The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, November 15, 1993 - 7
*NET RESULTS:
Volleyball team savors
streak- ending victory
By J.L. ROSTAM-ABADI
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
This past summer, I tried out a new little eatery on campus. I ordered a fruit
and walnut salad and was so delighted with my meal that I could hardly wait for
the chance to relive the entire dining experience. I ranted and raved about how
great this place was to all ofmy friends and how much I wanted to go there again.
Well, this weekend, I made my dream a reality. I went back and ordered my
favorite salad.
Was it as good as it was the first time?
Definitely. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it was even better than I remembered.
No, this is not a lost food and entertainment story.
Actually, my subject is volleyball. More precisely, the Michigan women's
volleyball team, which broke a nine-game losing streak this past weekend,
defeating both Purdue and Indiana in five-game matches. The Wolverines had
almost forgotten how good winning can feel.
And when the last point was won, let's talk about emotional. Heck, it was
better than a Kodak moment.
Be it a salad or a volleyball victory, it always seems sweeter the second time.
Coming into this past weekend's matches, it had been just over a month since
the Wolverines had a taste of victory - the last being against Wisconsin, Oct. 9.
To say they were hungry would be an understatement. They were starving.
In the beginning of the season, Michigan was expected to finish in the top five
in the Big Ten. That idea quickly fizzled in the month of October.
On the nightof Oct.12, Notre Dame started what would become the nine-game
losing streak forMichigan. Injuriesplayed amajorpartin theirpoorperformances.
Outside hitters Michelle Horrigan, JoAnna Collias and Aimee Smith all missed
games. As the slump continued, Michigan's stomach began to growl.
"We were pretty hungry for a win," Collias said. "We had a tough week of
practice, too. I think that's made us come out and just play hard this weekend."
The Wolverines' strong desire to win and the added boost of having Horrigan
back in full force was the winning combination.
"I thought Michigan played really well, especially Michelle Horrigan,"
Purdue coach Carol Dewey said. "She always plays well against us, butshehadn't
seemed to be playing very well from the box scores in the last few weeks, even
being back in the lineup."
But Horrigan put any remaining doubts to rest.
"I needed to get into the groove and this week I did," Horrigan said. "Right
from the beginning I just felt very confident becauseI had such aconsistent week.
I knew that I was going to do well."
A couple of plays, including key kills by Horrigan and Collias, propelled the
Wolverines onward and upward throughout the night.
"Michigan kept on getting stronger-mentally tougher," Dewey said. "I'm
sure they're tired of losing. That's the problem when you play any team that has
a losing streak like that. Eventually they get fed up."
And fed up they were. With two weeks left in the season, the Wolverines were
determined to keep their losing streak in the single digits.
"All we could do now is just make the best of what's left, especially the
seniors," Horrigan said. "I know I want to go out of here swinging away. I know
I want to make a difference."
If there is a lesson to be learned from all of this, perhaps one could say good
things come to those who wait. And after a long, long wait, both the Michigan
volleyball team and I got that sweet taste in our mouths again.
*Men 'S Cross country
qualifies for nationals
By TOM BAUSANO course Friday, it was concerned with
DAILY SPORTS WRITER the rhnnnv and truh nature of the
VOLLEYBALL
Continued from page 1
sort of looking forward to playing to-
night. Forme it hasn't been that way in
a while."
Of Michigan's nine victories, four
have taken five games to complete.
Wolverine head coach Greg
Giovanazzi admired his team's mental
toughness in the five game thriller
against Purdue.
"Well, from my perspective the
most gratifying thing about the victory
is how we came back after losing that
third game," he said. "It looked to be
what was going to be the crucial game
of the match. We go out and find a way
to lose it, and still come back to win it.
That showed a lot of character."
Michigan jumped on the Boiler-
makers in the first game of Friday
night's match. But Purdue, who came
in to Ann Arbor on a hot streak, and
searching for an NCAA bid, took the
next two games. The third game apeared
to be in the Wolverines' control, as
they fought to a 13-9 lead. Middle
blocker Lauri Grimes and outside hit-
ter Carey Burvis helped the Boiler-
makers secure the next six points, and
a game three victory.
In the fourth and fifth games the
Wolverines showed the "character"that
Giovanazzi liked so much. Michigan
fought to a 10-5 lead, in game four, and
never looked back. The home team
dominated the rally scoring fifth game.
Outside hitters Fiona Davidson and
Michelle Horrigan lead the team's fifth
game charge as the Wolverines all but
put away Purdue taking a 11-3 lead in
the final game.
The key to game five, in
Giovanazzi's opinion, was his team's
physical endurance.
"I think that's why we're stronger,"
he said. "I think that we're the best
condiditioned team. I'll always feel
pretty good going into a fifth set with
our group."
Horrigan, who has been battling
injuries all season, led the Wolverine's
firey attack with 20 kills.
Davidson was almostas potent, with
19 kills on Friday. Another 15 were hit
by Collias.
Purdue head coach Carol Dewey
had expected more from her team,
which had defeated two of the Big
Ten's best recently.
"I was disappointed that we didn't
play with the confidence that we had
played with the lasttwo weekendswhen
we defeated Illinois and Ohio State,"
she said.
Setter ErnMcGovern set her ca-
reer high assist in one game est with 55
Friday night. The setting postition has
been a revloving door with McGovern
and junior Julie Scherer alternating in
and out. The question of which of the
two to play perplexes Giovanazzi.
"That's probably something that
we can bring in a psycho therapist and
go several hours with," he said. "The
setters are, at this point in the year,
seven eighths of the way through, are
still even."
Saturday's five-game affair was a
horse of a different color. The Wolver-
ines ground out a two game lead, but the
Hoosiers would not lie down and die.
Indiana dominated the third and
fourth games. Game three was an er-
rorless one for the Hoosiers, as they hit
.475 in that game.
"I thoughtIndianahadareally solid
third and fourth games," Giovanazzi
said. "They played good defense and
forced our hitters to hit harder, and
forced some errors.
Michigan's passing broke down in
the two games they dropped.
"Passing is pretty much all men-
tal," Collias said. "I guess by the third
and fourth games we took our eyes off
the ball. When games go as long as they
do the last two nights I think you need
to just stay mentally focused."
Just as they did Friday, the Wolver-
ines dominated the fifth game. A five
point surge put the game at 9-2 and out
of the Hooosiers reach.
"I think we're also a good five
game team because in practice we're
always siding out, siding out, siding
out," Collias said.
JONATHAN LURIE/Daily
Susy O'Donnell (3) and the rest of the Wolverines swept both their matches
this weekend.
Womenharriers take
title at District Mee
By AARON BURNS
FOR THE DAILY
Not everything wentas planned for
the Michigan women's cross country
team at Saturday's District Meet in
Bloomington.
Junior Karen Harvey was scratched
from the lineup due to tendinitis in her
right knee. The normally rock-hard
course turned into a virtual mudslide
due to overnight rain. And, alas, the
team fell two points short of its goal
when all was said and run.
But as far as the Wolverines are
concerned, the race can be summed up
in two words: smashing success.
Senior Molly McClimon and sopho-
more Courtney Babcock finished one-
two for the third time this year, and
junior Jessica Kluge filled in admira-
bly for Harvey as Michigan smashed
the competition, winning the race with
a final score of 40.
Notre Dame, the team Michigan
feared the most entering the race, fin-
ished a distant second with 78 points.
Both teams earned automatic bids to
the Nov. 22 NCAA meet at Lehigh in
Bethlehem, Pa.
Coach MikeMcGuire said the team
goal was to score below 39, its total
when it won the Big Ten meet two
weeks ago in East Lansing.
Considering that the Wolverines
were without one of their top runners,
McGuire was not disappointed with
the team's performance.
"I thought we had a great meet,"
McGuire said. "I'm really encouraged.
Overall, I thought it went better than
the Big Ten meet. I felt confident we'd
getit done without Karen, but not to the
extent we did."
McGuire felt a lot of the credit must
go to Kluge, who didn't even know she
would run until Friday night. She fin-
ished fourth for Michigan and 14th
overall with a time of 18:50, an im-
provement on her 25th-place finish at
the Big Ten meet.
"It was her best collegiate effort
ever,"McGuire said. "Herearlierraces
were not reflective of what she'd done
workout-wise, but this one was."
Kluge said she did not panic when
she was selected to replace her ailing
roommate, Harvey.
"I was glad I was ready to contrib-
ute but sorry that Karen couldn't run,"
she said. "She was the better person for
the job, but I can handle pressure pretty
well. I stayed level-headed and was
ready to go. Everybody had to step it up
a notch (with Harvey sitting out)."
Indeed, everybody did for Michi-
gan. Senior Chris Szabo came through
with a sterling performance, capturing
sixth overallin 18:20. SophomoreMolly
Lori rounded out the Michigan scoring
with her 17th-place finish in 18:56.
Sophomores Katy Hollbacher
(18:57) and Heather Grigg (19:26) did
not figure in the scoring but did a good
job of keeping pressureon other teams.
Harvey's status for the NCAA meet
is uncertain. According to McGuire,
however, shemustbe healthy andready
to go for No. 3 Michigan to have any
chance against the likes of No. 1 Ar-
kansas and No. 2 Villanova.
"I'm guardedly optimistic with her
condition," he said.
For now, Michigan will enjoy a win
that was really a victory on several
levels: the team overcame the loss of
Harvey, the sloppy conditions and the
memory of last year's loss in this race.
"We faced the elements and did a
good job of it," McGuire said. "It's a
test of your character when you can go
out and get it done under those condi-
tions."
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BLOOMINGTON - Michigan
once again was unable to capture a
District Championship this weekend,
,but the Wolverines earned an auto-
matic bid for Nationals by capturing
third place with 85 points.
Twoof the smaller schools compet-
ing battled for first place. Notre Dame
won the title with 55 points, beating out
Miami (Ohio), which had 84.
Michigan freshman Kevin Sullivan
(31:56.6) captured the individual title
with an outstanding push in the later
stages of the race. At about four kilo-
meters Jason Casiano from Wisconsin
put on a big kick to pull away from
Sullivan, Kevin Herd (Iowa) and Mike
McWilliams (Notre Dame). That early
surge proved tobe prematurely planned
for the longer 10,000-meter course.
"I was prepared for him to do what
he did, especially after the way Big
Tens wentwhenhegotoutkicked in the
end," Sullivan said. "It wasn't surpris-
*ing for him to go out early and try to
break us. When we made our surge I
was hurting, but I felt a lot better once
we caught him."
The early surge and subsequent
chase worked to the disadvantage of
SophomoreScottMacDonald, who fin-
ished seventh in 32:41.2.
"I should have been with the lead
pack, butwhen Casiano madehis move
I got caught running by myself in be-
0tween the two lead packs," MacDonald
said. "I knew I wasn't going to catch
the leaders alone so I backed off the
pace and let the others catch me. I was
pretty confident that I could outkick
them in the end."
When the team worked out on the
UG4:vppy MULU1 14g cv ,.
course because of the increased pres-
sure on the legs and heightened chance
of turning an ankle. It rained all Friday
nightin Bloomington, andin the morn-
ing the course was soft and sloppy.
Senior Shawn MacKay turned in
one of his best performances of the
season placing 14th in 32:54.5.
"I liked it (conditions of the course),"
MacKay said. "You have the chance of
falling but you're not going to get hurt.
The air was so warm that my muscles
were limber, and less apt to being pulled.
I'm sure it slowed the course down, but
everyone faced the same conditions."
Although MacKay was not ham-
pered by the conditions, Michigan's
last two runners found it more difficult.
Sophomore Theo Molla (33:12.3) and
Senior Matt Schroeder (33:51.9) took
21st and 42nd respectively.
"It wasn'ttoo good out there (on the
course)," Molla said. "We wanted to
win, but qualifying for nationals was
the main goal."
"The (Indiana) course is really de-
ceiving," Sullivan said. "It's a lot
tougher than it looks when you first
come in, but it's a great facility for
cross country."
The NCAA cross country champi-
onships will be hosted by Lehigh Uni-
versity Nov. 22.
The Wolverines raced on the same
course when they won the Lehigh Invi-
tational earlier this season. The flat
nature of the National course suits the
running style of the Michigan runners
better than the hilly course at Indiana.
With this in mind the Wolverines hope
to attain its season long goal of a top
five finish at Nationals.
* * At-...?- &I.- J-1- , &- L.....L
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U of M
vs. OSU
BLOOD BATTYLE
At Michigan Union
Nov. 15 - Nov. 19 Mon.-Fri. 1-6:30 pm
At North Campus Commons
Nov. 17 Wed. 1- 6:30 pm
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