Hockey vs. Western Michigan Today, 7 p.m. Kalamazoo S Volleyball vs. Purdue Today, 7 p.m. Cliff Keen Arena 'M'to face rough play at Western, UIC By PAUL BARGER DAILY HOCKEY WRITER Whether it is early in November or late in March, the Michigan hockey team has come to accept one constant from all of its opponents: they like to hit Wolverines. Never is this more apparent than when Michigan (3-0-1 CCHA, 5-0-1 overall) annually in- -vades the rinks of this weekend's com- petitors - Western Michigan (1-3, 3- 3-1) and Illinois-Chicago (0-2, 1-5). Tonight Michigan heads to Kalamazoo to face a Bronco team that always seems to be ready to wage war with the Wolverines. Last season, Western was the only CCHA team other than regular sea- son champion Miami to even tie a season series with Michigan. In fact, the Broncos handed Michigan its most surprising defeat of the season - an 8-4 shocker at Yost. The Broncos' outstanding check- ing is one reason they can play with Michigan. In a wide-open contest it would be difficult for any team to stop the Wolverines, but if tonight's game becomes a hard-hitting, slower affair, it could very well go down to the wire. "Western's gonna come out and hit us," senior David Oliver said. "You're not going to win unless you check. That sums up the CCHA. Coach (Red Berenson) stresses that in the biggest way. If we can check, our offensive firepower will take care of itself." There won't be any time to re- cover from tonight's bumps and bruises, as the Wolverines must travel to Chicago tomorrow to take on the Flames in a clash that promises to be intense from the drop of the puck. In contrast to Michigan, theFlames have struggled to a 1-5 record, so the result of this contest should not be in doubt. However, there is something about the Maize and Blue that Illi- nois-Chicago just doesn't like, and the Flames will not simply roll over and play dead. Last season's confrontations be- tween Michigan and UIC featured fights, record numbers of penalties and unruly fan behavior. In the Wol- verines' 8-1 victory Jan. 29, the Yost crowd peppered the ice with paper goalie masks containing the word "C- YA" after the referees whistled 107 penalty minutes. "We need a checking game, where they have to work for everything they get," UIC head coach Larry Pedrie said. "We have to avoid their outnum- bered rushes." And if that doesn't work, Pedrie has another solution. "When a team like Michigan comes to town, you go to church and you pray." Both the Broncos and Flames caught a break when Michigan's All- American goalie, Steve Shields, went down with a strained left knee last Saturday. In his place, senior Chris Gordon will get his first start of the season. Gordon is 12-7-2 during his collegiate career and has amassed over 700 saves. "Western is very skilled up'front and in the net," Berenson said. "They always play Michigan well. Larry Pedrie will have his team (JIC) ready to play us as well." The physical play may not be enough to slow down Michigan. There is no question that Ann Arbor is the home of one of the best lines in the CCHA and possibly in the country with Oliver, Jason Botterill and Brian Wiseman leading the league in scor- ing with a combined 30 points. The Wolverines have scorched the net in their first six games of the season, scoring an average of 6.17 goals, while giving up 2.83. 0l DOUGLAS KANTER/Dally Wolverine linemates David Oliver (above), Brian Wiseman and Jason Botterill are tied for the lead in CCHA scoring. Spikers look to end nine-game slide Streaking Purdue, Indiana enter Keen for weekend matchups S By CHARLIE BREITROSE DAILY SPORTS WRITER Four weeks ago at this time the Michigan women's volleyball team looked to be on an upswing. After sweeping a weekend series the week- end before, and finally starting to recover from a string of injuries, the Wolverines (3-11 Big Ten, 7-16 over- 0l1) were in the thick of a hunt for an NCAA tournament berth. However, everything went wrong dtring a trip south to Indiana. Senior JoAnna Collias sprained her ankle during the very first game of the week- end - continuing Michigan's plague of:injuries - and the Wolverines fell 3-0 and 3-1 to Indiana and Purdue, respectively. The two loses not only stopped the conference winning streak, but sent Michigan into a nosedive from which they have yet to recover. Today and tomorrow the Boiler- mAkers (7-7, 14-9) and Hoosiers (5-9, 9-14) are once again the competition fot Michigan. Both matches will be at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena. Now Purdue is the team looking toward postseason play. The Wolverines will try to sal- vae some respect in the last few weeks of the season, which began with high expectations. "It's been a rough season," Collias said. "We've had a lot to deal with. We just need to stick together. "We have three more weekends, and we're just going to focus on each game individually. Hopefully we can end on a high note." To do this, Michigan must have a "winning" mindset. "Well, I think it's very difficult psychologically, once they're on a streak like this, to snap themselves out of it," Michigan head coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "I think there really is a lack of confidence. I think that's part of what losing breeds - a ques- tioning. "But I think that going into this weekend, the team's going to be fired up and they're going to be curious, 'Hey, are we going to be able to put a few wins together?' I think that it's important for them to prove to them- selves that they're a good enough team to do that." Michigan has been in most of the matches it lost, but the killer instinct to finish off its opponents just hasn't been there. "Right now, we just need to focus on each point," Collias said. "We'll usually go on a string of points, and then we'll let a few. We have to keep pushing all the way to 15, and not let up at all during the game." Purdue, however, may not be the team against which to start a winning streak. The Boilermakers have upset Big Ten powerhouses Ohio State and Illinois the past two weekends, and have won six of their last eight matches. "They're on a roll," Giovanazzi said. "I think that they'll take at least four teams from our conference (for the NCAA tournament). I think that's why this weekend is so important for them. They're going to come out fired up." The key to Purdue's success is outside hitter Carey Burvis. The se- nior is among the conference leaders in kills, hitting efficiency, digs and aces. "She's a great passer, defensive player, left-side hitter ... She leads us in serving. She's really a well-rounded player," Purdue coach Carol Dewey said about Burvis. "She really does lots of things for us" "(Burvis is) definitely one of the elite players of the Big Ten this year," Giovanazzi said. "She's a great out- side hitter - without a doubt the one that they count on the most offen- sively." In the teams' first meeting, Burvis led both squads with 17 kills and four aces. Another top performer for the Boilermakers, freshmanLauri Grimes, had 14 kills that evening. Grimes is not the only freshman contributing to Pur- due this year; there are three who cur- rently start for the Boilermakers. Although Indiana swept Michigan in the match in Bloomington, Giovanazzi feels confident playing the Hoosiers this time around. "I think that (Indiana is) a team that I feel very comfortable playing. I think that we should be successful," he said. The Hoosiers do have some talent up front, however. "Marsha Drummund is a really good outside hitter for them," Giovanazzi said. "She's a great at- tacker. She'll carry a great load for them. "Anne Eastman is the middle blocker for them, and she's very good. One of the top hitting percentages and blocks in the conference. So we'll be trying to contain those two." One positive thing should come out of the weekend for the Wolver- ines, no matter how they fare. Collias needs only six digs to break the all- time Michigan digs record of 1,041, currently held by Lisa Vahi (1984- 87). "This proves that she's been a huge contributor here at Michigan," Giovannazzi said about Collias' soon- to-be record-setting career. JONATHAN LURIEJDaly Michigan middle blocker Suzy O'Donnell elevates for the spike against the Nittany Lions earlier this year at Cliff Keen Arena. Women's swimming meets Gophers in home debut By MELANIE SCHUMAN FOR THE DAILY Tomorrow afternoon, the Michi- gan women's swimming team will bring experience, talent and fresh faces to Canham Natatorium when the Wol- verines make their 1993-94 home debut against Minnesota. Most of all, though, the swimmers hope to further test their endurance as they compete in the third meet of the season. The team returns to Ann Arbor after completing its most successful post-season ever. Last season the team captured its seventh consecutive Big Ten title and finished fifth at the NCAA National Championships. Coach Jim Richardson, who re- ceived an NCAA honor himself for Big Ten Coach of the Year, isn't con- cerned necessarily with the results of the competition, as he is with condi- tioning his athletes. "We're really concerned at this point in the season with training," he said. "We don't try to set up the meets to sacrifice training. We need to main- tain our integrity day to day." Co-captain TaraHigginsconcurred. "Right now we're doing a lot of distance and conditioning work," she said. "I think Jim is giving us a lot of really tough workouts; he's pounding us, making us as tired as he can." "The coaching staff is tired, too," Richardson added. "The last two weeks have been the toughest. This is really difficult at this point in the season, but I'm very pleased with the way we're handling it." Already this season, the women have defeated two Big Ten rivals - Michigan State and Northwestern, 89- 36 and 166-134, respectively. Michigan's strongest women are juniors Lara Hooiveld--1993 NCAA Swimmer of the Year - and Alecia Humphrey - five-time 1993 NCAA All-American. The Wolverine coaching staff re- cruited a strong freshman class for this season by adding 12 swimmers to the roster, including 1993 high school All- American Anne Kampfe. Freshman Jodi Navta has enjoyed the team unity thus far, especially the upperclassmen who helped them get settled into Ann Arbor. "Our freshmen class gets along really well," she said. "On those Fri- day nights we can't go out, we do all sorts of stuff together." One of the reasons Navta chose Michigan was for its coaching staff, and she is still pleased with her deci- sion, despite the rigorous workouts. Higgins stayed in Ann Arbor this summer for conditioning. Despite suf- fering an ankle injury the first week into training that caused 'her to miss 'We're really concerned at this point in the season with training. We don't try to set up the meets to sacrifice training. We need to maintain our integrity day to day.' - Jim Richardson Michigan women's swimming coach ample,"she said. "We both have goals we want, as does everybody. Everyone's individual goals will work to fulfill the goals we set as a team." Even though the results of this weekend's meet will not affect the Wolverines' final standing in the Big Ten, the team is anxious to tackle a tough squad. MinnesotacomestoAnnArborwith arecord of 1-0, having defeated Indiana THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL SCHOOL 0 ou I