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." 72 MBA Schools 1Day 1 Location The MBA Forums bring together admission and financial aid officers from 72 different schools at one location to answer questions about MBA education. Come explore the career advantages offered by the MBA degree, discuss business school entrance requirements and courses of study, identify financial aid prospects, and learn more about the Ir-A * Mfta .. *A. A nn T'.t . I fl' 't' I Ser~cq rla dc f ,4dz Stue ?1977 _________ I Order your college ring NOW I , " I