Women's Tennis Baseball
vs. Michigan State vs. Saginaw Valley
Tomorrow, 3 p.m. Thursday, 3 p.m.
Liberty Sports Complex Fisher Stadium
The Michigan T , A 1
Men golfers weather
yet another storm
Flu hampers spikers
in weekend outings
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by Elisa Sneed
Daily Sports Writer
You can't play indoors.
Golf is one of those sports that is
effected greatly by the weather.
Many dual-season sports can practice
inside during the winter, and many
even have indoor seasons, but not
golf. Not only do the players feel the
effects while playing in poor
weather, but at the beginning of the
season, players and coaches feel the
consequences of the winter at all
times.
The Michigan men's golf team is
no exception.
The Wolverines' 1993 spring
season began at the Fripp Island
Invitational in South Carolina -
,the weekend of the "Storm of the
Century" - which forced an
evacuation of the island after only
one day of play.
Then the Wolverines had a week
off, during which outdoor practice in
Ann Arbor was not possible. And in
the University of Kentucky-Johnny
Owens Invitatiopal, their 19th place
finish was considerably less than
desired based on poor weather, and a
general lack of preparation.
Last weekend, at the Purdue
University Invitational, played on
the South Course in West Lafayette,
Ind., the Wolverines again felt Old
Man Winter's influence. The 54-hole
event was trimmed down to 36-holes
-18 on Saturday and Sunday -
after the weather canceled Friday's
round and a frost on Saturday
morning forced a late start.
Lead by senior co-captain
Anthony Dietz's sixth-place 73,
Michigan was in eighth place after
the first day with 305, 19 strokes
behind the leader - Iowa. Although
an improvement over their last
tournament, this was not something
for the Wolverines to be proud of.
"I'm unhappy with Saturday's
play," Michigan coach Jim Carras
said. "This is the first time we've
been over 300 on this course ... the
kids will agree that it was not a very
good performance.",
The South Course opened for the
first time this season on Friday, and
although Carras believes it ordinarily
is a fairly easy course, after the
winter, it was not really ready for
tournament play.
Senior co-captain James Carson
agreed
"They didn't have their fairways
cut," he said. "The greens had been
cut only once. (They were) about as
slow as a carpet. The cold wasn't the
hard part, it was the condition of the
course.,,
However, despite the poor
conditions of the course, the
Wolverines managed to improve the
second day. Their team total of 603
(305-298) was enough to put them
in a tie for seventh place with host,
Purdue, and Western Illinois, while
Iowa remained the uncontested
winner with 575, 11 strokes of the
next team, Indiana (586).
Dietz remained Michigan's top
finisher placing ninth (73-75-148)
and Carson improved upon his 36th
place finish after the first round,
moving up to 12th (77-72-149).
Senior Bob Henighan, turned in a
35th-place final (78-74-152), and
the two new-comers to Michigan's
lineup, junior Mike Hill (77-77-
154) and sophomore Chris Brockway
(79-77-156) finished in 43rd and
54th, respectively.
The Wolverines' inability to
prepare for the season has been a
source of disappointment for Carras.
"It's difficult to get on these kids
about how they play because they
haven't really had the chance to play
or practice yet," he said.
"I'm not totally unhappy with
Anthony Dietz's, or James Carson's
play. Bob Henighan ... doesn't make
me too unhappy with his play so
far. We're having trouble finding
fourth and fifth men. I'd like to get
out and play for those spots, instead
of just me picking them."
As the season progresses and the
Wolverines gain experience, Carson
said he expects improvement.
"It's lack of playing that makes
us play bad. It's nothing new to
struggle in the beginning of the
year. I hope things will get better
next week."
by Erin Himstedt
Daily Sports Writer
An unexpected adversary de-
feated the Michigan men's volley-
ball team this weekend: the flu.
Illness was the determining factor
in the Wolverines' disappointing
losses against Michigan State and
Notre Dame Friday and Saturday,
respectively. Michigan went down to
the Spartans in four games in East
Lansing, and in three games against
the Irish at home in Keen Arena.
Middle hitter Todd Coffey was
too sick to attend the Michigan State
match. As a result, the Wolverines
had to substitute players unfamiliar
with the middle position, which
threw off the team's rhythm.
"Sickness was a very big factor,"
middle hitter Chad Stielstra said. "It
wouldn't have been easy to have
beaten them anyway, but Todd's ill-
ness took away our attack in the
middle and hurt our blocking."
Lack of mental toughness, which
has plagued the spikers throughout
the season, was also important
Friday. The Spartans came out
strong, and won the first game, 15-2.
"They jumped on us right away,
which made us nervous," outside
hitter Dave Fleming said. "We were
intimidated, and we shouldn't have
been. They got seven jump serves in
a row. That has to do with the men-
tal game, because they're pretty easy
to pass."
The bright spot of the match oc-
curred during the second game,
which the Wolverines captured 15-
12, but the Spartans soon regrouped,
and took the following two games to
win the match.
"We played better, and got used
to the new rotation with the new
middle," Fleming said. "We just
started going for it; we had nothing
to lose, but in the end their experi-
ence and depth were just too over-
whelming."
Saturday held much of the same
for Michigan. Coffey was able to
play, but both he and setter Stan Lee
were hindered by illness. Although
the team competed in Keen Arena
for the first time, playing on the
home court was not an advantage.
The Wolverines lacked aggres-
sion throughout the match, playing
not to lose rather than to win. This
strategy was not enough to defeat a
strong Irish club.
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SUSAN ISAAK/D~aily
Michigan's Chad Engel (left) and Todd Coffey attemptto block a Notre
Dame spike during Saturday's contest at Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines
dropped the contest to the Irish.
Women golfers take fifth at Indiana Invitational
by Tyler Rheem
Daily Sports Writer
With the weather slowly improving and the
level of play slowly returning to par, the
Michigan women's golf team had an impressive
showing in the Indiana Invitational last weekend,
placing fifth in the 14-team field.
"I think they're moving-up," Michigan wom-
en's golf coach Sue LeClair said. "The extra
tournament earlier this year helped. Now we
need some decent weather. They're getting used
to playing in multiple layers of clothing, but it's
not fun."
The "extra tournament" was in Tampa, Fla.
earlier this year. In past years, Michigan did not
compete in Tampa.
Adverse weather conditions have effected all
three tourneys the Wolverine golfers have taken
part in thus far. The air has been cold, it has
rained and it has snowed - not exactly favorable
conditions for golf. Nonetheless, the golfers took
to the course this past weekend with a positive at-
titude.
Fifth place marks the highest finish for the
team thus far this season. As the Wolverines'
schedule progresses, so has the team's perfor-
mance. A check now at the season's mid-point
shows improvement upon last year.
"I feel pretty good about us," senior Wendy
Bigler said. "We had an extra tourney this spring
that has given us an advantage. We're better this
year than we were last year at this time."
Bigler was the second highest placer for the
Wolverines, shooting an 80 in the first round, fol-
lowed by an 85 in the second. That placed her
21st out of 73 competitors. Freshman Shannon
McDonald was Michigan's highest finisher, 18th
overall and junior Tricia Good placed 22nd, third
highest for the Wolverines.
The top three Michigan finishers combined to
shoot scores ranging from a low of 80 to a high
85. This is the consistency that Coach LeClair
has been looking for.
As with previous tournaments, the course at
the Indiana Invitational was plagued by the ele-
ments. The skies provided mixed rain and snow
for two days prior to tournament play which
made for rough greens and soggy fairways.
Originally slated to be 36-holes, the tournament
directors decided to cut the last 18 due to in-
clement weather. The golfers simply continued to
mush through the course.
"All tournament, we were forced to play em-
bedded balls on the fairways," LeClair said "It
was very wet. The greens were bumpy so that the
ball would jump all the way to the hole, no mat-
ter how good the stroke was. There were a lot of
three-putts,".
However, three-putts were on every team's
scorecard. Not only the Wolverines were effected
by the conditions.
"The scores weren't all that low across the
board." Bigler said. "On the second day, every-
one was higher. I think we played better than our
scores reflected."
The golfers next meet is on Saturday when
they play in the Ohio State Invitational in
Columbus.
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Men's distance runners shine at Texas Relays
by Brent McIntosh
Daily Sports Writer
"Experience."
Looking for the key factor in the
past weekend's men's track meet,
Michigan coach Jack Harvey
FOR THE BEST:
Crew Cuts--Flat Tops
Prnnretons--Militarv
summed it up with that ever-crucial
element of sport.
"We depend a lot on freshmen,
and freshmen need consistency,"
Harvey said. "This kind of meet is
going to help in the long run. It's
important for them to get big meet
experience so they know what's up."
The Wolverines competed at the
University of Texas Relays, Friday
and Saturday, and while the meet
wasn't scored for team competition,
the event-by-event results led
Harvey to laud the performance of
his distance corps.
"I was pleased in some areas, es-
pecially the longer relays, which ran
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well," Harvey said. "The meet was
kind of sprint-oriented, and the com-
petition there was pretty good, but
our 4x200 just missed (qualifying
for the finals)."
While the Wolverine 4x200
squad didn't make it to the medal
race, three Michigan relays did, all
in the longer categories. The 4x800
was the top Wolverine placer of the
meet, staking a claim on second
place with a time of 7:28.34, less
than .4 of a second off the pace set
by victorious Oklahoma.
Michigan also managed to snag a
fourth-place finish in the 4x1500 -
16.74 seconds back of the winning
team from Wisconsin - and a sixth-
place standing in the distance med-
ley, where the Wolverines finished
in 9:50.66, less than seven seconds
off Texas Christian's first-place
time.
"In the 4x800, we didn't expect
to do as well as we did, so that was
great," 4x800 and distance medley
member Scot MacDonald said. "And
in the distance medley, there were a
lot of teams, which made it really
crowded. We lost a couple of sec-
onds on each exchange."
MacDonald, the Big Ten Indoor
Track freshman of the year, was one
rookie who did display the consis-
tency for which Coach Harvey said
he was searching.
"Scot came up big for us in the
4x800 and the distance medley and it
showed in where those relays
placed," Harvey said.
MacDonald's performance was a
continuation of his success during
the indoor season, which culminated
with him winning the mile at the Big
Ten indoors and qualifying for the
NCAA Indoor Track and Field
Championships.
Another Wolverine who scored
well in a distance event was Matt
Smith, who posted a 8:55.55 in the
3000 steeplechase, good for second
place. Michigan's Matt Schroeder
took eighth in that event, 12 seconds
behind Smith and 30 seconds behind
winner Jim Svenoy of Texas-El
Paso.
"It's natural that we should fare
well in the distance events because
the southern schools are more sprint-
oriented and we'll improve when we
run more in warm weather," Harvey
said. "The problem comes in training.
in the cold and running where it's
hot."
Unlike the Wolverines, most of
the teams that competed in Texas
have been running in warm weather
for weeks. Freshman high jumper
Jon Royce, who has shown promise
with jumps of over seven feet, ex-
pressed the view that the weather
was a major factor in the competi-
tion.
"I didn't jump well," Royce said.
"The weather was really diverse; it
was hot sometimes, it was cold
sometimes, and it rained all day
Saturday, but jumping in that kind of
weather will give me experience."
Pole vaulter Toby Van Pelt also
turned in a solid performance, leav-
ing the bar untouched at 16' 6 3/4",
good for third place.
Lost to University of North Carolina Saturday, 5-4
Sinales
1. Cinda Gurney (UNC) d. Kalei Beamon (UM) 6-1, 6-2
2. Jaimie Fielding (UM) d. Nicole Transou (UNC) 6-2, 6-4
3. Simone Lacher (UM) d. Ariana Cervenka (U NC) 7-5, 6-1
4. Angie Popek (UM) d. Alisha Portnoy (UNC) 6-4, 6-1
5. Freddy Uihlein (UNC) d. Liz Cyganiak (UM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Scottie Thomas (UNC) d. Allison Schlonsky (UM) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1. Gurney/Portnoy (U NC) d. Beamon/Lacher (UM) 6-2, 6-2
2. Cervenka/ Uilhein (UNC) d. Fielding/Popek (UM) 7-6 (8), 6-3
3. Schlonsky/Graff (UM) d. Thomas/Transou (UNC) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6
Defeated University of Richmond Sunday, 5-4
1. Kalei Beamon (UM) d. Jennifer Stammen (UR) 6-0, 6-0
2. Ashley Faherty (UR) d. Jaimie Fielding (UM) 6-7,6-4,6-0
3. Mary Beth Laing (UR) d. Simone Lacher (UM) 7-6, 1-6, 6-3
4. Angie Popek (UM) d. Stephanie Lacovara (UR) 6-2, 6-2
5. Liz Cyganiak (UM) d. Kristen Butts (UR) 6-4, 6-0
6. Allison Schlonsky (UM) d. Pam Erickson (UR) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. Camille Walter/Faherty (UR) d. Fielding/Popek (UM) 6-3, 6-3
2. Beamon/Lacher (UM) d. Stammen/Laing (UR) 4-6,6-4,7-5
3. Lacovara/Butts (U R) d. Graff/Cyganiak (UM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
S
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Sharp, Namesnik take gold
at Phillips 66 championships
by Brett Johnson
Daily Sports Writer
The college swimming season
ended a week and a half ago with the
NCAA championships held in
Indianapolis. However, for some of
the Michigan men's swimmers, their
seasons have just changed venues.
This weekend in Nashville,
Tenn., numerous Wolverine swim-
mers competed in the Phillips 66
National Swimming Champion-
ships. It was their first meters
competition since the collegiate
yards season had begun, and two
Michigan swimmers came home
with individual victories.
On Thursday evening, freshman
Olympian Royce Sharp hit the water
in his best event, the 200-meter
four years. I haven't swam meters
since this summer. I wasn't real
happy with how I did."
Sharp also finaled in the 400
individual medley and the 100
backstroke.
The other Wolverine champion
swam on Friday night. Olympic
silver medalist Eric Namesnik swam
in his No. 1 event - the 400 IM -
and came home with the victory. In
last weekend's NCAA meet,
Namesnik had finished a
disappointing third in the 400-yard
IM. He said that his victory was an
indication that his season was not a
"total flop."
"I wanted to win NCAA's to
prove I could swim yards,"
Namesnik said. "(My performance at
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