Women's Tennis
at ITA Midwest Regional
Thursday, all day
East Lansing

SPORTS

Field Hockey
vs. Ball State
Today, 3 p.m.
Muncie, Ind.

Wheatley to miss Wisconsin
Junior tailback nursing groin, shoulder injuries

gyANDY DE KORTE
QA LY FOOTBALL WRITER
Whether the venue is the football
l eld or the classroom, performance is
contingent upon motivation.
Coming into the season, the Michi-
gan football team had plenty of moti-
vations -pursuing a national champi-
onship, extending Michigan State's
*inferiority complex and winning a sixth
consecutive Big Ten title.
Losses to Notre Dame, Michi-
San State and Illinois have shattered
Wolverine expectations. One by one,
the motivations have fallen by the
wayside. Because the road to the
Rose Bowl could evaporate as fast
as a desert mirage, coach Gary
Moeller knows the team needs an-
other reason to play.
"I think they are going to play the
game for the sake of playing the game
to show how good they can play,"
Moeller said. "We're a team and we'll
see if we're going to stay together as a
team."
If obstacles can keep a team to-
gether, Moeller will not need any glue.
The injury list keeps growing for
the Wolverines. After losing a number
*of defensive stalwarts, Moeller appears


to have lost his best offensive player-
Tyrone Wheatley - for Saturday's
game against Wisconsin.
After starting the Illinois game with
a pulled groin muscle, Wheatley fin-
ished his afternoon when he suffered
an injury to his right shoulder, while
tackling Gary Voelker on a punt-cov-
erage assignment.
Moeller stood by his decision to
place the star on the punt-coverage
team despite the injury.
"He's been out there before,"
Moeller said. "It's just one of those
things that happens. Comparing the
chance ofinjury when playing fullback
on the punt coverage to the things he
does, there's no comparison. Return-
ing kicks is much more dangerous."
While it may seem strange to use
such a talented player in that role, it is
not that uncommon. Northwestern
coachGary Barnett sometimes uses his
quarterback Len Williams in the safety
position on punt coverage.
With Wheatley out, Ricky Powers
and Ed Davis will split time at the
tailbackposition. ForPowers, theprob-
able start will give him a chance to
atone for his fumble late in the fourth
quarter against Illinois.

Defensive coordinator Lloyd Carr
also has his share of personnel prob-
lems. Lineman Ninef Aghakhan is
doubtful for Saturday. But the biggest
concern continues to be at linebacker.
Inside linebacker Bobby Powers,
who suffered internal injuries against
Penn State, will not play against the
Badgers. Marcus Walker, whom Pow-
ers replaced when he got hurt, is ready
to start practicing again but is still not
expected to play Saturday.
Steve Morrison may return to ac-
tion against Wisconsin to add some
stability to the middle of the Wolverine
defense.
"He should be able to participate
more than he did last week," Moeller
said. "He's not going to come and
knock the world over, but we need him
because of all theexperience he has. He
can make a number of adjustments that
a younger guy couldn't."
Although the youth of his team may
be a root of many of Moeller's prob-
lems, itmayalsobeimportantforkeep-
ing desire high.
"We're not an old team that's going
to throw in the towel," Moeller said.
"We are a young team that likes to go
out and prove we can still win."

SHARON MUSHER/Daily
Tyrone Wheatley will likely miss Saturday's game at Wisconsin. He injured his shoulder against Illinois.


Men's volleyball ties for third at Big Ten tourney

By MELINDA ROCO
FOR THE DAILY
The Michigan men's volleyball
team faredwellin Saturday's preseason
Big Ten Invitational at Ohio State. If
the tournament is any indication of the
future season's level of competition,
thebattle forking ofthe Big Ten will be
a fierce one.
Instead of the usual round-robin
format of tournament play, pool fin-
ishes were determined in a best of three
games format. The Wolverines fin-
ished second in pool play, defeating

Illinois and Purdue, and losing to Ohio
State-a varsity squad. Overall, Michi-
gan tied for third with Michigan State,
after losing to the Buckeyes in the
semifinals.
Coach Pam Griffin was satisfied
with Saturday's performance.
"With the exception of Ohio State's
varsity team, we were able to hold our
opponents to single digits," Griffin said.
"We played very well against teams of
our own caliber. Ohio State just plays
at a higher level of volleyball. They
have a solid defense and can pass any-

thing."
Junior setter Stan Lee was also
happy with Michigan's finish, though
he said there are many aspects of the
team's game that could be polished.
"We played better with every game,
but I didn't connect very well with the
(outside hitters)," Lee said. "The out-
side game just wasn't as strong as it
could have been, but the middle of-
fense is definitely a weak spot that
needs to be focused on. Though we
have the experience, we need to bring
our middle attack to a level where we

Stickers hope to roll over Ball State

Michelle Horrigan (right) and Suzy }'Donnell go

ANASTASIA BANICKI/Daily
up for a block against OSU.

By RYAN WHITE
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
The Michigan field hockey team is
about to slow down.
It's not that it is going to be playing
fewer games or that it is going to be
walking instead of running - but be-
cause it is going to be playing on grass.
The Wolverines (2-5 Big Ten, 10-5
overall) will play their first game of the
year on grass today at 4 p.m., when
they face the 11th-ranked Ball State
Cardinals in Muncie, Ind.
"The ball will move slower (on
grass). It slows down the game,"
midfielder Bree Derr said.
"It's alittle bitof adisadvantage for us
playing ongrass since wehaven't doneit
this year," defender Lelli Hose said.
Against the Cardinals (7-0 Mid-
American Conference [MAC], 10-6

Horrigan recovers to
reach 1,000 kill mark

overall) Michigan will look to continue
its recent domination over non-confer-
ence opponents. Going into the game,
the Wolverines have won 14 straight
contests against non-conference foes.
Ball State, however, will not make
it easy. The Cardinals are coached by
Karen Fitzpatrick, who is the
winningest coach in MAC history.
On offense, Ball State is led by last
year'sMAC playerofthe year, Ashleigh
Schultz, who has nine goals and two
assists for a total of 20 points. Junior
Cathy Basso, who was second team
All-Midwestern Region last year, is
second on the team with seven goals
and 18 points.
The Wolverines are led by Kalli
Hose, who with five goals and five
assists for 15 points, has been one of the
big reasons for the team's recent offen-

sive explosion.
"We're scoring more because of
some of the changes we've made ...
with Kalli now playing center-for-
ward," Lelli Hose said.
Michigan has more at stake againstthe
Cardinals thanj ustthe 14-gamewin streak.
"We want to get into (NCAA)
regionals, and to do that we have to
start beating the higher-ranked teams,"
Hose said.
Up to this point in the season the
Wolverines have played the top teams
close, including a 4-3 loss to No. 2
Northwestern last Saturday, but they
have not quite been able to put every-
thing together.
"We have all the tools. It's just a
matter of it all clicking. There's no one
thing, it's nothing tangible, " sopho-
more Gia Biagi said.

can really spank the ball and put it
down. We're able to hit around the
blocks, but the defense is still able to
pick up the digs."
Freshman middle hitter Brad
Yeager agreed.
"We haven't worked together
enough for the middle attack to click,"
Yeager said. "We should get better
with time, in our hitting and in our
blocking game."
Senior outside hitter Bill Seely,
whose performance was hampered by a
sore shoulder, said he viewed the week-
end as a good learning experience.
"We still have work to do in terms
of perfecting the timing between the
hitters and the setters," Seely said. "We
were able to see what plays work and
what weaknesses we can address dur-
ing the rest of preseason."
Freshman outside hitter Ernesto
Rodriguez emerged as a killing sensa-
tion. Rodriguez brings an exception-
ally high level of experience to Michi-
gan. The Puerto Rican native's experi-
ence includes four years of high school
varsity at Sani Ignacio High School in
Puerto Rico, three years on the elite
Borinquen Gardens Volleyball Club
and three years on Puerto Rico's Junior
Olympic squad.
"Ernesto boldly announced him-
self to the Big Ten," Seely said. "When-
ever we needed the sideout, everyone
in the gym knew where the ball was
going. Even if the defense had the
chance to setup, Ernesto would put the
ball away."

By BRETT JOHNSON
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
40 One month ago, Michelle Horrigan
should have been only the third player
in Michigan history to crack the 1,000
kills mark.
However, at 995, she suffered a
severe ankle injury against Michigan
State, one that would keep her out of
eight straight games.
Thatfateful Wednesdaynightmatch
with the Spartans continued an injury-
*plagued season for the Wolverines that
finally started to turn around this week-
end.
Horrigan returned in fine fashion
Friday night against Ohio State, re-
cording 17 kills over the two-night
span.
Despite some rust after the month
layoff, she said she was pleased with
her performance.
"There were some breakdowns that
I had," Homgan said. "I think that with
a little practice I can get back into the
groove. But I think that I was pretty
intense out there.
"It felt so awesome to be back. That
was so much fun out there tonight."
Not only was it a great feeling for
Horrigan to be back, it was also a great
feeling for Michigan coach Greg
Giovanazzi to have one of his strongest
*outside hitters back.
"Having Michelle back is going
to help us a lot," Giovanazzi said.
"Last year she was 30 to 35 percent
of our offense. She'll stay on the left

side, and we'll see once Aimee
(Smith) and JoAnna (Collias) come
back what happens. This will help
us get our momentum back to start
the second half of the Big Ten sea-
son. Now that everyone is getting
healthy, we're just starting to get
everyone to play together."
The injury was hard for Horrigan to
take because she wanted to contribute
so badly.
"Ihatedeveryminutethat Imissed,"
Horrigan said. "I hated sitting on the
sidelines and knowing I could make a
difference. It drove me nuts. I was
excited because it was my senior year,
but I'm even more excited to come
back."
The kills mark snuck upon Horrigan
despite her long absence. She didn't
realize until after the Ohio State game
that she had reached the 1,000 kill
plateau.
"I was so excited," Horrigan said.
"I didn't realize that I was that close. I
knew I was nearing the mark, but I
didn't know it was going to be that
game. When I found out, I was speech-
less."
Horrigan can now set her sights on
the Karen Marshall's Michigan career
kills record of 1,060.
"That was a big thing for me this
year," Horrigan said. "I wanted to be at
the top and break the record. After the
injury, I was a little upset and thought
that I might not do it. But now I'm
excited about it again."

Novice crew pleased with
opener in East Lansing


By TOM SEELEY
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
The Michigan men's and women's
novice crew teams got their rowing
careers off the ground as they faced
GrandValley State andMichigan State
in East Lansing Sunday.
The two squads were each ham-
pered by equipment problems and this
affected their results, but both coaches
said results were not important.
"We weren't concerned about how
we did in the individual heats,"
women's coach Amy Gragg said. "This
race was about gaining experience."
Men's coach Charley Sullivan
agreed.
"We got our first race under our
belts, and that was what it was about,"
Sullivan said. "We spentalotof the day
fixing equipment here and there, but
we learned a lot as the day went on and
that's what's important right now."
Both Grand Valley and Michigan
State have had more work on the water
than the Wolverines, and this resulted
in both teams rowing higher (more
strokes per minute) than the Michigan

crews.
"We did about as well as we could
right now," Sullivan said. "Grand Val-
ley and Michigan State both rowed
faster than I expected."
"Overall it was apretty typical nov-
ice race," Gragg said. "Grand Valley
was impressive, but we were pretty
happy with how everything went.
"Crew is about repetition. And we
just need to work on our finesse in these
repetitive motions."
Sullivan said the men's team had
more depth and talent than the other
two schools, but with only a couple of
weeks on the water and the coaches
still trying to get lineups set, things are
very unpredictable.
"You neverknow what to expectfrom
novices," Sullivan said. "Every time I
think I know something about them, they
never fail to prove me wrong."
Michigan will have the opportunity
to show how much it has progressed in
two weeks, when it will host the same
two teams, as well as Notre Dame and
the University of Toledo, on Ford Lake
in Ypsilanti.

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