in Valdosta, Ga.