01 Page 8-The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 5, 1992 Griddes! Just drop off your picks at the second floor of the Student Publications i I Building at 420 Maynard, by noon on Friday. 1. Michigan at Northwestern 2. Wisconsin at Michigan State 3. Iowa at Indiana 4. Purdue at Illinois 5. Minnesota at Ohio State 6. Washington at Arizona 7. Alabama at Louisiana State 8. Louisville at Texas A&M 9. Southern Mississippi at Florida 10. Maryland at Florida State 11. Kansas at Nebraska 12. Oklahoma State at Colorado 13. Boston College at Notre Dame 14. Virginia Tech at Syracuse 15. Arizona State at Washington State 16. Southern Cal at Stanford 17. North Carolina at Clemson 18. Georgia Tech at Baylor 19. Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan 20. Penn at Princeton Tiebreaker: Michigan at Northwestern To Name: Phone: Women netters face top foes at ITA meet otal points: by Vivek Jayaraman Members of the Michigan wom- en's tennis team travel into Spartan territory this weekend to test their mettle against the nation's toughest competition. Six team members will be travel- ing to East Lansing to participate in the ITA Midwest Championship to- day through Sunday. The tournament will bring to- gether competitors from 26 colleges. They will be grouped into two flights, one for singles and one for doubles. Michigan will have five players competing in the singles flight and two teams in the doubles flight. The Wolverines competing in the singles flight are senior Kalei Bea- mon, sophomores Liz Cyganiak, Jamie Fielding, Simone Lacher, and freshman Angie Popek. In all, 64 players will take part in the singles draw. The format is single elimina- tion, and the champion will be crowned after five rounds. In doubles, Cyganiak will be joined by freshman Tara Graff. Fielding and Popek form the other team. The fall season has been some- what of a struggle for the team. However, coach Elizabeth Ritt re- mains optimistic. "We have a very talented team," Ritt said. "On paper they're inexpe- rienced, but they are playing tough competition and gaining confidence. "We're not overly concerned with results. We're more concerned with improving the play of each in- dividual, and trying to determine which style of play suits them best." Last weekend, members of the team took part in the All-American Invitational in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Members of the team took part in both singles and doubles play. The team struggled, but one bright spot was the play of Fielding who won five rounds in the pre- qualifiers before eventually bowing out in the qualifiers. Fielding was the only Wolverine to reach the qualifiers in the singles event. "Jamie had a good tournament in California," Ritt said. "However, we also had other players who played well, but were just victims of a tough draw." a 0 0 0 0 Kalei Beamon serves the ball against Ohio State last season. Beamon is the Wolverines' number one singles player. 'M' water polo eyes Big Ten title repeat by Erin Himstedt Daily Sports Writer Here we go. The Michigan water polo team heads to Madison this weekend for the long-awaited Big Ten finals. The Wolverines come into the event as the No. 1 seed and defending confer- ence champions. Michigan finished regular-season play with a 13-1-2 record in the Big Ten. Although clearly the dominat- ing force in the conference, the Wolverines are taking nothing for granted during the finals. "I think there's a lot of pressure on us as the No. 1 team," Michigan coach Scott Russell said. "We will be every other team's biggest game. We have to be careful that we don't let ourselves down enough so that a team like Iowa could beat us. There's a difference between looking past something and taking it lightly." Freshman John Miedler agreed. "I expect everone to play a lot tougher game than in just a tourna- ment," he said. "Yeah, I think we're going to win, as long as we show up for every game. It's definitely not going to be easy." The Wolverines will compete against Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa during round-robin play tomorrow and Saturday. The first- and second-place finishers in this pool will proceed to face the winners of the bracket containing the other five Big Ten teams in the semifinals and finals on Sunday. Russell does not foresee any obstacles in the preliminary rounds, although Michigan did not play Iowa Write it. Read it. Recycle it! The Michigan Daily or Illinois during the regular season. "I know (Iowa and Illinois) fairly well, and I don't think we should have any problems," Russell said "You don't want to look past any- body, but I'm pretty confident about our first four games." The final rounds, however, will be another situation. The opposing pool contains the Wolverines' sea- son-long nemeses - Northwestern and Michigan State - and Wiscon- sin may also be a threat in its home pool. "(The Badgers) always peak at the end of the year," Russell said. "They'll be very difficult to play against in their home pool." The team hopes to avoid 1990's scenario, where an underrated Indiana team stunned the Wolverines in the semifinal match of the champi- onship. Michigan finished in a disappointing third place. This year, less than the best is unacceptable. "A team has to be playing very well to make it to the semifinals; you don't just get lucky." Russell said. "If you mess up in the semifi- nal, the best you can do is third place." The Wolverines' winning season reflects the team's talent, depth, and conditioning. In preparation for this weekend's event, Russell has made few changes in practice. "We've been going over all the things we've practiced all year," Russell said. "We're adding one or two offensive and defensive wrinkles that the other teams haven't seen be- fore. "Nothing's broken, so there's re- ally nothing to fix." BIG TEN Continued from page 5 With the spread at two-and-a- half, and four of Illinois' five con- ference games decided by one or two points, someone might have to stick Tim Cheveldae between the pipes at the finale. Regardless, Purdue wins. Do not assume Penn St. will change things in the Big Ten next season. The Nittany Lions have lost three of their last four games and were lucky to beat West Virginia. The conference could still be bad. If we, the puck prognosticators, have picked the games correctly, eight Big Ten teams will be at .500 or worse come Sunday. Instill excitement into Big Ten football? It's like pumping air into a football with a hole in it. You want to make Big Ten foot- ball entertaining? Give these guys sticks and put them on skates. Glad we're going to be in the Upper Peninsula this weekend. They 6 4 .......... . Another 16 Low Budget, Weekend 7 " \ 1 F . 0 Western union can yet. you money from