10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 2, 1993 Fired-up men's volleyball reaches semis at MSU By MELINDA ROCO FOR THE DAILY The Michigan men's volleyball team found the missing ingredient this weekend at Michigan State's tourna- ment Saturday. It wasn't necessarily a different strategy orany particularplayer, though. The Wolverines advanced to the semi- finals before falling to Texas because of a much simpler reason. "One reason we did so well was because we were having fun," sopho- more middle hitter Andy Spitser. " Usually, everyone's so mellow, but the enthusiasm really contributes to the game." In the 30-team tournamentthe fired- up Wolverines won their pool and five straight matches before losing in the semifinals to Texas, 15-9, 15-11. "It's easier to play well when ev- eryone is cheering," junior setter Stan Lee said. "Along with the squad, we only had five enthusiastic fans, but it was like having a 1,000. It kept us going to the very end." Though the Wolverines werehalted shy of the finals, they were not dis- mayed with their performance coming off of last week's third-place tie at last week's preseason Big Ten tournament at Ohio State. "We definitely played better than we've played all year," Spitser said. "We're becoming more comfortable in the middle. Starting the day with a good hitting and blocking game is such a rush and sets the attitude for the rest of the tournament." Spitser played akey role in getting Michigan off to its fast start in its first match of pool play against Western Illinois. His solo blocks won several duels at the net in the Wolverines' 15- 8, 15-9 victory. After weeks of trouble with Michigan's middle offense, freshman middle hitter Brad Yeager connected with Lee for a rally of kills on the quick-set plays. "Therehasbeenanamazingamount of improvement since last week's Big Tens," Michigan coach Pam Griffin said. "Brad began by stepping in the lineup because of an injury (to senior middle hitter Chad Steilstra). We weren't sure if he would be able to fill the spot. He has, and he's done an excellent job." Michigan went on to defeat Ohio State B, 15-10, 15-9, and Michigan Tech, 17-16, 15-10. The team's one loss in pool play was to Tri-State, but the Wolverines came back to trounce the Momentum in the second game, 14-16, 15-6. "Stan was really able to keep the offense under control," Griffin said. "Stan played very consistently, and that was important in getting back on track after a string of bad plays." Michigan met Macomb Commu- nity College in the quarterfinals. Junior ChadEngelandsophomoreGunUnluer provided nail passes on the serve re- ceive and killer swings on the outside to lead the team to a 15-13, 15-13 victory before losing to Texas in the semis. Wolverines hope to salvage dismal season By ANDY DE KORTE DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER If it were a horse, you could shoot it. Unfortunately for Wolverine fans, the Michigan football season isnotahorse, and there is no mercy rule like little league. After dropping to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, Michigan has fallen in the eyes of its fans. While some of the Wolverine backers may be jumping off the football team's bandwagon in the wake of its first two-game losing streak since 1990, Michigan coach Gary Moeller is not going anywhere. "We're playing for ourselves," Moeller said. "It's not in any selfish way, but we need to see who we are and what we're doing." Winning is the obvious thing Michigan is not doing. Since most of the Wolverines come from successful high school programs, they do not have much experience in losing. Moeller hopes they have learned a lesson. "Hopefully, (the players) hurt like everybody else, the coaches, the staff," he said. "We need to keep learning from what we're doing and doing better." If the squad is to do more, it will have to do it with less. Linebacker Steve Morrison, who returned from a foot injury to play Saturday, left Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium on crutches. His chances for Saturday are less than 50150. Fellow inside linebacker Bobby Powers reinjured his stomach while tackling a Badger. Linebacker Marcus Walker has started practicing but is still doubtful to play against Purdue this Saturday. Lineman Ninef Aghakhan will not return to his starting role. Defensive back Shonte Peoples injured his shoulder against the Badgers. Although he returned to the game, he may not play against the Boilermakers. However, Peoples' backup, Deollo Anderson, suffered a calf injury and will not be available Saturday. Running back Tyrone Wheatley is still abig question mark. Fellow backfield mate Jon Ritchie may be out as well. Wisconsin also banged up center Marc Milia. Rod Payne is a 90-percent favorite to start in his place. Payne has impressed the staff in his understudy role. "Rod will be a very good player," Moeller said. "It's important to him. He watches a lot of tape. He'd watch tapes with coaches for 12 hours." If going toa bowl game is still important to Moeller, he's not tipping his hand. The possibility of missing a bowl for the first time since 1974, when Michigan went 10-1, did not faze the coach. "Going toabowl game isaprivilege that every team must earn," Moeller said. "That is a sign of success and you're to reward success." Success or no, a 6-5 record would probably get Michigan into a bowl game. The Hall ofFame Bowl is allowed to select the Big Ten team of its choice besides the top three conference finishers. Because Michigan is such abig draw, it could still receive a Hall of Fame bid even with a6-5 record. EVAN PETRIE/DaIly A strong finish could yield Steve King and Michigan a Hall of Fame Bowl bid. FIELD HociYr NOTEBOOK: Stickers have chance to earn NCAA tournament berth By BRENT McINTOSH DAILY SPORTS WRITER Two more wins, and the Michigan field hockey team is a lock to qualify for the NCAA regional tournament in two weeks. The only obstacles facing the Wolverines are Penn State and Northwestern - which seem to be rather large hurdles, considering that the Lady Lions are the nation's top team, and the Wildcats are No.2. Michigan dropped out of the NCAA poll last week after losses to Northwestern and No. 11 Ball State, but itishighly probable that back-to-back wins this Friday and Saturday over the nation's top two teams will earn the Wolverines a playoff spot, espe- cially with the games being played in Evanston. So the Wolverines' backs are against the wall, but they seem as confident as can be expected. "We're going to give Northwestern and Penn State a run for their money," Kalli Hose said. "We have a lot of confidence going into the weekend." While the Wolverines have never beaten either the Lady Lions or the Wildcats, they have made this season's games close: Michigan dropped its first Penn State game, 1-0, and Northwestern squeaked by Michigan a week ago, 4-3. SENIORS LEAVE OOSERBAAN FOR GOOD: Sunday was the final game at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse for the six Wolverine seniors, but Jen DiMascio, Nicole Hoover, Kalli and Lelli Hose, Keely Libby, and Shay Perry had more important things to think about than the sentimentality of never playing a Michigan home field hockey game again. "I haven't really thought about it," outgoing co- captain Libby said. "We still want to have a lot of the season left. We want to have two or three weekends to play, not just one." The seniors finished their last home contest ap- propriately. They scored all three Wolverine goals andthree ofthe fourassists. Kalli Hosehad agoal and an assist, Perry and DiMascio scored goals, and Libby and LelliHosenotched assists. The lone senior whodidn'tgainasinglepointwas the one who wasn't expected to: goalkeeper Nicole Hoover stopped the Black Bears with her fifth shutout of the season. I HATE THis STATE: "I really don't want to remem- ber much of this trip," Maine coach Terry Kix complained after the game. Besides losing to both Michigan and Michi- gan State, Kix was hit by a car while jogging prior to last Sunday's game. She arrived at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse at 1 p.m., the scheduled game time, wearing a full-length leg brace and leaning on a crutch. A NEW sPECIES: Sunday marked the first encoun- tereverbetween the Wolverines and the Black Bears, and Maine seemed to have received quite a heavy dose of Big Ten field hockey. "They're a very tough team, but I think we gained some valuable experience," Kix said. WAS THAT A BODY CHECK?: The contest against the Black Bears was as physical as any game the Wolverines have played this season, but fortunately Kix's was the only major injury of the weekend. e 0 what's UY $*' .IS A ,/...z x r