Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday -April 20, 1992
The results are in -
an unbelievable finish
by Adam Miller
Daily Sports Writer
There's a statistical procedure called a "test of significance."
It does not test to see how important something is. Rather, if looks to see
if a variation is real or just due to chance.
So how would the Michigan men's tennis team fare in one of these tests?
Let's hypothesize that the Wolverines' three-match Big Ten winning streak
to conclude the season is just due to chance, and let's test it out. But first,
some background information.
The team got pounded April 11 at the Liberty Sports Complex by
Minnesota, 6-1. The Wolverines were in a state of injured disarray, with
four players (No. 2 Dan Brakus, No. 4 Terry London, No. 5 John Lingon
and No. 6 Eric Grand) out with injuries and No. 1 David Kass playing
through a recurring tendinitis problem. The Michigan losing streak hit eight,
and the end of the season looked gloomy for the Wolverines.
"What all those injuries do is create so much pressure for the people who
are healthy, and then it's worse when you're losing," coach Brian Eisner
said. "You can say, 'We're losing because of this and that,' but losing just
creates problems for people psychologically. That mood has got be broken
t#lrough, and of course the best way to break through is to win."
The mood was broken through the next day as Brakus and London
returned to the lineup in the Wolverines' 6-0 thrashing of Iowa.
But, you say, it was just a fluke, a chance variation. You provide your
evidence. Wednesday, Notre Dame bombed Michigan, 5-2. But what of
your claims? The data seem to be deceiving. First, Notre Dame is No. 9 in
the nation and Michigan is unranked, so you should expect an Irish victory.
Second, according to Eisner, three of the matches Michigan lost could
have gone the other way, and if they did, the Wolverines would have won.
"The Notre Dame match, I'm telling you, could have easily been
different," Eisner said. "If Kass wins that first set (he lost 7-5, and went on
to lose the match), he could have very easily won the match. We could have
won at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. So that's how far we've come, and Notre
Dame is a legitimate No. 9 team in the nation."
So we retest our hypothesis. Friday, the Wolverines pasted Michigan
State, 6-0. Only one of the matches went to three sets, and after the contest's
conclusion, you could detect a sort of swagger in the step of the Wolverines.
"I'm just so glad we took all the matches from them," No. 3 Mitch
Rubenstein said. "Now Penn State is a little better than MSU, but not much.
So we should handle them."
To show that they can now both talk the game and play the game, the
Wolverines cruised by Penn State Saturday, 5-1.
Our test is complete. Reject the chance hypothesis and choose the only
remaining logical conclusion.
In a span of a week, the Wolverines have gone from E.M.S. to E.M.F.
They're unbelievable.
Men's Tennis
vs. Michigan State
at Track and Tennis Building
4/17/92
Singles
1. David Kass (M) def. Grant Asher (S), 7-5, 6-0.
2. Dan Brakus (M) def. Brad Rosenbaum (S), 6-4, 6-4.
3. Mitch Rubenstein (M) def. Brad Dawler (S), 6-4, 7-6(7-5)
4. Terry London (M) def. Kevin Seckel (S), 6-1, 6-4.
5. Adam Wager (M) def. Vade Martin (S), 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
6. Scooter Place (M) def. Gus Giltner (S), 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles were not contested.
Final: Michigan 6, Michigan State 0.
vs. Penn State
at Track and Tennis Building
4/18/92
Singles
1. David Kass (M) def. Eduardd Abril (P), 6-3, 6-0.
2. Dan Brakus (M) def. Greg Gaunt (P), 6-4, 7-6(10-8).
3. Mitch Rubenstein (M) def. Ivan Spinner (P), 6-4, 6-4.
4. Terry London (M) def. Chad Skorupka (P), 6-3, 6-0.
5. Adam Wager (M) def. Corey Goldstein (P), 6-2, 6-3.
6. Brett Engelsburg (P) def. Scooter Place (M), 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles were not contested.
Final: Michi an 5 Fenn State 1I
'M' field hockey
signs nine recruits
Women's tennis
drubs Penn State
by Mike Hill
Daily Sports Writer'
The word 'dominance' would
probably be an understatement to
describe the Michigan women's ten-'
nis team's 9-0 victory over Penn
State Friday afternoon.
The Wolverines (7-3 Big .Ten,
12-8 overall), winners of six of their
last seven matches, dropped only
one set to the lowly Nittany Lions.
"We played really well," co-
captain Amy Malik said. "But
they've struggled this season.
Throughout the course-of the day,
you could see that they were frus-
trated. They were getting angry at
everything and it made them play
worse."
Because of rain, the matches
were moved to Penn State's indoor
courts.
Coach Bitsy Ritt, who has been
platooning first singles all year, gave
Kim Pratt the nod over Kalei Bea-
mon, but it probably wouldn't have
mattered. Pratt knocked off Tammy
Okins-Nguyen, 6-1, 6-0. Beamon
blew past Kerri Kohl, 6-2, 6-1, at the
No. 2 position.
Michigan rolled through the rest
of the singles with victories from
Jaimie Fielding, Allison Schlonsky,
Malik and Liz Cyganiak.
The only real competition came
at the No. 3 doubles position. Malik
and fellow captain Freddy Adam lost
the first set to Denise Robison and
Kristin Kovalik, 6-4. But Michigan
soon turned it around, taking the fi-
nal two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
"(Robison-an4- Rovalik) didn't
play the traditional type of tennis
and it gave Freddy and I problems,'x
Malik said. "But in the second set,
we started to get it together and they
started to get down on themselves."
The victory ended the Wolveri-
nes' rocky regular season road.
We've struggled this
year. I'm not
disappointed with the
season, but I'm not
pleased.'
- Amy Malik
No. 5 singles player
"We've struggled this year." Ma-
lik said. "I'm not disappointed with
the season, but I'm not pleased. We
lost to some schools that we
shouldn't have. We played horribly
against Illinois (an 8-1 loss), and we
had plenty of opportunities against
top-25 teams like Alabama."
Michigan travels to Northwestern
next weekend for the Big Ten
Championships. The tournament will
decide the final ranking for the
Wolverines and could make up for
the disappointing season.
"It's our chance to turn the sea-
son around," Malik said. "Our sea-
son really comes down to this. So
we'll definitely be psyched up."
No. 2 singles Kalei Beamon and the rest of the Michigan women's tennis
team overpowered Penn State Friday at University Park, 9-0.
TENNIS
Continued from page 1
Kass said. "I'm pretty glad that's the
last match for a while, because I was
really counting on- just getting
through these matches, doing the
best I could and then having a week-
and-a-half of working on my arm
and getting it better for the tourna-
ment."
In the other matches, No. 3 Mitch
Rubenstein defeated Ivan Spinner, 6-
4, 6-4; No. 4 Terry London was the
first Wolverine off the court, making
quick work of Chad Skoropka, 6-3,
6-0; and No. 5 Adam Wager put
away Corey Goldstein, 6-2, 6-3.
The Wolverines crushed the
Spartans (3-4, 10-8) Friday despite a
bevy of unusual circumstances. First
was the late change of venue. An
stein said. "When you play, inside,
all the noise echoes. Now tennis isn't
really a sport where a lot of noise is
"But (the State fans) are always
like this. It's their biggest match of.
the year, and every time we play
them the crowd noise is like this."
Rubenstein's 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) vic-
tory over Brad Dawler was one of
the day's more thrilling matches.
Rubenstein had a chance to win the
match leading, 5-4, in the second set,
but lost the next two games and had
to break Dawler's serve to send the
set to a tiebreaker.
Dawler used an aggressive serve-
and-volley attack to seize a quicl 3-
0 lead. But Rubenstein began pass-
ing him repeatedly, and with Ruben-
stein leading 6-5, Dawler could not
handle Rubenstein's serve, giving
Michigan the match.
"I knew he was going to come in
every ball," Rubenstein said, "so I
knew I had to hit it over him. Most
of the points of the match were being
won at the net."
No. 5 Wager won the only three-
set match of the day. After dropping
the first set to Vade Martin, 6-3,
Wager stormed through the next
two, 6-2, 6-4.
No. 2 Brakus and No. 6 Place
each defeated their opponents by 6-
Women's Tennis
vs. Penn State
at Penn State
4/17/92
Singles
1. Kim Pratt (M) def. Tammy Okins-Nguyen (P), 6-1, 6-0.
2. Kalei Beamon (M) def. Kerr Kohl (P), 6-2, 6-1.
3. Jaimie Feilding (M) def. Jen Ferrington (P), 6-0, 6-3.
4. Allison Schlonsky (M).def. Kristin Kovalik (P), 6-0, 6-2.
5. Amy Malik (M) def. Denise Robison (P), 6-1, 6-0.
6. Liz Cyganiak (M) def. Sara Baitlett (P), 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles
1. Pratt/Fielding (M) def. Okins-Nguyen/Kohl (P)1 6-4, 6-3.
2. Beamon/Cyganiak (M) def. Farrington/Andi Chiumento (P),
6-2, 6-3.
3. Malik/Freddy Adam (M) def. Robison/Kovalik (P), 4-6, 6-4,
6-2.
Final: Michigan 9, Penn State 0.
0
0
'We're winning pretty
easily... and I think the
guys are coming
together a lot better.
We're in real good
shape going into the
Big Ten tournament.'
- David Kass
No. 1 singles player
hour before match time, the contest
was moved from the outdoor courts
of the Liberty Sports Complex to the
Track and Tennis Building.
But from looking at and listening
to the crowd, you would have
thought the match had been moved
to East Lansing.
The Track and Tennis bleachers
were solid green as over 100 bois-
terous State fans cheered each point
loudly, especially during the No. 1
contest between Kass and Michigan
State's Grant Asher.
Asher took a 4-3 lead in the first
set and apparently had Kass on the
ropes with a solid baseline game.
But Kass stormed back to take nine
of the next 10 games and put Asher
away, 7-5, 6-0.
"I think (the noise) is not only a
hindrance to our success, I think it's
a hindrance to their players," Ruben-
4, 6-4 scores. Brakus knocked off
State's Brad Rosenbaum, and Place
swept away Gus Giltner in the final
match of the day.
No. 4 London said he was sur-
prised at the ease with which he de-
feated Spartan Kevin Seckel, 6-1, 6-
4.
"I don't know if something was
wrong with the guy I was playing,"
London said, "because he started off
really slow. He kind of picked it up
in the second set, but luckily I was
up enough to hold on."
Kass said after the Penn State
match that he saw a lot of positives
this weekend for Michigan.
"I think everything is coming
around pretty well," he said. "The
top of the lineup is pretty healthy,
and I think it's showing. We're winT
ning pretty easily - we won our lagt
three Big Ten matches - and I think
the guys are coming together a lot
better. We're in real good shape go-
ing into the Big Ten tournament."
0
- aaZZ a affrew r*
romru r reo
The University of Michigan
women's field hockey coach Patti
Smith has announced the signing of
nine women to field hockey National
Letters of Intent. The 1992-93
signees include:
Heather Rooney (Ann Arbor/
Huron HS) - The midfielder, cap-
tained Huron High School in 1991.
Rooney earned Second-Team All-
State honors in 1990 and was an all-
star at the 1990 Northwestern Field
"Hockey Camp. She is ranked in the
top 10 percent of her graduating
class and hopes to concentrate in ed-
ucation at Michigan.
Sherene Smith (Ann Arbor/
Pioneer HS) - Smith was a First
Team All-State selection as a mid-
fielder in 1990 and 1991. This sea-
son, at Pioneer High School she was
Valley Conference All-Star and
league MVP, while being named
Athlete of the Year in 1990.
Lupinski was the team MVP in 1989
and 1990 and was the Most Valuable
Freshman in 1988. She led her team
in scoring all four years - finishing
her prep career with 81 goals ad 29
assists. Valedictorian of her
graduating class, Lupinski will
enroll in Michigan's Division of
Kinesiology and plans to concentrate
in movement science.
Gia Biagi (Amherst, MA/ Am-
herst Regional HS) - The mid-
fielder set the Amherst Regional
High School single-season scoring
record with 28 goals this season.
Over her two years of play she tal-
lied 71 points. Biagi was named to
both All-League and Western
Massachusetts teams in 1990 and
Thanks to improved team health, Mitch Rubenstein returned to his No. 3 singles position for the conclusion i
Michigan men's tennis team's season. He won his last three Big Ten matches and so did the Wolverines.
studying communications and jour-
nalism at Michigan.
Selina Harris (Old Greenwich,
CT/ Greenwich HS) - Harris
served as co-captain in 1988 and tri-
captain in 1991 at GHS. The mid-
fielder was a 1991 All-Western
Division pick. Ranked No. 1 in her
graduating class, Harris is consider-
ing studying either business or psy-
chology at Michigan.
Michigan.
Meredith Franden (Tulsa, OK/
Holland Hall HS) The forward
earned Second-Team All-Southwest
Preparatory Conference honors and
was named to the Honorable
Mention All-Conference team in
1991. She tallied 10 goals and 9 as-
sists for 19 points over her prep ca-
reer. Franden will enroll in the
Seles defeats Garrison
in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1
HOUSTON (AP) - Top-seeded
Monica Seles took. only slightly
more than an hour to defeat third-
seed Zina Garnison-64-1, 6-1 in the fi-
nals of the Virginia Slims of Hou-
ston yesterday.
Seles took 65 minutes to beat
Garrison, a native of Houston who
laar.naA *hasnamnn e t a n * a n~snhir~
Garrison started strongly in the
second set, breaking Seles' serve to
win the first game. It was only the
second time in the tournament that
Seles was broken.
But Seles quickly recovered to
win the next six games. 4
Garrison. clearly the favorite be-
Division
Michigan.
of Kinesiology at