Wrestling vs. Central Michigan and Morgan St. Saturday, 12 p.m. Varsity Arena The MichiganDaily Blue awaits rematch with faltering Purdue by Steven Cohen Daily Basketball Writer Forgive Purdue coach Gene Keady for being a little irritable these past few weeks. Recent road losses to Illinois last week and Iowa Wednesday night have tightened what once was a three-game Boilermaker lead in the conference championship race. On Sunday, Keady's blood pressure should reach boiling temperature as eighth-ranked Michigan (20-5 overall, 10-4 Big Ten) storms into West Lafayette to stake its claim for the Big Ten crown. The ninth-ranked Boilermakers (20-6, 12-4), picked to finish seventh by the Big Ten's coaches in the preseason, will not have the element of surprise in their corner this time, though they will have the incentive of Senior Day. Purdue's seniors, center Steve Scheffler, guard Tony Jones, and forward Ryan Berning, all instrumental in Purdue's 91-73 shellacking of Michigan on January 31 at Crisler Arena, will play their last home game at Mackey Arena, in search of their third Big Ten Championship. The Boilermakers' senior trio possesses two more Big Ten rings than any Michigan player except Loy Vaught and Mike Griffin, who earned Big Ten Championship rings as redshirt first-year players. Michigan center Terry Mills will help his quest for a ring if he is able to contain Scheffler, who leads the nation in shooting percentage with 73 percent accuracy. Illinois used three centers to accumulate fouls on Scheffler, while Iowa effectively held him to only six points. After that one-point defeat, in which a potential game-winning shot by Jimmy Oliver was disallowed at the buzzer, Keady will likely welcome the opportunity to control his own destiny. Two wins by the Boiler- makers will earn them their fourth conference crown in the past six years. Along with Scheffler, a prime contender for Player of the Year, Jones, who averages 14.7 points per outing, is the steam that propels the Boilers. Jones is not taking Michigan lightly. "I think Michigan is a better team than Michigan State because Michigan State does not have Manns," Jones said yesterday. "It depends on how they do tonight. If they win, they'll really be fired up." And Keady will be even more fidgety. SPORTS Friday, March 2, 1990 Women's Basketball vs. Illinois Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Crisler Arena Page 8 1st round by Peter Zellen Daily Hockey Writer hosts Broncos in The end goal is the CCHA finals in Joe Louis Arena, but first the Michigan hockey team must face Western Michigan, their first round opponent in a best-of-three series. By finishing fourth with a 16-11- 5 record, the Wolverines have achieved home ice for the second year in a row, losing last year to Bowling Green in three games. Coach Red Berenson has never taken a Michigan team past the first round in his six years in Ann Arbor. Michigan was 4-0 against the Broncos (12-18-2 CCHA) this sea- son, outscoring them 23-8. Howev- er, Berenson has a guarded optimism regarding their Kalamazoo foes. "For us to look back at those games means nothing," Berenson said. "They could easily beat us because they've got a lot to prove. They've wanted to prove that they can beat us on the road. It will prove to be an interesting series." Western coach Bill Wilkinson reiterates Berenson's feelings. "They beat us all four games this season but they're not unbeatable. This is a whole new season. Who beat whom during the the past eight months becomes irrelevant to who takes this weekend." In their last 12 games Michigan is 7-1-4 and has allowed 38 goals in that span. Berenson said that the team will have to step up its defense even more for the playoffs. The special teams will also have to play well as the penalty killing units were not successful against Miami last weekend. In all, the Wolverines allowed seven goals in the two games, five on Saturday. "In parts of those games we played well but I thought we had some chances to bury them and we didn't convert," Berenson said. While the feeling around the lockerroom is positive, the Wolver- ines also hold a bitter memory in the back of their minds. Two years ago, Michigan faced Western in the first round with the Broncos hosting the best-of-three series. Michigan won the first game 4-3 and lost the second 5-4. After the close matches, Michigan collapsed in game three, losing 10-0. This year's Bronco squad has some prolific scorers Michigan must watch for. Wingers Shane Redshaw and Jeff Green are tied for the team lead with 59 points. They have 34 and 30 goals respectively. However, Western will have to play without their goalie Mike Power. Power injured his knee last weekend against Ferris State when he was sent flying into the goalposts. "It's a hard loss for the team," Wilkinson said. "We felt that Mike was coming on the latter part of the season and was getting more consistent in his play. But we have confidence that Rob (Laurie) will do a good job for us." Laurie has a 5.05 goals against 0 Senior defender and Michigan co-captain Alex Roberts skates around a Western Michigan player during a series between the two teams in November. The Wolverines, who swept all four regular season games between the two schools this season, will host the best-of-three series this weekend. average compared to Power's 4.83. Each goalie had seven wins this season. In their careers, two Michigan players have done well against Western. Senior Mike Moes has 18 points in 20 games and junior Don Stone has 16 points, including seven goals, in 15 games against the Broncos. Community & Huron High School presents THE WOODY HERMAN Orchestra Read Lincoln's Minutes in the Michigan Daily Tennis to tangle with Texas byJen, u,,t Daily Sports Writer !cted by Frank Tiberi Appearing At Huron High Auditorium V Y U For Reservations Call: 994-2096; 994-2021 Tickets: $12 Sunday, March 4,7:30 In the coming week the Michigan women's tennis team will find out if the legend about Texan toughness is actually true. A portion of the squad will travel to the Longhorn state over spring break to compete with four top Texan teams. Because of budget restrictions only the starting line-up, eight of the 12 team members, will make the trip. Between March 6-10, the squad will take on the University of Houston, Southern Methodist, North Texas, and Texas Christian in an effort to continue their current eight match undefeated streak. "It'll be a good chance for us to see exactly how good we are," coach Bitsy Ritt said. "We haven't really had a chance to be tested nationally." Continuing their winning ways may be a tall order for the Wolverines, as two of the Southern teams pos- sess considerable talent. Michigan's No. 1 seed Christine Schmeidel along with the other top singles players, Stacy Berg (No. 2) and frosh Kalei Beamon (No. 3), should be significantly challenged. "North Texas right now has a record of 1-5, although they're competitive with our top person and with most of our players," Ritt said. "And Houston will be strong as well, three out of their four (players) are really tough." Ritt feels the matches against Southern Methodist and Texas Christian should be Michigan's easiest. Whatever the results, the matches will give Michigan national playing experience that will help the team prepare for the Big Ten race beginning at the end of March. The Wolverines finished last in the conference last year after a poor performance at the Championship meet, and are hoping for significant improvement this season. In the preseason Big Ten coaches' poll the team was picked to finish fifth. Ritt said: "Right now the top four teams are the strongest and the most competitive and I would like to think that we could get into that group." A "1-4-E iLW1'/!-+E.l''t-lA-4 I-