Page 6G - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 5, 1985 17TH BIG TEN CROWN IN 18 YEARS Neters take another title By PHIL NUSSEL "The best just keep getting better" will hopefully be the theme of the 1986 men's tennis team as the defending Big ren Champions pursue their 18th title in 19 years. And what better way to do this than with the entire squad from 1985 returning. Along with-4hem, three talen- ted freshmen will join the club. BUT JUST because the whole team will be back along ath new talent, veteran head coach Brian Eisner is not taking a winning season for granted. "Just because a player is a junior or senior doesn't mean that he will con- tinue to improve," he said. "There are a lot of guys in this conference who are playing worse as juniors and seniors than they were when they were freshmen and sophomores," he added. Eisner can only hope his young freshmen and sophomores, who made up seven of the top eight players n the team in '85, will continue to improve. If they do, a sational championship could be in store for the Wolverines in coming years. "I FEEL, AND I think they all feel, that we still have iot played our best tennis," Eisner commented. "Our aotential, I think, is ,much greater. We got a tremendous amount to improve. "We're not going to look back, because Minnesota (1984 Big Ten Champs and 1985 runner-up) has already had a good recruiting year." While having no single outstanding player, Michigan Aill rely again on its tremendous depth all down the line. SENIOR JIM Sharton will almost certainly anchor the op singles spot again in '86. The Newton, Mass. native was the Wolverines' only All-Big Ten selection last season notching a 16-14 overall record. The second through fourth spots are positions Eisner likes to juggle depending on the matchups. So most likely he will continue to switch Ed Filer (14-12), John Royer (11- 13) and Jon Morris (15-8) to varying spots. At fifth singles, Brad Koontz had an up and down season last spring and was even benched for a few matches. But the freshman came on late in the season to regain his position. AT SIXTH, Franz Geiger had the best overall record of any of the team's singles players. He registered a 12-4 mark. The doubles lineups should remain quite strong with Sharton and Filer (7f5) teaming up at first, Royer and Morris (9-3) at second, and Koontz and Tomas Andersson at third. The only question is with Andersson-his parents are Swedish students and may be due to return to the country before the '86 season. The top high school recruit is Dave Goldberg, a toD- rated junior out of Rick Sharton's program in Newton, Mass. Sharton taught his brother Jim along with Koontz and reserve player Kurt Lichtman. If Goldberg lives up to his billing, he could break into the starting lineup. "We've got to keep on improving," Eisner said. "We've got to get our players playing as much as possible this summer so that we can be at least to levels higher when we come back in the fall." If Eisner's squad does indeed improve that much over the coming months, the sky will be the limit. The Big Ten title of 1985 will just be the beginning. .any rhoto by A lN I Junior Ed Filer, with two victories in post-season competition, played a key role in the Wolverines 15th Big Ten championship in 16 years. The South Bend, Indiana native knocked off Ohio State's Mike Massie and Illinois' Mike Bouton in straight sets. CAMPUS BIKE & TOY Experience should aid netwomen Your Friendly Student's Store - ON CAMPUS - SCHWINN FUJI RALEIGH KUWAHARA Specialize in TREK MOUNTAIN BIKES Complete line of Touring Equipment ==_Lites/Locks/Baskets Ann Arbor's - Oldest Dike Store Complete Repairs on all Bikes 1 Block off State * 514 E. William * 662-0035 By DEBBIE deFRANCES With her first season as Michigan's head women's tennis coach tucked away, Bitsy Ritt will look to a more experienced yet young returning team in 1986. The Wolverines, who finished the spring season with an 8-10 overall record, 3-7 in the Big Ten, will return all of their starting players to this year's roster. IT'S GREAT HAIRSTYLES BY LICENSED BARBER STYLISTS - new creations at reasonable prices DASCOLA STYLISTS Maple Village ................761 -2733 Liberty off State .............. 668-9329 Although the Wolverines will bring in no freshmen on scholarship, Ritt admits that the veteran players as well as a couple of walk-ons will make her job a little easier. "THEY (the returnees) know what they have to do now to compete in the Big Ten," said Ritt. "I'm comfortable keeping the same starting team as last year's. I know what to expect." Expect to see a competitive force in the Big Ten from this year's seasoned team. One thing that will help this year's squad, with three of its top six only sophomores, is more match play in the fall, according to Ritt. "ONE THING that hurt us last spring was that we didn't get to play many matches in the fall to get us going," said Ritt. "It hurt us because things we were learning at the end of the spring season, we should have learned and practiced in the fall." According to Ritt, Michigan will see more action in home dual matches this fall. The Wolverines probably won't have many Big Ten meetings during fall, except for the Michigan State tourney, but they will bring in area colleges that want an oppor- tunity to play big schools such as Michigan. The Wolverines begin the fall season after a four-month break. Number-one singles player Paula Reichert toured the summer as a practice partner in Europe for friend and tennis professional Susan Mascarin. Sophomore Leslie Mackey, who plays the second position for the squad, also had an opportunity to travel and play in Europe during the summer. The rest of Michigan's top players, Tina Basle, Monica Borcherts, Tricia Horne and Erin Ashare, played in Ritt ... knows what her squad must do some tournaments and honed their fundamentals, Ritt said. Ritt is plainly optimistic. "We've got a good team. We've got some ex- perience and we know what we have to do," she said. "If we pull it together, we'll be a contender for one of the top spots in the Big Ten." M mw4kkh., j 'Iq URBANCHEK LOOKS FOR CONFERENCE TITLE: Swimmers add solid recruits By LESLIE HAMEL Young talent was the key to the suc- cess of the men's swim team's 1984-85 season, and young talent appears to be the promise for '85 and '86. With the return of all team members but one and the aid of new recruits, head coach Jon Urbanchek hopes for a Big Ten Championship. The '84-'85 Wolverines came up short in their quest for a conference title, finishing second to Indiana. The season did show improvement in team scores, however. Michigan surpassed Iowa in total points last year, and said Urbanchek, "With our consistent gain of approximately 100 points each year, if all goes well, we should pass Indiana in '86." CONSISTENT freshman perfor- mances made for a strong team. Alan Gelderloos maintained steady showings in distance freestyle races, while backstroker freshman Mike Creaser and freshman captain Alec Campbell also contributed in cap- turing points. The performance of the freshmen team was highlighted by the addition of Norwegian Olympic team member, Jan-Erick Olsen. Olsen dominated the 200-yard breast stroke, gained All- American status, survived three NCAA cuts and set a new school record of 2:01.16 in the 200. Other Wolverine All-Americans in- cluded the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Joe Parker (sophomore), Dave Kerska (sophomore), Gary An- tonick (junior), and Creaser. Michigan's divers, Bruce Kimball and Kent Ferguson, also gained All- American status, placing tenth and fourth, respectively, in NCAA thre- meter diving. In all, Michigan arrived at 15th in the NCAA rankings. Ohio State took 13th and was the only other Big Ten school to finish ahead of Michigan. ':0 Gelderloos ... a steady performer Urbanchek Headquarters for Authentic "Champion" Sweats, T-shirts & Shirts! ....expects to pass Indiana RUNNERS. . Ann Arbor's complete running and triathlon center " All shoes priced 10 - 20/ below suggested retail WE WANT TO BE YOUR RUNNING STORE. For the Wolverine swimmers, next year can only get better. All team members will be returning, except Ferguson, and great things are expec- ted from next year's recruits. YET ANOTHER Norwegian sen- sation is expected in middle distance and distance freestyle swimmer, Bjorn Warland. Ann Arbor's own John# Teppo will be joining, adding to Wolverine power. The team's inter- national"membership could increase with possible recruits from Sweden and Peru. In attempt to replace the great loss of diver Kent Ferguson, Michigan his found Lee Michaud of Portland, Oregon. According to coach Urban- chek, "The absence of Ferguson will 1. ,i, _