The Michigan Daily -- Wednesday, March 16, 1994 - 11 SIXTH-PLACE BOWLING GREEN IN CCHAs: Falcons try for huge upset Bowling Green lost to Michigan, 2-1, at Yost Ice Arena Jan. 25. Women's golf escapes to Tampa for *sun, a few rounds at Pebble Creek By MICHAEL ROSENBERG DAILY HOCKEY WRITER Bowling Green is one of six CCHA teams with a chance to receive an at- large bid to the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they are the sixth of those teams. Bowling Green, which is coming off of a sweep of Ferris State, will almost certainly have to reach the CCHA final Sunday atJoeLouis Arena in order to receive a bid to the tourna- ment. If the Falcons win, they will receive an automatic bid. If they lose in the final, they The Road could receive an to at-large bid. But first The Joe Bowling Green will have to take careofMichigan State Friday night. The win- nertakesonLake CCHA Superior State Championship Saturday. March 18-20 "We have good momen- tum," coach Jerry York said. "We are coming off agood series win for us. We thought Ferris was a tough draw." Bowling Green has one of the conference's brightest young stars in netminder Bob Petrie. The CCHA All- Rookie selection has a 3.11 goals- against-average and has turned away 88 percent of the shots he has faced. "Petrie has given us durability," York said. "His three-point GAA is 'We don't feel like we can score any goals, yet we are the fourth- best in the league (in goals). I would like to see more offensive punch in the game. I think it would make the game more exciting.' - Jerry York Bowling Green coach outstanding. That is an enviable statis- tic." The Falcons will need Petrie, be- cause they have mediocre special teams and a limited offensive arsenal. They are fifth in the league in scoring, sixth in penalty-killing and ninth in power play percentage. Bowling Green will need to take advantage of every oppor- tunity against Spartan goalie Mike Buzak Friday. "We don't feel like we can score1 any goals, yet we are the fourth-best in the league (in goals)," York said. "I would like to see more offensive punch in the game. I think it would make the game more exciting." Captain Jeff Wells, a first-team all- conference defenseman, leads Bowl- ing Green. Wells has scored 27 points this season to push his career total past the century mark. Other top Falcons include forwards Brian Holzinger and Sean Pronger. Holzinger, a second-team all-confer- ence performer a year ago, has a disap- pointing 36 points this season, but he has scored 21 goals and remains one of the most feared players in the league. Holzinger is a strong skater with the ability to score in bunches, as evi- denced by his hat trick against Michi- gan earlier this season. Pronger is Bowling Green's other major threat. If he and Holzinger play their best, then the Falcons are capable of beating anyone in the country. "We were a lot closer to a second- or third-place team," York said. "We could have been anywhere. We have to expect the unexpected." Earlier in the season, it looked like Bowling Green would in fact be a sec- ond- or third- place team. The Falcons got off to their best start in almost a decade and climbed to No.7 nationally. However, they could not sustain the Holzinger early season hot streak and fell to sixth place in the conference by the end of the year. Still, that was an improvement over last year's seventh-place finish. In another conference, Bowling Green probably would be better than a sixth-place team and would have a good shot at an NCAA berth. But in the CCHA, it looks like the Falcons will need to pull off major upsets to earn a chance at a national championship. - The Daily will preview the re- maining teams in the CCHA title hunt all this week. By REBECCA MOATZ FOR THE DAILY Who couldresisthoppingon aplane and heading down to Tampa, Fla. to spend two days basking in the sun of the Pebble Creek Country Club? While the situation may sound ideal * to those trying to escape the winter freeze, the members of the Michigan women's golf team look at it as another day on the job. The Wolverines, who flew to Tampa yesterday, will be competing in a 19- team tournament hosted by Northern Illinois. Having competed on the same course last year, the team looks for- wardtoplaying on thewell-keptgreens. Michigan has been forced to prac- tice on indoor mats due to the weather and will have to adjust its swings to the natural greens. "It is hard when you don't practice on actual grass," Michigan coach Cathy Teichert said. "We hope to get our timing back, but it shouldn't be a prob- lem." Michigan's toughest competition may not prove to be a team itself, but a little factorknown as spring break. While the Wolverines have been back in school for two weeks, many ofthe other squads were on vacation last week, practicing in warm weather environments. TheWolverines, however, have not been sitting idly on the sidelines. Dur- ing its spring break, the team traveled to Phoenix where it trained and com- peted in a tournament. The team worked on its repetitive swing every day, and while the Wol- verines placed fourth in the four-way tournament, the invaluablepractice time will benefit the team this week. "When you take time off in the winter ... it takes time to get your swing back," Jenny Zimmerman said. "We worked hard on our short course (chipping and putting) over spring break and that should help us now." Another obstacle for Michigan may be its own confidence level. Individu- ally, the members perform well, but the Wolverines lack experience playing as a team. "We need a better finish and to boost our confidence ... before the Big Tens," rookie Wendy Westfall said. The first 18 holes will be played Thursday, and then the teams will be grouped in threes based on their scores for Friday's final 18 holes. "Obviously our goal is to be in the last group on the second day," Zimmerman said. "If we get our confi- dence up at the same time, we should do some serious damage." Spikers stay mentally tough for a sweep By MEI NDA ROCO DAILY SPORTS WRITER Fans of the Michigan men's volley- ball team witnessed the debut of a new squad Saturday night, as the Wolver- ines defeated Cincinnati and Central Michigan at the CCRB in a tri-match. It wasn't a new roster or a new offensive strategy that served as the key to the dual win. The Wolverines simply kept their heads in the game. Noted in the past for its inconsis- * tency and mental lapses, Michigan re- mained focused and intense. Despite beginning play two hours later than scheduled, Michigan swept Cincinnati in the first match, 15-7, 15- 7 and 15-7. Outside hitter Bill Seeley led the team in both offense and de- fense, totaling 11 kills and 14 digs. Middle hitter Chad Stielstra rallied seven kills, and defensive specialist Duke Arora served up four aces to help clinch the win. Against Central, the Wolverines claimed the first game, 15-8. The sec- ond and third games were more of a challenge as Michigan lost, 12-15, and foughtfora 16-14win. Asthemidnight hour drew near, Stielstra finished off a total of 13 kills and setter Stan Lee picked up 11 digs in the fourth-game, a 15-5 blowout. Outside hitter Ernesto Rodriguez, who left the team in January due to personal obligations and returned to the squad last week, put down 13 kills. Coach Duane Storti made full use of Michigan's deep bench and was pleased with the play from both the starters and the substitutes. "Again, our seniors played steady," Storti said. "Duke gave us some point strings. Brad (Yeager) saw his first time back since his injury (a month ago). Chad (Engel) and Gun (Unluer) filled the second swing hitting position well. "Many of the guys have been play- ing well in practice and deserved play- ing time," added Storti, referring to the second string players starting in the second game against Central. Outside hitter Kevin Urban said that the efforts of the entire team during practice carried over into the game, making it easier for the bench to click with the starters. "In drills, scrimmages and warmups, we're always working with different players and trying different combinations," Urban said. "When we do run into problems in a game, the team accepts a switch in any position. We don't have to work to establish chemistry between the starters and the bench because we're already used to playing with each other. "There also isn't the pressure on the starters to fully carry the team because our bench is so deep," he added. Tonight, the Wolverines take on Notre Dame in South Bend. Saturday, the team competes against Purdue and Iowa in a tri-match in West Lafayette. "We expect Notre Dame to be pretty strong," Storti said. "Right now, we're trying to establish procedures on the bench in terms of scouting the opponent's offensive and defensive strategies so that we can adjustour own game. We'll need to be able to do this in Arizona (forNationals) when we run into teams we've never seen before." Summer Japanese Study Intensive 6-wkjiogln at Lewis &Cadk College in PortlandOR July 18-Aug 28. Earn 12 quarterhs.Studylang.(all levels) & cultur with Japes: si n theme "mante eEnVkmnnt" 'Ilxe~day wilderness program included. Prior language study Mg required. Oregon/Japan Summer Program 222 SW Columbia, Suite 1750 Portland, OR 97201 Tel. (503) 223-7938 Fax M223-7946 I $3.00 Pitchers of ALL Brands (Miller Products, Killians, Leinenkugel Red) Special Food Shot Specials All Day Giveaways All Day NO COVER RUGBY Continued from page 10 led the team in scoring throughout the tournament. On the college side, Adam Koplan, a freshman fly-half, earned laurels for his strong play over the weekend. "Adam Koplan, who played high school rugby in Virginia, was a standout for the younger team," Warburton said. "He did a great job holding the backs together," senior Tom Vestergaard added. Regardless, the invitational was looked atmainly as achanceto give the younger members of the team a chance to play, and to prepare the team for the regularseason. Michigan hadn'tplayed a game since November, so this meet acted as a tune-up for its first game of the season, against Toronto April 2. "With the undergrad (college) team, half of them hadn't even played before this weekend," Warburton said. "We're going to try (to work) on the all-around improvement of the younger guys' skills." Est. 1976 AaonSpwrW4r In Line Skates Rent 'em & Roll 'em Focus Groups