Men's Basketball
vs. Georgia Tech
Friday, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Springfield, Mass.
Sl
'TS
Ice Hockey
vs. Minnesota
at College Hockey Showcase
Friday, 5 p.m.
The Palace of Auburn Hills
01
'M' frosh look promising despite loss
Women struggle from field, commit 21 turnovers in 78-53 defeat
By SCOTT BURTON
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
No, the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team didn't win its 1993 debut
last night. But the Wolverines may
have caught a glimpse of a brighter
future in their 78-53 loss to TTT Riga
of Latvia.
Michigan - a team with no re-
turning starters - prominently fea-
tured five freshmen, along with one
walk-on, in the contest. Although the
newcomers made their share of rookie
mistakes, their play indicated riches
to come.
"I'm really encouraged with what
I saw," Michigan coach Trish Rob-
erts said. "We were looking at a bunch
of kids who were all freshmen. To-
night was the first night they've been
in a game-type situation. You got to
keep in mind that these are freshmen
- they're going to learn, and they
can only get better with experience.
"I feel very confident in these
young ladies," Roberts added. "They
have a lot of heart and they played
very hard."
Three of the freshmen-forwards
Wrestlers
face tough
opponents
in Madison
By BARRY SOLLENBERGER
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
The Big Ten is consistently one of
the top wrestling conferences in the
nation, and judging from the preseason
rankings, this year will be no exception.
The No. 10 Michigan wrestling
team will get a look at its stellar com-
petition Saturday as ittravels toMadi-
son for the Northern Open. The tour-
nament will feature most of the top
teams in the Midwest.
"We're primarily going to see (No.
3) Iowa, (No. 5) Minnesota, (No. 9)
Iowa State, (No. 12) Wisconsin, (No.
18) Northern Iowa, (No. 28) Purdue
and (No. 29) Illinois," Michigan coach
Dale Bahr said.
The meet will also provide an op-
portunity for some of the younger
wrestlers to gain valuable experience.
"This will help us develop some
younger guys and give them a chance
to wrestle," Bahr said. "We'll prima-
rily go with our starters at each posi-
tion in the second half (of the season)
when some of the younger guys might
not see much action."
Bahr, in his 16th season at the
helm of Michigan, said he will take
20 wrestlers to Madison to compete
in the "open" format. The meet will
feature 500 wrestlers, with no team
scores being kept.
Senior Sean Bormet, a 1993
NCAA All-American and the return-
ing Big Ten Champion in the 158-
pound class, will most likely skip the
meet this weekend, due to a recent
change in the NCAA rules.
According to Bahr, wrestlers are
allowed to compete on only 16 days
during the season under NCAA guide-
lines. If Bormet wrestled this weekend
and again at the tournament over the
holidays, he would most likely be forced
to sit out an important dual meet in
conference play.
With Bormet out of action, Michi-
gan will rely on senior heavyweight
Steve King for leadership Saturday.
The returning All-American is look-
ing forward to the meet.
"This gives us a good chance to see
where we are at this time of year," King
said. "It's also a good gauge to see what
you've got to do the rest of the season."
Amy Johnson and Catherine
DiGiacinto and point guard Jennifer
Kiefer - accounted for more than
half of Michigan's points.
Johnson demonstrated a solid
outside shot - hitting 2-of-2 three
pointers - and the ability to take it to
the hole in scoring a team-leading 15
points.
"I wasn't really nervous going
in," Johnson said. "This game showed
we had a lot of character on this team.
We're down in numbers, but we'll
make up for this with what we have
on the inside."
DiGiacinto showed toughness and
decent moves in the post to knock in
10 points and collect 10 rebounds.
She also drew five fouls, although
struggling at the line (4-for-10).
"She really held her own inside,"
Roberts said. "She is a big, strong,
physical girl."
Rounding out the trio, Kiefer
played all but one minute of the game,
scoring 11 points. She impressed with
a nifty cross-over drive for a layup in
the first half and popped a three-
pointer.
"Jennifer did a really good job
showing leadership on the floor,"
Roberts said. "I think she is going to
get better; she just needs the experi-
ence."
Unfortunatelyfor Wolverine fans,
as impressive as the freshmen were,
they experienced some obvious diffi-
culties in their first game.
"This game was a learning experi-
ence for us," Roberts said. "One thing
I wasn't pleased with was executing
on offense. We weren't set, we weren't
rolling. Those are the things that we'll
need to work on."
Adding to Michigan's troubles was
the fact that it lost its only returning
letterwinner, Yeshimbra Gray, in the
first half when she reinjured her knee.
Gray underwent surgery on the
same knee over the summer and had
some problems with it in practice. Her
status is day-to-day.
"Any time you have an injury its
going to hurt, especially when it is a
key player," Roberts said. "Angie
Mustonen I thought did a good job
(filling in for Gray). She's a walk-on
for us and held her own on the inside."
T FJOA OF LATMIA (78)
FO FTF
MIN NMA 5WA
Gulbe 30 9-17 0-0
Unbedahle 27 2-7 0-0
Zltane 30 2-12 2-27
Kartjanovlca 26 4-9 0-0
Kandere 28 5-10 2-2
Slila 3 00 0-00
Petersone 25 5-7 1-2 1
Krinberga 5 2-2 0-04
Eglite 26 5-8 0-0
Totals 20034.72 5678
OT
0-1
0-6
3.4
1-6
3-8
0-1
1-3
0.1
0.6
$142
A F
1 2
4 1
6 3
1 3
1 4
1 2
2 0
0 0
1 3
1718
PM
18
5
7
8
12
0
14
4
10
78
FG%: .472. FTV:.833. Three-point goals: 5-15,
333 (Petersone 34, Unbedahle 1-3, Ztane 1-7,
Gulbe 0-1). Blocks: 7 (Karanovica 4. Petersone,
Egite. Kandere). Turnovers: 10 (Gulbe 2, EgIite
2, Kandere 2, Petersone, Unbedahe, Zitane,
Karanovica). Steals: 14 {Zitane 6, Petersone 3,
Unbedahle 2, Gulbe, Eglite, Ka anovica).
Technical Fouls: none.
WOLVERINES (53)
FO FT
MIN M-A M-A
Kiefer 39 5-9 0-0
Johnson 33 5-15 3-3
Gray 14 2-8 0-0
Shellman 24 2-10 0-0
DiGiacinto 34 3-11 4-10
Mustonen 33 1-2 1-2
Mays 23 1-2 3-5
Totals 200 19-57 11.20
O-T A F1
0-4 2 1
0-4 3 1
0-2 0 0
3.5 2 3
4-10 3 2
1-7 0 2
0-4 0 2
8.39 1011
PTS
11
15
4
4
10
3
6
53
0
FG%:.333. FT%:.550. Three-poInt goals: 4-4,
1.000 (Johnson 2. Kefer, Mays). Blocks: 2
(Mustonen, DiGiacinto). Turnovers: 21 (Shelman
6, Kiefer 5, DiGiacinto 4, Johnson 3, Gray 2,
Mays). Steals: 3 (Kiefer, Gray, Mays). Technical
Fouts: none.
TTT Riga......... 37 41 - 78
Wolverines...... 22 31 -
At: Crisler Arena; A: 373
REBECCA MARGOLIS/Daily
Freshman Amy Johnson led the Wolverines with 15 points, but it wasn't
enough as Michigan fell in exhibition play to TT Riga of Latvia; 78-53.
ri
of
Opener finally here for
cagers in Tipoff Classic
By RACHEL BACH MAN
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
By the way Steve Fisher bela-
bored his concerns about his team a
month ago, you'd think he was coach-
ing the 0-5 Minnesota Timberwolves
instead of the No. 5-ranked Wolver-
ine basketball team. Yesterday at
Crisler Arena, he cleared things up.
"I don't want to imply that I don't
think we're going to be good enough
to make the (NCAA) tournament,
because I do," Fisher said.
His Wolverines will get a chance
to convince coach and fans alike of
that Friday against No. 14 Georgia
Tech at the Tipoff Classic in Spring-
field, Mass.
"It's a tough game to start the
season," Georgia Tech coach Bobby
Cremins said.
Fisher agreed, adding that the time
for moral victories is over, and that he
wanted to see results "on the
scoreboard."
Standing in the way of a Wolver-
ine victory, though, is a team with
striking parallels to Michigan.
"They are very similar teams,"
Cremins said.
Both teams lost star centers, both re-
turn four starters and both have a number
of threatening perimeter players.
"Our big problem is on the in-
side," Cremins said. "Michigan lost a
great center in Chris Webber, but we
also lost a solid center in Malcolm
Mackey. He was no Chris Webber,
but he was the leading rebounder in
school history."
Senior Ivano Newbill will take
Mackey's place in the middle.
All-American candidate and jun-
ior forward James Forrest is The Sport-
ing News' No. 2-ranked power for-
ward behind Glenn Robinson of*
Purdue. He was named MVP of last
year's ACC Tournament, which the
Yellow Jackets won by defeating
Duke and top-ranked North Carolina.
Junior guard Travis Best will be
playing in his home town of Spring-
field, where he will hope to continue his
three-point shooting success. Last year,
Best shot better than 50 percent from
the arc for most of the season and fin-
ished with a 45.7 percent average.
"I hope both (Forrest and Best)
can be outstanding," Cremins said.
"They are the nucleus of our team."
ACC Rookie of the Year Martice
Moore, sophomore guard Drew Barry
and senior guard Fred Vinson will
also see playing time.
Both sides agree that despite the
similarities of the two teams, Michi-
gan has experience on its side.
"We're alike in some ways but not
too much," Michigan forward Ray
Jackson said. "I think we have a strong
attitude, more confidence."
This attitude is not new to the squad.
"You remember when they were
freshmen they kept talking about how
good they thought they were and we
were either 5-4 or 4-5 at the turn of the
Big Ten season," Fisher said.
"I don't want to get too euphoric if
we start off with a big victory over
Georgia Tech or too despondent if we
get beat," Fisher said.
What do the players predict for
Michigan?
"A victory," Jackson said.
- Daily basketball writer Chad
A. Safran contributed to this article
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Kevin Hilton and the No. 1-ranked Wolverines will play in the inaugural College Hockey Showcase this weekend.
Blue icers to take on WICHAfoes in
first-ever College Hockey Showcase
By ANTOINE PITTS
DAILY HOCKEY WRITER
The Michigan hockey team takes
a break from CCHA action this week-
end as it battles two teams from the
Midwest's other conference, the
Western Collegiate Hockey Associa-
tion.
The two conferences, with Michi-
gan and Michigan State representing
the CCHA and Minnesota and Wis-
consin representing the WCHA,
square off against one other in the
inaugural College Hockey Showcase.
This year's two-day event, hosted by
the Wolverines, takes place Friday
and Saturday at The Palace of Au-
burn Hills.
The top-ranked Wolverines (7-0-
1 CCHA, 9-0-1 overall) face Minne-
sota (2-5-3, 2-5-3) Friday at 5 p.m.
and Wisconsin (6-3-1, 6-3-1) Satur-
day at 8 p.m.
"It will be a whole new experi-
ence for us," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "In terms of the pres-
tige of our league, we want to come
up strongly against the WCHA. We
recruit against them all the time."
The Golden Gophers, an NCAA
tournament team for the last eight
years, have gotten off to a slow start
this season. Minnesota has a 1-2-3
record in games decided by one goal
and is tied with four other teams for
last place in the conference.
Michigan used the return of
goaltender Steve Shields and CCHA
Offensive Player of the Week Ryan
Sittler to sweep Ohio State and move
into first place in the league last week-
end. Likewise, Wisconsin used a two-
game sweep over Colorado College to
take the top spot in the WCHA.
The Badgers are led offensively by
Kelly Fairchild and Andrew Shier.
The pair lead the WCHA in scoring
with 20 points each. In the nets, Jim
Carey is coming off a performance in
which he stopped 59 of 64 shots in
two games.
Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer likes
the idea of the Showcase.
"The fact that it's four Big Ten
schools playing each other is a real
positive," Sauer said. "The bottom
line is that it's good for college hockey.
The four schools have generally been
very successful."
The Showcase marks the second
time the Wolverines will be involved
in a major event at The Palace. Michi-
gan played against Notre Dame in the
first-ever hockey game at the arena
last year.
with State Pride, Illinois
By JEREMY STRACHAN
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
When you talk about the Michi-
gan women's volleyball team this
season, one word is sure to come up
in conversation -injuries.
When the Wolverines travel to
Michigan State for the State Pride
match at 7:30 p.m. tonight, they will
arrive with two injured starters, out-
side hitter Aimee Smith and middle
blocker Fiona Davidson. Both are
questionable for the match.
NotunlikeMichigan(5-13BigTen,9-
18 overall), the Spartans (5-13, 9-20) are
dealing with a disappointing season and
injuries of their own.
Michigan State setter Courtney
DeBolt, who has started in almost
every game this season, sprained her
ankle last Friday at Ohio State. Re-
serve Spartan setter Sarah Blakely, an
middle hitter Jennifer Gray Jones,
who has been leading the Big Ten in
kills all season and who is also in the
top ten in aces and digs. The injured
DeBolt has also been a force for the
Spartans this year. The setter is in the*
top ten in aces and top five in assists.
"Our strategies are to just go out
and serve tough, and try to take care
of Jennifer Gray Jones, who seems to
be their best player," Giovanazzi said.
"We're going to try to be more ag-
gressive than they are, but I think I'd
pick us as a favorite tomorrow night."
The match tonight will be a chance
for revenge in the all-important State@
Pride contest against the green and white.
The Spartans came away with the State
Pride flag in Ann Arbor Sept.22 when
Michigan State sweptMichiganin three
games, 15-13, 15-6, 15-12.
This game will determine who will
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