The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 8, 1993- Page 9 Men's tennis falls to .Fighting Irish, 6-1 by Dave Schwartz that awards one point to the tea Women netters top Spartans easily, 8-1 :am The Michigan men's tennis team came into yesterday's match at Notre Dame hoping to improve on their 3-6 overall record. The Wolverines fell to the nationally ranked Fighting Irish, 6-1, but they gained some valuable experience. As expected, the No. 1 singles match-up between Notre Dame's Will Forsyth and Michigan's Dan Brakus featured the best tennis play all afternoon. Forsyth defeated Brakus in a close match 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. "He has made a big jump to one of the top players in the country," Irish coach Bob Baylis said of Forsyth. Michigan was hoping for better performances from the players be- low Brakus. Sophomore John Costanzo lost in the No. 2 slot, 0-6, 6-3, 2-6 to Chuck Coleman. Irishman Mark Schmidt beat Michigan's Adam Wager in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. "Schmidt was just unflappable," Baylis said. "He drove Wager crazy. There's not that many guys Wager can't hit off the court." In the No. 4 singles match, the Irish's Ron Rosas defeated the Wolverine's Grady Bumett, 6-4, 6-2. Freshman Peter Pusztai played well early on in the No. 5 position, before losing 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 to Notre Dame's Todd Wilson. Michigan salvaged the final sin- gles match of the day. Geoff Prentice took care of Notre Dame's Mike Sprouse in straight sets, 6-3, 6- 3. A new rule was adopted this year which wins two out three doubles matches. Every singles match is still one point apiece. Michigan lost two of the three matches, thus giving the Fighting Irish the doubles point 'Our guys just outfought them.' -Bob Baylis Notre Dame tennis coach In the No. 1 doubles slot, Coleman and Forsyth were too much for Brakus and Wager, 8-2. The Wolverines looked better in the second doubles but Costanzo and Burnett were unable to defeat Schmidt and Wilson, as they fell 6-8. Michigan won the final doubles match of the day. Pusztai and Greg Artz beat Chris Wogtalik and Allan Lopez, 8-5. Notre Dame recognized the toughness of Michigan. "This was a tough match to play because they are a talented team and they can beat us," Baylis said, "There's very little difference separating the good college teams," Baylis said. "They have three top 20 players from juniors (Brakus, Costanzo and Wager)." Notre Dame's coach hinted that Michigan might even have more raw talent than the Irish. Baylis said, "Their junior rank- ings were higher than ours, but our by Tim Spolar Daily Sports Writer True to the form of its Big Ten season thus far, the Michigan wom- en's tennis team's dual match against Michigan State yesterday was a lopsided affair. In defeating the Spartans, 8-1, the Wolverines continued their trend of either domi- nating their opponent or suffering at the wrong end of a blowout. To date, the Wolverines (3-2 Big Ten, 8-7 overall) have hammered the teams that finished below them in the conference last season - Purdue, 8-1, and Ohio State, 7-2 - while being humiliated at the rackets of Illinois and Indiana, 6-3 and 9-0, respectively. Both the Illini and Hoosiers ended above Michigan's fifth-place finish. Fortunately for the Wolverines, the trend continued with the Spartans, last year's ninth-place squad in the Big Ten. Yesterday, the Wolverines came out of the gates at full speed, sweep- ing all six singles matches handily. Only two of the six, in fact, were not straight-set victories - wins at No. 1 by Kalei Beamon (4-6, 6-4, 6-2) and No. 2 by Jaimie Fielding (6-2,4- 6, 6-2). With the lone exception of frosh Angie Popek, the annihilation left each of the Wolverines' individ- ual singles records above the .500 mark in Big Ten competition. While the meet was over in all but the technical sense, the doubles play offered the best competition of the day. All three matches went three sets, and the Spartans managed to save face with their lone victory of the day, a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 victory at the No. 3 spot by Amy Spiegel and Stacie Bowman over Liz Cyganiak and Tara Graff. "The doubles (matches) were re- ally close," co-captain Fielding said. "We had already won by the time we started playing doubles by taking all of our singles matches. So (the meet) wasn't really very close. Kalei and I went three sets, but otherwise we overpowered them." The Spartans came to Ann Arbor sporting a deceptive 11-4 mark on the season, seemingly superior to the Wolverines' 7-7. However, proving once again that beauty is only skin deep, the mettle Michigan has de- veloped by playing national-caliber competition proved fateful for the visitors, whose early-season sched- ule was laden with teams of marginal talent such as Eastern Michigan, Ball State, and Northern Illinois. "I think (our experience against top teams) helped us," Fielding said. "It's always easier once you've played some of the best competition (in the country) to come back and play at a Michigan State-type of level." ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily Kalei Beamon, Michigan's top women's tennis player, takes on Michigan State during yesterday's 8-1 Wolverines victory. THE SPORTING VIEWS: Tigers in '93?9Trust me, this is thei;j*r year by David Shapardson Daily Staff Writer guys just out fought them." Michigan's next dual match be at Iowa on Friday. For all the problems of Major League Baseball - the endless string of will scandals, the wrong-headed overthrow of Commissioner Fay Vincent, the skyrocketing salaries, the Astroturf, the DH and the domes - the Detroit Tigers opened another glorious season Monday night in Oaland. And they lost. Again. 9-4. But I'm not upset. Really. Every year since I was seven, I've proudly announced at the beginning of the season to my friends, "The Tigers will win the World Series." Sure, I've only been right once, the Tigers have had a lot of dismal years, we've suffered through serious threats to tear down Tiger Stadium, Tom Monaghan tried to destroy the team, and I can't remember the last time we had a decent starting pitcher, but I firmly believe the Tigers are the greatest team to ever take the field. In 1984, Sparky Anderson, the silver-haired manager led his team on a miracle run to the World Championship. The Tigers didn't have much talent. Remember Aurelio "Seftor Smoke" Lopez, Tom Brookens and Johnny Grubb? Lately, the Tigers have jettisoned superstars in favor of others less- known players. They traded Howard Johnson. And they lost Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish and Jack Morris to free agency while getting absolutely nothing in return. Yet, the fans have remained behind the team. Because as long as I can remember, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell - the longest double-play duo in baseball history - have been playing second base and shortstop. From posing with a real Bengal tiger to watching Roy Scheider make his least memorable movie, "Tiger Town," they are the reason a generation of Michigan children joined the "Sweet Lou/Tram Pepsi fan club." Gone are Johnny Wockenfuss, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Champ Summers, Mike Ivie, Milt Wilcox, and Larry Herndon, as are many of our V baseball cards and memories. But Gibson is back - plus the vision of the game-winning home run in game one of the 1988 World Series and minus bat throwing tantrums. Gibby even started the season going 1 for 2, with 1 RBI in the opener. Despite the ridicule, my wilted idealism and the gaping holes in the game (not to mention the Tigers defense) and my faith, I remain an ardent OTO Olde English 'D' admirer. But the Tigers will be in there. Honest, you wait and see. Fielder will hit 50 homers, Rob Deer will get half as many hits as strikeouts, and the pitching staff will make it through August, somehow... Golfers send revamped lineup to Marshall Invite by Elisa Sneed Daily Sports Writer This weekend the Michigan men's golf team will play Friday and Saturday in the Marshall Invitational at Guyan Country Club, a 6446- yard, par-71 course in Huntington, W.Va. Marshall will host the event, as the Wolverines compete in their seventh match of the season. The format for the tournament will be slightly different than the other events Michigan has played in so far. Rather than 27 holes each day, for two days, the competitors will play 36 holes the first day, fol- lowed by 18 the next. Besides the change in tournament format, the Wolverines will be expe- riencing some changes in their lineup. This weekend, the Michigan squad will consist of three regular starters and two players who have not seen tournament action since the Fripp Island Invitational March 11- 12.. The three veterans - senior co- captains Anthony Dietz and James Carson, and senior Bob Henighan - will be joined by junior Carl Con- don, who played in the tournament last year, and sophomore Michael Lyons, a newcomer to the Wolver- ines this season. Even though the season is more than half over, Michigan coach Jim Carras is still trying to find his top team. Since the weather has not yet permitted the team to get outside and play some practice rounds, Carras has~ been experimenting with new players in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots every week to find out who will do the best job for the team. "I want to try to give everyone a chance to play until we can get out to play for those spots," he said. Last year in the Invitational, An- thony Dietz led the Wolverines with an individual finish of 222 (76-74- 72), enough to put him in 17th place overall. His performance, aided bythe scores of two graduating se- niors - Dean Kobane and Denny Sikkila - and Bill Lyle's gave Michigan an eighth-place finish with a team total of 908. This year promises to be more challenging since the Wolverines a A aO Carson have not been able to prepare as much as last year. "We've had two chances, two hours on two different days, to chip and hit balls," Carras said. "(To do well)you gotta play, you gotta practice.,' This week's field includes three other Big Ten teams - Illinois, Penn State and Ohio State, which has been champions 12 of the 24 times this tournament has been played - as well as Marshall, win- ner of the U.K.-Johnny Owens Invi- tational. Carras said his expecta- tions are not high. "It's a strong field, I'm not too concerned with our finish," he said. "It doesn't mean we can't do well." As for the course itself, Carras said he did think his team has a good chance to play well. "We've usually played pretty well," he said. "We've had a lot of success there, but then we've also had a lot of success at Purdue. It's hard to say what we can expect." Toronto Blue Jay pitcher Jack Morris, an 11-year Detroit Tiger veteran, who sold out his team and then another for more money, was ripped by Seattle Tuesday night. THE SPORTING VIEWS: Heatheote's contract renewal shows even State has class by Brent McIntosh Daily Sports Writer To say the least, the news on col- lege basketball hasn't been over- whelmingly positive this year. It- seems that every time I flip on ESPN or read the Free Press, the media is talking about the same thing: some- one did something classless. "Tutor Writes UNLV Star J.R. Rider's Paper" "Georgia Tech's Cremins Chan- ges Mind Again" "Cal's Campanelli Fired in Shocking Move" My faith in the world was begin- ning to wane-until I read about Jud Heathcote's contract extension. Heathcote, who has coached Michigan State's men's basketball team for fifteen long years, is that hated rival at whom we all scream twice a year, once from the seats of Crisler and once through the TV. He's the guy with the tacky green blazer and the hair combed forward to cover his surplus of forehead. He's the guy who keeps thump- ing his head with the palm of his hand, sometimes both hands, every time his team screws up-which was more often than not this year. Heathcote is also the guy who symbolizes everything that is right about college basketball. His play- ers, not Jud, do the headlining. Heathcote just works hard, tells some jokes, and plays some golf. He is not a coach who throws chairs and temper-tantrums like Bob Knight, nor does he make spiteful comments after tough losses like John Chaney. And he does not prostitute himself to other programs in exchange for a higher salary. But he does get old, and conse- quently, the former Washington State forward is expected to retire soon. His contract ran out at the end of this season, and there was specu- lation as to how long he would con- tinue coaching the Spartans. Then Merrily Dean Baker, MSU's athletic director, did some- thing classy, something that calls to mind the end of Bo Schembechler's coaching career: she gave Heathcote a contract extension and let him name his successor. Jud was loyal to State; in return, State showed its loyalty to Jud. MSU's next head coach? He picked longtime assistant Tom Izzo. Izzo had received overtures from other schools looking for head coaches. He was loyal to Jud; in re- turn, Jud was loyal to Izzo. Heathcote expects to retire soon. He has seen a lot. He has won just under 300 games at Michigan State; he has won the Big Ten and the NCAA championships. He has coached them all: the good (Magic Johnson), the bad (Parish Hickman) and the ugly (Mike Peplowski). And now he has been rewarded. It's nice to see someone do something classy for a change. Even at Michigan State. Ann Arbor's Dead Quarters I ------ ---------------- t7nrP_ .. f nIT I Hey Now Spring Fashions nhish shirts & hats