Men's Golf Midwestern Invitational Tomorrow, all day DeKalb, IL vS Volleyball vs. Michigan State Today, 7 p.m. Cliff Keen Arena Blue nets big man Taylor for '94 tilt By TIM RARDIN DAILY SPORTSWRER With the early exit of 6-foot-9 All-American Chris Webber to the NBA, and the graduation of 7-0 Eric Riley and 6-8 James Voskuil, the Michigan basketball team is in des- perate need of size and strength along its frontline. And the team may get it - albeit a year from now - and much more in 64, 225-pound power forward Maurice Taylor, a senior at Detroit Henry Ford who made a verbal com- mitment to Michigan for the 1994- 95 season. Taylor, who averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks last year as a 16-year-old junior, is cutrently rated the No.2 power forward, and the No.7 overall high school player by recruiting expert Bob Gibbons. According to his high school coach, Bill Carter, Taylor definitely measures up in the size and strength department. "He's very strong, to be as young as he is," Carter said. "He has a tremen- dous ability to block shots. He is 6-8 but he plays like he's 6-10. He really plays above that rim." And the good news for Michigan coach Steve Fisher is that Taylor is much more than a space-eater. He has versatile written all over him, and will likely draw comparisons to Webber should he make his verbal commitment official Nov. 10-17, during the national signing period. "He is an all-around athlete. He can do it all," Carter said. "He has good court sense and he runs the floor well. He can start the break for you. He can also shoot the three- pointer." Anything else, coach? "I've beenreally impressed with his interior passing ability. He can spot people underneath," Carter said. "He can just step up and dominate a ballgame." Okay. Sound too good to be true? Perhaps. And while the college game is a big step from the high school game, Taylor thinks he can and will contribute immediately, not only because of his ability, but be- cause of the loss of much of . Michigan's size after last season. "It's a great situation for me. I think I can come in and contribute right away," Taylor said. "My strength is that I'm 6-8 and I can handle the ball real well. I think I can play as well at the college level as I have in high school." Taylor, who has already passed his ACT requirements, chose Michigan over Minnesota, Michigan State, Ken- tucky, California, Georgia Tech and Arizona. "Michigan has the best blend of academics and athletics in the coun- try," Taylor said. "It's not only a good basketball school, but a good school in general." FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Texas talent By KEN SUGIURA ' DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER While the eyes of Texas might be upon us, the eyes of Gary Moeller are upon Texas. In yesterday's teleconference, the Michigan coach dis- cussed the talent that he has plucked from the football hotbed of Texas. In particular, Moeller has raided the wealth of talent from the backyard of Michigan's opponent this week- end, Houston. "I think there's some very fine football players in that area. I think there's fine football players in the Sun Belt area in numbers that we used to have in the Midwest and the North," said Moeller, who has reeled in some of the nation's strongest recruiting classes in his four years at the head of the Michigan program. There are four Houston-area players on the Michigan roster. Three of them - wide receivers Mercury Hayes (Houston) and Felman Malveaux (Beaumont), and line- backer Jarrett Irons (Conroe) start for the Maize and Blue. The fourth, tight end Pierre Cooper (Alief), splits time with first-stringer Marc Burkholder. They say there are two high school sports in Texas - football and spring football-and this craze creates perhaps the best talent in the country. Moeller explained how he has been able to tap into the rich pipeline. "Certain guys we look at and we create an interest in," Moeller said. "I think kids go a further distance to school today, and we've been fortunate that way." Last season's team MVP, Chris Hutchinson, was also from Houston. THE BITING IRISH: Though the loss to Notre Dame tempting occurred over a week ago, the sting has yet to subside in the Wolverines. "If this doesn't linger with me 20 years from now," Moeller said, "if that isn't still in my mind, then to me, I'm not a football coach because I didn't learn a lesson when a hard lesson was taught to me." The lesson, of course, came in the form of a 27-23 loss to the Irish that dropped the Wolverines from national-title contention. Yesterday, Moeller admitted his team "did some goofy things" in the defeat. "You never want to forget a loss because I think they still teach you the most in football," he said. "Sometimes it can linger on too long, but that one I never want to forget anyways." PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: For the first time since probably the discovery of electricity, both Big Ten Players of the Week are from Northwestern. Saturday, the Wildcats stunned then-No. 22 Boston College, 22-21. On the offensive side, Wildcat QB Len Williams earned the honor by completing 17 of 21 passes for 125 yards, including two scoring strikes to Lee Gissendaner. NU free safety William Bennett took the defensive laurels, registering a career-high 18 tackles and breaking up a pass against the Eagles. In its first two games, Michigan has had no one selected Player of the Week. OFF THE TUBE: For the first time in seven games, Michigan will not appear on television. The last time the Wolverines weren't televised was against Minnesota last season. The Houston game marks only the fourth time in 30 games that Michigan will not be on TV. Michigan wide receiver Mercury Hayes is one of four Wolverines from the Houston area. -s. . . Hitters gear for green M' volleyball faces MSU in State Pride match By JEREMY STRACHAN DAILY SPORTS WRITER One could say that pride is a state of mind. However, for the Michigan women's volleyball team, pride goes with the territory and the only state on its mind is Michigan State. Tonight the favored Wolverines take on the Spartans at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena for the fourth annual State Pride match. But there is a lot more to this game than a rivalry. The game marks the beginning of the Big Ten regular season for Michigan. The Spartans have lost all three Pride matches and finished at the bottom in the conference stand- ings last year. But Michigan says it is not underestimating the green and white at all. "They're definitely gonna go all out tomorrow," senioroutside hitterJoAnna Collias said. "We pretty much know what to expect. But every time we play them it's a good match." The Wolverines have just come off of arecent road trip and Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi feels he has found a core of starters for his rotation from last weekend's matches. One starter, senior Michelle Horrigan, did notplay during the recent trip due to a deep shoulder bruise but says she will be ready for State this evening. "I feel pretty good now," Horrigan said. "(Tuesday's) practice was my first full practice in a while and my shoulder feels really good. I don't know if I will start but I am definitely playing (Wednesday)." Although the Spartans have never won the State Pride championship, and are picked near the bottom of the con- ference again this year, theirpride should be on the rise. Not only do the Spartans have anew coach in Chuck Erbe, but they also have a new home arena and a desire to beat Michigan at all costs. Hat trck leads 'M' kckers over CMU By RACHEL BACHMAN DAILY SPORTS WRITER Flanked by landing helicopters at the nearby University Medical Center and noisy construction on Fuller Road, the Michigan women's soccer team outplayed the surrounding chaos yes- terday to defeatCentral Michigan, 5-1. Junior midfielder Karen Jones and senior forward Lisa Ashton stole the show at Mitchell Field, combining for all of the team's goals. Jones notched the first hat trick of her Michigan career. "It was exciting," Jones said. "It was even better because I've been in a scoring slump." Jones said she had "a few" hat tricks in high school - but this one, coming less than a year before the team turns varsity, was especially sweet. "All of Jones' goals were beauti- ful," seniorforwardAliciaStewartsaid. CMU struck early, scoring the first goal just a few minutes into the game. Less than 60 seconds later, Jones evened the score with her first goal. Ashton added another before the first half's end to put the Wolverines up 2-1. Michigan opened the shooting floodgates during the second half, while its defense did not allow a single shot on goal. In the entire game, the CMU scoring threats were few and far between. The team crossed midfield barely a dozen times, often only to be DUGULAS KANTER/ylly Forward Lisa Ashton dictates play upfield. The senior scored twice against CMU. quickly cleared out by a Michigan de- fender. Despite the domination of Jones and Ashton on offense, both scoring stars chalked up the victory to teamwork. "I scored two, but the one was a penalty kick and the other was a great pass," Ashton said. "The defender just trapped it and I was there. I was at the right place at the right time." "Goodpassing and goodball move- ment led to open goals," Jones said. A foul against junior midfielder Lynda Hart set up Ashton's penalty kick. The Wolverines would have added another goal midway through the first half but it was called back. Freshman Nicola Armster headed in junior sweeper Michelle McQuaid's comer kick but Michigan was assessed a penalty for obstruction, nullifying the goal. Michigan had 14 corner kicks but failed to score on any of them. "We started off slow, but ended up finishing well," Stewart said. With yesterday's win, Michigan brings its record to7--1. Its only loss was to Lindenwood. i Men's soccer looks to " break Albion's defense By SCOTT BURTON DAILY SPORTS WRITER If you asked the Michigan men's soccerplayers to compare the1992 sea- son to 1993, they'd tell you there is no comparison. The Wolverines (2-1-2) have a new coach (Steve Bums), an ambitious goal (toqualify for the National ClubCham- pionships) and a two-game winning streak. 'Our defense has been really strong In every matchup so far this year.' - Chris Brunner Michigan soccer player harder, working with a lot more direc- tion in setting our sights on the National Tournament in late November." A key component in tonight's matchup will be Albion's defense against Michigan's transition game. Albion has proven to be very stubborn defensively this year and behind fresh- man goalie Ryan Kadro, it shut out its last opponent, Aquinas, 2-0. "Our transition has really been im- proving, so the transition from defense to offense has been a key for us," Brunner said. "We're a good, enough squad that we can get the opportunities to score. The key for us is capitalizing on the opportunities." Even capitalizing once or twice against Albion may be enough for the ....." OP.S FF + I r lEFj WOLVERINE FITNESS CENTRE a.esCet' POWERHOUSE GYM GYM. *Come to the Wolverine F i t n e s s Centre today for . 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