Women's volleyball
vs. Ohio State
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Cliff Keen Arena
SPORTS
Men's soccer
vs. Ball State
Tomorrow, 10 a.m.
Mitchell Field
6 M'
comes home for IlHni challenge
1*
Illy
T H E
MATCHUPS
By ANDY DE KORTE
Last week, Michigan's Todd Collins put to
rest the conjecture that he could only beat
weaker football teams when he directed
the victory against a higher ranked Penn
State team. Johnny Johnson and Scott
Weaver have split time taking snaps for
Illinois. Tyrone Wheatley has outrushed
Illinois' top three rushers combined, 772-
640. Clinton Lynch leads his team with
262 yards gained on the ground.
Derrick Alexander, Mercury Hayes,
Amani Toomer, and Walter Smith lead
one of the most heralded receiving corps
in the nation. Ty Douthard, Jason Dullick,
and Jim Klein lead the Illini corps. No
sane person will be confusing the two
corps. Dullick and Douthard lead Illinois
receivers with 169 and 168 yards
respectively. Hayes, Toomer, Alexander,
and Smith, all have more than 170 yards.
The much-maligned Michigan offensive
line brought its play to new heights last
week. While it will be tested against
another strong defense, it remains intact.
Illinois started the season with a hole on
the left side. While the line has not
produced large rushing gains, it may be
related to the style of new offensive
coordinator Greg Landry, not the blocking
of the offensive line.
The defensive line may have provided the
Wolverines with the biggest plays of the
season last week, stopping the Nittany
Lions four times from within the one-yard
line. Tony Henderson collected three
tackles and Ninef Aghakhan recorded the
other. Buster Stanley has also been vital
to coach Gary Moeller's defensive efforts.
Mike Cole and Chad Copher lead an
experienced front line for Illinois.
Waiting for Illinois' shining moment? With
two first team All-Big Ten linebackers
returning, the middle of the Illini defense
shines brighter than the sun. Dana
Howard and Simeon Rice are the most
decorated linebackers among the group.
Michigan's injury problem in this position
is well documented. Jarret Irons has filled
in well. Mike Vanderbeek may get his first
start tomorrow.
The Illinois secondary has faced the
pressure of keeping the score down while
the offense has struggled. Led by Filmel
Johnson, the backfield has been
adequate. After the opening game, the
defense has not given up more than 20
points. Another Michigan unit which has
underperformed at times. Shonte
Peoples, Alfie Burch, and Ty Law lead the
secondary.
Where were you in 1966? If you were alive
you might recall Illinois beat the
Wolverines in Michigan Stadium, 2821.
Lou Tepper is the sixth coach since Illnois
has won in Ann Arbor. Despite the Illinois
defense, the offense will not be strong
enough for the Illini to end the drought
this time around. Coming off its best
performance of the year, Michigan will be
looking to prove it was not a fluke.
MICHELLE G UY/Dai~y
The Michigan defense came up big in the second half against Ki-Jana Carter and the Penn State offense last week.
Buster Stanley (60) and company hope to do the same, for the whole game, against Illinois tomorrow.
GRIDIRON
Continued from page 1.
seemed as if we had 150 fumbles and
21 interceptions," said Moeller, who
coached at Illinois between 1977-
1979. "They played a fine game and I
think they're probably a better foot-
ball team today."
While Michigan's 10 fumbles was
the second-highest single game total
in school history (ironically the high-
est was 12, also against the Illini in
1946) the Wolverines did manage to
gain 523 yards against a stingy Illi-
nois defense. Nevertheless, six turn-
overs was too much to overcome.
On the other hand, the 22-22 tie
was more of a victory in Tepper's
mind. The Illini wenton to beat Michi-
gan State the following week, secur-
ing a bowl bid in his first season at
Illinois.
"A year ago, our biggest problem
was that we didn't really feel we could
compete against Michigan," Tepper
said. "Last year's encounter showed
us that we can compete on even terms
with any team in the Big Ten."
While Illinois has struggled some-
what this season, the defense has
proven that it cannot only compete in
the Big Ten, but it can go up against
any team in the country. Led by junior
linebacker Dana Howard, the Illini
are fourth in the country in rushing
defense and sixth in total defense.
Even in defeat, the 'D' has shined.
Against Arizona, the Illini did not
allow a single offensive point, only to
lose the game, 16-14. And in their 20-
12 loss to Ohio State two weeks ago,
the Buckeyes scored one touchdown
on a blocked punt.
Howard alone has continued to be
a one-man wrecking crew. After just
two years, he was 10th on the all-time
Illinois list in tackles with 297. With
65 tackles already this season, Howard
has a chance to win the B utkus Award
for outstanding college linebacker, a
trophy named after the Illinois alum-
nus.
"Illinois is going to be one of the
best defensive teams that we're going
to play, maybe the entire year,"
Moeller said, "and we can't afford to
turn the ball over like we did a year
ago. Dana Howard is a very active,
physical player and has caused us
problems in the past."
While Illinois' defense will re-
mind Michigan of the past, an image
that has fallen by the wayside is that
of the Illinois drop-back passer.Gone
are Jeff George and Jason Verduzco.
Enter sophomore Johnny Johnson.
After sitting on the bench as the No.
4 quarterback last season, Johnson has
assumed the starting job, bringing some
diversity to offensive coordinator Greg
Landry's system. Johnson's ability tc
run out of the pocket is something whicI
concerns Moeller.
"They have a scrambling quarter-
back that can throw in Johnson and guys
like that can drive a defense crazy," said
Moeller, undoubtedly with the image ol
Notre Dame's Kevin McDougal run-
ning through his head.
Tepper agreed with his opponent's
assessment.
"Johnny has a strong arm and the
ability to scramble and make plays,"
Tepper said. "The unusual thing about
him is that he flees the pocket to throw
and he flees the pocket to run."
However, if statistics mean anything,
Michigan should not let down those in
attendance this weekend. Since 1967,
the Wolverines are 24-1 in homecoming
games, with the lone loss coming against
Iowa, 24-23, in 1990.
In addition, the last time Illinois de-
feated Michigan in Ann Arbor was 1966.
"Homecoming's always kind of spe-
cial," Moeller said. "It makes for a nice
weekend for the alumni if we have a
victory. It's important to us."
Volleyball
prepares
for siege
By CHARLIE BREITROSE
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Just hold the fort.
That is all the women's volleyball
team will try to do this weekend as
No. 8 Penn State and No. 11 Ohio
State make they're annual visits to
Cliff Keen Arena. Michigan will face
the Buckeyes tonight and the Nittany
Lions tomorrow. Both matches start
at 7 p.m.
The Wolverines offensive attack
has survived much misfortune this
year. First outside hitter Aimee Smith
injured her shoulder in the first weeks
of the season, then outside hitter
Michelle Horrigan sprained her ankle
in the first conference game. Last
week a third outside hitter, JoAnna
Collias, went down on the team's trip
to Indiana. Through all this
Michigan's offense has been able to
muster a 3-5 conference record (7-10
overall).
The Wolverines are simply trying
to get healthy and survive to fight
another day. Coach Greg Giovanazzi
said he hopes his team can have a
rebirth in the second half of the sea-
son and perhaps salvage once bright
NCAA tournament hopes. But one
last weekend remains in the first half
of the conference schedule, and it is
against the best opponents the Big
Ten can offer.
"I don't know if the focus of the
weekend is so much on winning,"
Giovanazzi said, "as it is on getting
ready for the second half of the Big
Ten and focusing on beating the teams0
that we have to in the Big Ten."
The Wolverines remain surpris-
ingly confident and optimistic, fol-
lowing the slew of injuries and three
lopsided defeats.
"Everybody is pretty fired up for
this weekend," senior co-captain
Fiona Davidson said.
"We're just looking at it as 'If we
go outhard any team can be beaten on
a good night.' It would be a big win
for us, beating either one of these
teams, but we're more than capable of
doing it. It would be a great boost."
Some of this optimism comes from
the news that Horrigan and Collias
should be in the line up this weekend.
"Having (Horrigan) back will help
for sure," sophomore middle blocker
Shannon Brownlee said. "Having her
in the lineup will help start getting
things back in the normal again."
Both visiting squads have a bevy
of talented players, as well as wins.
Penn State (8-0 Big Ten, 17-2
overall) rolls into Ann Arbor on the
wave of a 14-game winning streak,
the last two being three game sweeps
of conference front-runners Ohio State
and Illinois. The Nittany Lions two
losses have come to teams rated in the
top 20, including No. 1 UCLA.
The Nittany Lions are led by a trio
of juniors: Laura Cook, Salima
Davidson and Saundi Lamoureux.
"Penn State is an extremely com-
petitive group," Giovanazzi said.
"They have a great setter in Salima
Davidson.
"I saw that Jennifer Reimers was
named Big Ten Player of the Week.
That's not surprising, she's a very
good athlete. They have Lamoureux
and Cook and ... I think is everyone
back but (Leanne) Kling from last
See VOLLEYBALL, Page 12
'M' men's soccer seeks tourney title
,ee :......:......... ::?:: . .Ai:Y. i ....
By SCOTT BURTON
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
It's not often that a soccer team
that's lost its last two games by a
combined score of 7-0 speaks of how
well things are going.
But after taking a good share of
licks and lumps at the hands of Divi-
sion II powerhouses Wisconsin-
Parkside and Oakland the last two
weeks, the Michigan men's soccer
team (6-5-1 overall) heads into this
weekend's Big Ten Club Tournament
at Mitchell Field feeling that it has
every advantage in the world.
"After the game with Oakland,
Brian Rosewarne, our captain, said to
the team that 'if we continue to play
this kind of soccer, we're going to
walk all over the club teams in our
region,"' Burns said. "And I think
the whole team feels like he does."
Much of the positive energy de-
rives from the fact that, despite the
recent losses, the Wolverines recap-
tured and refined the aggressiveness
in their game that had been lacking
earlier. Given that several of this
weekend's games will be close, the
difference between a win and a loss
could be decided by which team is
more assertive in controlling play in
the 18-yard scoring zone.
Additionally, the Wolverines were
able to identify several key problem
areas in their games against Parkside
and Oakland, and have worked on
correcting them for this weekend.
"We've had one week to do some
final tuning up," Michigan coach
Steve Burns said. "We need to start
learning to do the things off-ball that
aren't involved in the play, to raise
our game another level."
Another factor that has the Wol-
verines feeling like favorites is that
they will be able to utilize a full roster
of 24 players and three goalies,
whereas the visiting teams, due to
budget constraints, probably will have
no more than 18 athletes at their dis-
posal.
"I can go 20 players deep and
come up with the same quality of
players," Burns said. "This weekend
I will probably play everybody in-
volved in the club."
Michigan opens tournament play
against Ball State Saturday at 10 a.m.
The Wolverines, tied for first in the
Big Ten region, fully expect to domi-
nate the fifth-place Cardinals.
Michigan's big test is against Illi-
nois Sunday at noon. The Fighting
Illini tied the Wolverines earlier this
year, 3-3, at Champaign.
"We tied them before but now
they have to come to Ann Arbor,"
Burns said. "It was a very physical
and emotional game, and without a
doubt it's going to be more of the
same. But this time we'll have the
familiarity of the territory working
for us. I expect to beat them."
Immediately following the Illinois
contest, Michigan takes on Indiana
for the first time this year.
"It should be a decent game against
Indiana," Bums said. "I have to make
sure there's no letdown after the Illi-
nois game, that we can continue to
keep our level of play up."
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