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