Page 16-The Michigan Daily- Friday, April 2,1993 'M'9women's tenms team prepares for stretch run by Tim Spolar Daily Sports Writer For the third time this year, the Michigan women's tennis team heads South for a non-conference road trip. After taking a beating at the hands of Florida State and South Florida followed by a consolation ti- tle at the Rice Invitational, the Wol- verines' matches at North Carolina and Richmond this weekend will decisively tilt the scales of success in the season's non-league action. The last break in its Big Ten schedule, Michigan hopes the week- end litmus test will prove the Wolverines ready for the conference stretch run. "This will break up some of the monotony of playing every weekend against Big Ten (teams)," sopho- more co-captain Jaimie Fielding said. "These are still important matches, but we'll get to work on a few new changes to get ready for next week's matches against Michi- gan State and then Minnesota and Iowa. This will give us a good test to see if we're ready for those teams." "I think this weekend will have really good matches to get us pre- pared for the stretch in the Big Ten," sophomore Simone Lacher added. "(UNC) would fit in really well in the Big Ten, in terms of the caliber of their players." Coming off a weekend of ex- tremes, in which they beat Big Ten cellar dweller Ohio State, 7-2, only to be shutout, 9-0, by national power Indiana the next day, the Wolverines are seeking matches somewhere in between. While they don't want a cakewalk, they do want to remain competitive. "I definitely think these matches, especially against North Carolina, who was ranked No. 22 in the coun- try, will be close," Fielding said. "I'm not sure how good Richmond is, but they're probably better than Ohio State, so we should see a dif- ferent look this weekend." ; pTumblers start regionals Women gymnasts fty to earn frst-ever berth in NCAA tourney by Thom Holden Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's gymnastics team left Thursdayafter- noon for the NCAA Central Regional meet with one thing in mind: Qualify for the national meet. The Big Ten Champion Wolverines, currently ranked 10th in the country, begin their quest for a national title this weekend at the Central Regional finals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The regionals lead to the national championship meet April 15-17 in Corvallis, Ore. Last year, after winning the Big Tens, the Wolverines narrowly missed qualifying for NCAAs. The nation is broken down into five regions, with the regional champion receiving an automatic bid to the national meet. With only twelve teams participating at the na- tional meet, competition for the last seven "at-large" spots should be ex- tremely tough. Along with the Wolverines, third- ranked Alabama, No. 9 Auburn, No. 11 Louisiana State, Southeast Missouri State, Missouri and Michigan State will compete in the Baton Rouge regional. Coach Bev Plocki said consis- tency is the Wolverines need to be consistent to qualify for the champi- onship meet for the first time in school history. "We have to do what we've been doing the last few weeks." Plocki 'We have to do what we've been doing the last few weeks. We can't afford to have any kind of mental block ... We have to hit our sets.' - Bev Plocki Michigan women's gymnastics coach' said. "We can't afford to have any kind of mental block ... We have to hit our sets." Senior tri-captain Ali Winski echoed her coach's sentiments. "We're about due for a hit." she said. "I think we're peaking at the right time." But the national rankings and seedings maybea little misleading. Due to scoring differences from re- gion to region, the Wolverines may have an advantage over teams from the South. Very close judging in the Midwest coupled with fairly liberal marks for the southern teams may have pushed Michigan's composite score down, and with it it's national ranking. The regional scoring differ- ences may have accounted for Michigan missing a bid last year. "Our region was very strictly scored, and the Midwest and the West region (were) scored very le- niently, so the teams from the Midwest and West got our spot." Plocki said. "Until there is no com- parison of scores between regions, that is bound to happen." But being in the more liberal South may give the Wolverines a higher score than they are used td 0 resulting in perhaps their coveted national bid. Another advantage for the Wolverines at the regional meet is their reputation. "People seem to be targeting Michigan as the up and coming team." Plocki said. If a judge feels that one routine will be better than another, the first may receive friendlier marks than the second. "I don't think it will be really blatant" Plocki said referring to scoring by reputation "but it may happen." The team has prepared for this meet for the last two weeks. Sophomore All-American Beth Wymer said " We're working harder so our bodies are a little tired, but we're going to be ready." "Our two goals this year were to repeat as Big Ten Champions and get a bid to the Nationals." Winskl said. One down, one to go. MOLLY STEVENS/Daily Junior Wendy Wilkinson swings on the uneven bars two weeks ago at the Big Ten Championships. Michigan will be in Baton Rouge, La. for the NCAA Central Regional qualifying meet this weekend. Blue softball tries to retain status as Big Ten s top dog' by Charlie Breitrose Daily Softball Writer It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and Michigan's "top-dog" softball team is ready to defend its territory. The defending Big Ten champion Wolver- ines begin their hunt for another title this weekend. Michigan opens conference play against Minnesota at 3 p.m. today (weather permitting), and 1 p.m. Saturday at Alumni Field. The two teams will face off in a pair of doubleheaders this weekend. The road to the conference title is long and hard, with many pitfalls and possibly a few pit bulls. Last season, No. 15 Michigan won the championship by a lone game. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins says every Big Ten game is a challenge and expects the Gophers to be no different. "(The game) is going to be a dog fight, as all Big Ten games are," Hutchins said. Going into this weekend, Minnesota holds a 10-14 record. However, these numbers are de- ceiving, as nine of the losses came against top 10 teams. Gophers' coach Lisa Bernstein said the rigorous schedule should be an asset. "You gotta play the best to prepare for Big Ten play," Bernstein said. Michigan is ready to get into the conference schedule after three long spring trips to Ari- zona, Florida and California. "All spring I was saying 'I can't wait for Big Ten season,"' senior centerfielder and cap- tain Kari Kunnen said. Senior Kelly Forbis and sophomore Kelly Kovach fill the pitching role. Forbis is 9-2, and is coming off a perfect game against Santa Clara in last weekend's National Invitational Softball Tournement. Kovach's record isn't as impressive, but the 1992 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year boasts 45 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched. Senior catcher Karla Kunnen likes what she sees from behind the plate. "Out of my four years," Karla said, "I'd have to say this is the strongest pitching we've had. We're pretty accurate with the strike zone. " The Michigan bats have also heated up, the team is hitting at a .277 clip. Outfielder Patti Benedict leads the team with her sizzling .500 batting average. Freshman Tracy Carr, who re- cently moved into the starting line-up at third base, is second with an average of .341. The Gophers have some sluggers of their own. Shortstop Kiki Romero holds the highest batting average in the starting nine (.317). But the power on the team comes from catcher Lisa Sojka, who has two home runs and two dou- bles, while driving in eight runs. Righthander Jennifer McCann has led the Minnesota pitching staff with a 6-1 record and 1.36 ERA. However, she cannot start every outing, and the Gophers second and third starters, Sarah Maschka and Jennifer Johnson, are 6-13 combined. "We have to play our game," Bernstein said, "drive in runs and get good pitching." I Weather won't stop Blue crew this weekend " by Brian Hillburn Daily Sports Writer Neither the rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor cold will keep the Michi- gan crew team from competing this weekend. Despite the nasty weather that is predicted for this Saturday's home regatta, the crew teams will be racing on the Huron River against Cincinnati. The competition against the Bearcats will allow for the Wolver- ines to work out some of the glitches in their rowing techniques. Al- though Michigan performed well at last week's regatta at Purdue, there is still some room for improvement, head coach Will Brewster said. "We have a long way to go in technical improvement," Brewster said. "Things haven't really come together for us yet. But, it's really early [in the season] for us." Because of the small size of the Huron River, the teams will be rac- ing more than they do in normal re gattas. Instead of each boat compet- ing in one race of 2000 meters, each boat will be competing three time in races of 1000 meters each. "We have a good opportunity to learn about how we race. Each boat will be in three races right in a row. We are being given the opportunity to see how we do in competition." 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