8- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 14, 1993
'M' tennis
set to prep
at Volvo
By DARREN EVERSON
FOR THE DAILY
With the pre-conference schedule
coming toa close, the Michigan men's
tennis team is fine-tuning its play in
preparation for the Big Ten season.
This week finds two of the Wolverines
playing against some of the nation's
top players at the Volvo All-American
Tournament in Austin, Texas.
In order to advance to the main
draw, unseeded players had to win four
matches in last weekend's pre-qualify-
ing tournament. Those regarded more-
highly by the seeding committee
skipped that stage and start play in the
main draw, which runs today through
Sunday.
Michigan's current No.1 player,
Dan Brakus, is scheduled to play this
week at the Volvo. Brakus was invited
to start play in the main draw of the
tournament. Three other Wolverines,
however, played in the qualifying
rounds last weekend.
Grady Burnett will continue to play
this week, having won all four of his
qualifying matches over the weekend.
Burnett'speformance last weekend is
likely to earn him a national ranking.
Peter Pusztai and Brad Kramer
weren't as fortunate, however. Pusztai
lost in his fourth match, while Kramer
exited in the first round.
Remaining on the Wolverines' fall
schedule is the All-American Champi-
onship Qualifying at Pacific Palisades,
Calif., Oct. 19 and 20. They will also
play in the Rolex District Tournament
at Notre Dame, Nov. 5-8.
Any number of Wolverines could
play in these tournaments, but it's likely
that only a few will actually partici-
pate. Tournaments such as these in the
fall are individual efforts and do not
affect a team's standing in its confer-
ence.
The recently released Associated
PressCoaches' PollhasMichigan rated
justoutside of the Top 25. Such ajump
inpublicperceptionisnotloston sopho-
more player Geoff Prentice.
"It's a pretty big achievement to
receive votes (in the poll) despite
finishing eighth (in the Big Ten)
last year," said Prentice, who played
No.6 last year but is currently out of
action due to injury. "They based it
solely on our talent and what they
expect us to do this year, now that
we're more experienced as a team."
Softball team hosts
intrastate nemeses
By MARK WEINSTEIN
FOR THE DAILY
"I expect improvement," said
women's softball coach Carol
Hutchins. "I expect this team to
work hard and then see where it gets ,
us."
For a Wolverine squad returning
three All-Big Ten players, improving
on a season highlighted by an impres-
sive 46-13 record that culminated with
an equally impressive second consecu-
tive Big Ten title seems a monumental
task.
As part of their five-week fall sea-
son, the Wolverines will take part in
two tournaments. The first of these
four-team round-robin exhibition tour-
naments will be held this weekend at
Alumni Field.
The Wolverines will battle local
rivals Eastern Michigan, Detroit Mercy
and Wayne State University in this
two-day exhibition. Like most varsity
programs, the team practices year
round, with its true season coming in
the spring.
This exhibition season, with win-
loss results not affecting actual Big Ten
standings, affords the teams involved
the opportunity to play out the string of
their rosters.
"I'm going to try to play every-
body," Hutchins said. "I'm going to try
to get everybody some game experi-
ence."
This game experience will be
most beneficial for this year's fresh-
man class, boasting highly-touted
hurler Kelly Holmes. Hutchins is
expecting big things from Holmes,
although she is wary of any "expec-
tation boom." Holmes is projected
to step her way into the starting
rotation, and to make an immediate
impact.
Although this team possesses only
one senior - All-Big Ten shortstop
Mary Campana--the Wolverines will
be returning their entire infield from a
year ago.
This includes third baseman
Tracy Carr, last year's Big Ten fresh-
man of the year. Also returning are
All-Big Ten selections first baseman
Michelle Silver and pitcher Kelly
Kovach.
"Being the only senior, the under-
classmen automatically look up to me
as a leader," Campana said. "When
there are new people, it's always diffi-O
cult. But the juniors are also leaders.
We lost some key people, but we have
players who can step up and fill those
roles."
Michigan's Patti Benedict takes a cut during last May's NCAA Softball Regionals.
Iater p0 0seeks revenge on Ohio State
By ANA FERNANDEZ
FOR THE DAILY
The Michigan men's water polo
team has proven to be at the top of its
class. Last weekend, the team went to
Columbus, in what turned out to be a
very successful tournament. Even
though the Wolverines lost their first
game to Ohio State 13-12, the disap-
pointmentvanishedafterbeatingMichi-
gan State, 17-11, and Indiana, 17-9.
The Spartan contest was important
for the Wolverines because the victory
qualified them for the Collegiate Club
National Championship. The champi-
onships will take place in Buffalo,N.Y.,
Nov. 5-7.
Co-captains Drew Hansz and Ben
Ewy were named most valuable play-
ers of the meet, scoring six goals each.
Ewy believes their loss against the
Buckeyes was a learning experience.
"Ohio State really surprised us,"
Ewy said. "We got really cocky about
our playing and they proved to us that
we are not invincible.
"It was good because we are still in
mid-season and now we are motivated
to practice more and to try harder."
Currently, the team boasts a 9-4-1
overall record, and is first in the Big
Tens stadings at 8-1-i.
This weekend, Michigan hosts con-
ference foes Northwestern, Michigan
State, Ohio State and Wisconsin, as
well asNotre Dame and EasternMichi-
gan. Wolverine Michael Roeder said
he is looking forward to this weekend
to see if the team can turn the tables on
Ohio State.
Michigan coach Scott Russell went
further than Roeder in guaranteeing a
Wolverine triumph.
"Michigan will be the one to beat
Ohio State," he said.
Russell said he felt very confident
because he feels his team's speed will
be an advantage, since they are playing
in a larger pool.
Michigan plays Michigan State Fri-
day at 8 p.m. Saturday the Wolverines
battleNotreDame, Ohio State andNorth-
western at 1p.m., 5 pim. and 9 p.m.
respectively. Sunday the match against
Eastern Michigan will be at noon.
0t
./inimersto go double the
>u.,.t, distanIce at Michigan State.*
By BRETT JOHNSON
4\ DAILY SPORTS WRITER
. .March may seem a long way off,
but if the Michigan women's swim-
ming and diving team will be able to
so win its eighth consecutive Big Ten
crown and perform well at the
NCAA championships, the road to
those goals starts this weekend in
East Lansing.
The Wolverines will hit the water,
Saturday AgainstMichigan State intheir
first meet of the year. Although it is a
meetagainst State, there is not the same
intense level ofhatred that comes out in
many of the other sports battles be-
tween the state rivals.
"Richard Bader (MSU coach) is a
:.....:$..good friend of mineand I want to see
him be successful," Michigan coach
Jim Richardson said. "He's trying to
4 0. 4 t ,rebuild the program, and I think he'll
.4."} mefr.taoldaeedoeit.
It"This meet is more of a training
meet for us. It's adouble distance meet.
It allows us to see what type of condi-
tion our swimmers arein for their main
FILE PHOTO events."
backstroke in a 1992 tournament. A double distance meet is where
the individuals swim twice the usual
yardage in competition. If a swim-
mer usually competes in the 400
1 individual medley, then she will
compete in an 800 IM this weekend.
This type of meet is helpful in
the overall training regimen and has
been a way to bring back the impor-
tance of the Michigan-Michigan
State meet.
"When the competition started to
slide, we looked for a way to make the
meet more meaningful for both of us,"
Richardson said. "They get a lot out of
a meet like this just as we do."
Michigan is coming off of a fifth
place finish at last year's NCAAs in
Minneapolis. Although the team did
lose some key scorers such as Mindy
Gehrs, Karen Silvester and Missy
McCracken, Richardson expects the
team to be able to compete as well as,
if not better, than last year.
"I think we're going to be a better
team this year," Richardson said.
"We'regoing to have some weaknesses,
but overall, we're going to be strong
and have a lot of depth.
"Our strengths are going to be in the
backstroke, breaststroke, and the indi-
- ida dle g Thiis definitely the
best team we've ever had in those
spots."
The team returns such top-notch
swimmers as NCAA Swimmer of
the Year Lara Hooiveld, Big Ten
Swimmer of the Year Alecia
Humphrey, Kathy Deibler and Beth
Jackson. Richardson also has a re-
cruiting class of 12 swimmers to
help offset the losses the team sus-
tained.
Most, if not all, should be able to
make a key contribution to the team.
Another of the team's strength is@
diving, which is led by coach Dick
Kimball. Key returnees include:
Cinnamon Woods - who placed
second on the tower at last year's
NCAAs, Carrie Zarse and Martha
Wenzel.
"I wouldn't trade ourdivers for any
in the world," Richardson said. "We
are a diving powerhouse. They are
definitely going to have to do some*
damage in order forus tomake up some
of the points we lost."
Wolverine Alecia Humphrey swims theI
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YElsI
Year EndClose-Out-
IP
2.
3..
4,
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Michigan at Penn St.
Michigan St. at Ohio St.
Minnesota at Northwestern
Iowa at Illinois
Wisconsinat Purdue.
Virginia at Florida St.
Tennessee at Alabama
Notre Dame at BYU
Florida at Auburn
Kansas St. at Nebraska
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Colorado at Oklahoma
Washington at UCLA
California at Washington St.
N. Carolina at Georgia Tech
S. Mississippi at Louisville
Stanford at Arizona
Syracuse at Pittsburgh
Air Force at Fresno St.
Rutgers at Army
UMass at Connecticut
0
Tiebreaker -
Michiganat Penn St., Total Points:
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Phone Number:
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