0 Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - October 28, 1990 Spikers Indiana and by Matthew Dodge Daily Sports Writer lose despite changes Ohio State drop 'M' to 0-11 in Big Ten BLOOMINGTON - At the end of game two in their match at Indiana Saturday night, four Michi- gan volleyball players rushed over to coach Peggy Bradley-Doppes. The expressions on their faces said "We want to win, we just need to learn how." All they had. to do was watch Ohio State and Indiana. Michigan took in the sights of the Midwest as it toured Columbus and Bloomington this weekend, but it received an even better view of high-power volleyball. Friday evening, the Wolverines (4-19 overall, 0-11 Big Ten) lost to the Buckeyes (16-5, 8-2) in a quick match, 15-7, 15-4, 15-11. The next evening, the Hoosiers (14-7, 6-5) held off the visitors 15-11, 15-12, 15-5. Against Ohio State, Bradley- Doppes mixed up the Michigan lineup. Tarnisha Thompson, whose name had been chiseled in stone as starting setter all season, sat out the entire match. Autumn Collins and Erica Badran-Grycan were given extensive playing time in her place. "We're having trouble establish- " ing a middle setter," Bradley-Doppes said. "Chris White and Julia (Sturm) are our (best hitters right now. Although I want Tarnisha out there, we have to get them a good set." "It just seems like right now they are inconsistent and there's a lot of subbing," Ohio State offensive hitter Holly O'Leary said. "They don't really know who's going to play well what night, and who they can count on." But Michigan's biggest problem f was containing Ohio State's Dynamic Duo - offensive hitters O'Leary and Dawn McDougall. When Michigan hit the ball, the label 'Baden', could almost be read off the volleyball. But when O'Leary BIG TENS Continued from page 1 better. It was real windy and it wasn't to my advantage to run a slow race." These severe winds caused a slower pace, preventing Barquist and other runners from making strong. moves to the front of the pack. In- stead, they had to cnserve their en- ergy just to run against the wind. Another problem for Michigan was its performance towards the end "of the race. Barnett had trouble with cramps and dropped a few places. "It just happened. There was nothing I could do," Barnett said. The Wolverines had been plan- ning for this meet since last season. The team redshirted its top three runners - Barquist, Carna, and Bar- nett - last year to allow some younger runners to gain more expe- rience for this season. "This is what we all redshirted for. This is what everybody trained for," Carna said of the Big Ten's. "We really didn't have any goals for the NCAA. It's all centered on the Big Ten's." After coming so close to taking home a Big Ten Championship, the team was disappointed. "It was a tough one to lose," Bar- quist said. "We were training for it from mid-summer. It just wasn't quite enough." Earlier in the season, the Wolver- ines ran on the same course in the Minnesota Invitational. In that meet, This is precisely what she did the next night in Bloomington, where McCahill - who Bradley-Doppes said "played out of her head" - went the entire match as the coach changed the lineup again. Thompson also returned to duty against Indiana and played a solid match. She collected 33 of Michigan's 37 assists, and picked up a match-high 12 digs. Thompson, who twice emitted a primal scream upon successfully setting for a Michigan hitter, had much to celebrate on Saturday. "It was a superb performance," Bradley-Doppes said. "Michigan came to play," Indiana coach Tom Shoji said. "I don't think we were ready to play as hard as we needed to play to beat them. We thought an 0-9 team wasn't supposed to play like that, and they played well." Despite the accolades, the Wol- verines did lose in straight games to a Hoosier team which played only a mediocre match. "There wasn't any magic in what they were doing," Bradley-Doppes said. "They tried to capitalize on our freshmen. They just wanted to pick on our inexperience in the Big Ten and see how they'd do. . "It was just an average perfor- mance by them. For us to win, we need six people to play well, they only need one or two." Those two people were setter Joy Jordan and offensive hitter Diane Hoereth. Jordan garnered 53 assists, and led the Hoosiers in digs with 10; Hoereth hit a stunning .588 with 21 kills. Numbers such as these will teach a volleyball lesson to the inexper- ienced Michigan team. But as the players looked to their coach for guidance in Bloomington, one could see that a lot of teaching is left to be done. JOSE JUAREZ/[ Wolverine outside hitter Fiona Davidson gets her shot blocked in Saturday's match against Indiana. The Hoosiers went on to defeat Michigan in three straight games. Mayproblems nyat. root of 0-11 season by Albert Lin Daily Sports Writer BLOOMINGTON - Entering the second half of the Big Ten volleyball season, and after witnessing another lost weekend by the Michigan women's team, the question remains: "Why can't this team win?" OK, so the squad's record includes four wins, but each came outsidc the conference. Nothing real, you might say. But it shouldn't be that way. At the very least, Michigan should have one win. So what is wrong with the team? First, there is the transition phase the program is in. With a new coaching staff and ten first-year players, a lack of team cohesiveness brought about by the players' unfamiliarity with each other could be expected. But not at this juncture of the season. By now, with only eight games remaining and over 20 games and two months of practice together already gone by, some positive results (reap wins) should have been seen. "(Losing) is getting old," coach Peggy Bradley-Doppes said. "We're playing better, but it's still streaky. Right now, our excuse could be that we're young and we have a lot of injuries. We're playing at least three, sometimes four freshman on the floor at all times." These were Bradley-Doppes' thoughts after the team's first encounter with Indiana on September 28. Michigan had been competitive, but the final result was a familiar one. Unforced errors were seen as the culprit that night, "but those are rookie mistakes. When these kids decide they really want it - when they want to be aggressive and intense - we're gonna be OK," Bradley-Doppes said. A bold prediction but one that has come true. The Wolverines are OK, but OK doesn't win matches. Improvement has been noticeable over the last 30 days, but the bottom line is that one month later, there is still a goose egg next to the W in Big Ten triumphs. Michigan has had several close matches recently, but alas, "We get to a certain point and we don't believe we can beat them, and we need to believe in ourselves in order to follow through and finish it out," said another of those new Wolverines, Andrea Lucadum. "We just get to a point we always get to (scoring ten points in a game), and then we give up. So now confidence is the problem. "We practice, we do exactly wha# we should do in practice, we work hard, but what it gets down to is not trusting that we can win," sophomore transfer Chris White said. Can anything be done to rectify that situation? A tough, grind-it-out win to let the squad know that they can win would help. But as hard as you work, if you aren't as good as everybody else, you can't expect to win too much. The players seem to think that they are even with other teams, but not the coach. "We don't match up talent-wise, honestly we do not...We will match up talent-wise with a little bit more time and two or three recruiting classes, but right now I'd be lying if I said we did," Bradley-Doppe admitted. "For us to win, we have to have six people on. For them t win, they need one or two people on, and that's just the way it is," she said after Saturday's loss to Indiana. And straight from the top, Jim Stone, coach of defending Big Ten champion Ohio State, agrees. Although he expects Michigan's situation to improve in time, he still feels that "relative to the rest of the Big Ten, they don't have as much talent as an Illinois, a Wisconsin." Said Indiana coach Tom Shoji: "I don't want to play them in a couple of years." So for now, Michigan players and fans will have to put up with the losses. The team is keeping a positive attitude through this debacle caller a season, but the losses are wearing thin. Coach Bradley-Doppes wants to get the team "as much game simulation experience as possible" the rest of the year. She has also instituted a new system designed to motivate the players. Any mistake each player makes in the match is noted, and at practice, certain "punishments", such as running suicides, are handed out. "It has helped a lot. It makes you stayed more in tune to the game," frosh Marita McCahill said. Hopefully, this system will continue to make players hustle. Maybe in the coming weeks and into next year, the fans will see an improved volleyball team, and the players and coaches will be rewarde with victories. But we'll have to wait and see. and McDougall knocked down a kill, the ball practically disappeared. "(O'Leary) hits like a man," Bradley-Doppes said. "She's 'so tough, she really roundhouse hits it." The Wolverines succeeded in slowing down O'Leary, who had only seven kills and hit a low .091, but McDougall picked up the slack, hitting a match-high 12 kills and .346. "I wasn't very effective tonight," O'Leary said. "I was getting dug a lot more than usual, so it was kind of frustrating. But they played good defense." First-year offensive hitter Marita McCahill was the only individual bright spot for Michigan. After missing practice all week with a strained back, she entered the match at the start of the third game. The Wolverines immediately went on an 8-2 run. McCahill scooped up four digs, and threw down three kills without an error. "If we would have known she would play like that, we would have played her earlier," Bradley-Doppes said. X-COUNTRY Continued from page 1 Bannister just missed breaking into the top ten as she finished in eleventh place with a time of 17:57. First-year runner Jennifer Arm- strong fought off the pain of a hip problem to finish in 18th place with time of 18:23. Foster said, "She ran a great race under the circumstances. Now we have to get the injury taken care of." The remaining Michigan runners were Chris Tyler, finishing 21st, Chris Szabo, who took 30th place, and Megan Nortz, who finished 31st. The Michigan squad was familiar with the course after having run in the Minnesota Invitational earlier this year. "Running the course (earlier) was a big benefit," Foster said. "We hung back for the first mile and the team worked itself up. Everyone (else) took off too fast, and when everyone was dying, we were passing people." The Wolverines are composed of several underclassman and Foster has been pleased with the way the young team has become more mature as the year has progressed. "Everyone was really focused," she said. "We had our mind set on second and we put up a fight. Wis- consin just had a better day." Next up for the Wolverines is the District IV Meet, November 10th, at Purdue. Michigan will be looking for a first or second place finish to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.. If they fail to finish in the top two, a strong showing can also lead to an NCAA berth, as the NCAA Bid Committee gives at large bids to impressive teams. Last year's squad did exactly that. The team failed to qualify automatically, but still ad- vanced to nationals as one of eight teams at large. Foster is hoping that Michigan can surpass Wisconsin at the District Meet. "We will work on some strength work this week and then rest next week," she said. "Wisconsin is beatable." Rounding out the rest of the field were Iowa (4th), Minnesota (5th), Illinois (6th), Purdue (7th), Michi- gan State (8th) and Ohio State (9th). Carna Michigan also placed second to No. 1 ranked Iowa State. These are the only two meets the Wolverines have not won. There was some good news at the meet though. Warhurst was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year, while Shawn MacKay was voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year. MacKay placed highest among all first-year runners in the meet at 20th with a time of 25:39.1. Despite not winning the meet, the season has been a success thus far. The team is looking to continue its winning ways in two weeks, when it travels to Purdue for the District Championships. Michigan Alumni work here: The wan Street Journal The New York Times Because they workedhere: The Washington Post Ihe DetroitFree Press (The 9iitd tt juat1l The Detroit News NBC Sports .. ' :..,.. CLASSIFIED ADSI Call 764-0557 Health Care Clinic of Ann Arbor 3012 Packard Road " 971-1970 I E I 1l t' b M~ fu wnts - Helping_ is Learning By donating plasma, you are helping hemophiliacs as well as other patients to enjoy a healthy productive life. Now, more than ever, we need your help. At Cutter Biological we are committed to improving the quality of life world-wide. Through education and service YOU can help IV nr 1 ,-,a Ai ortftw%.. 117- ...1 - -- 42..- . ....._3- The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC Tues. Oct.30 Faculty Recital by Margo Halsted, carillon Performing works by Van Ingelgem, White, 1 Purcell ,Hart Burton Memorial Tower, 7:15 p.m. Wed. Oct. 31 Thur. Nov. 1 Sat. Nov. 3 Annual Halloween Tickets No Longer Concert Available Northcoast Jazz Ensemble' Ed Sarath, director Rackham Lecture Hall, 8 p.m. Bandorama I f rm . , , ., ..- .' ."-. \ % 1r/' l/.. '' f1 ii ems-,. . " .w-."" _ _ _- - . a. I ft- D--A *I,-