Men's Tennis vs. Michigan State Today, 2 p.m. Liberty Sports Complex Si S Softball at Toledo Today, 1 p.m. (DH) Toledo, Ohio For the second time in a week at Fisher Stadium, players and fans went home early as inclement weather forced the cancellation of yesterday's game. Softball looks to regain confidence at Toledo i By JOSH KARP DAILY SPORTS WRITER The Michigan softball team's (14- 16) 1-0 loss to Toledo (7-16) at the Cellular One Capital Classic in Sac- ramento, Calif. March 25 remains crystal clear in its players' minds. Rocket pitcher Desiree Abrego (5-5, 2.61 earned run average), who has allowed 93 hits in only 67 innings pitched, gave up just one in defeating the Wolverines. Michigan will have two chances for redemption when it heads to Toledo today for a 1 p.m double- header. After taking a doubleheader from Ohio State Saturday, the Wol- verines are beginning to put the pieces together. "Wejust feel that we're getting bet- ter every game," shortstop Mary Campana said. "Hopefully, we can just put the wins on the board to show that." Coach Carol Hutchins also says that winning is the key to building the team's confidence. "We know we have to come to play," Hutchins said. "We need to win some games to get our confidence go- ing. But as much as we need to win, we've got to focus on the little things." Those little things include getting hits with runners on base. Michigan has begun to swing consistently better, but it is games like those against Notre Dame that frustrate Hutchins. In a doubleheader loss to the Fighting Irish March 30, the Wolverines pounded out 17 hits, but scored just twice. "Timely hitting is everything," Hutchins said. "Bases loaded, getting the ball out of the infield, finding a gap. We just have to start making our own breaks." Campana, who led Michigan's charge against the Buckeyes, is ex- pected to provide these breaks. She has four hits in her last six at-bats (two doubles), and Hutchins needs her to continue to produce. "Let's hope (Campana's bat stays warm)," Hutchins said. "She's been making contact all along." Alsoexpected to step up is the Michi- gan pitching staff. In addition to every- day starters Kelly Kovach (7-8, 1.49) and Kelly Holmes (6-8, 3.18), third baseman Tracy Carr (1-0, 0.82), who started her first collegiate game Satur- day, will also be put into the mix. "Tracy Carr's one of the most fo- cused players I've ever coached," Hutchins said. "Holmes is coming around. Heroff-speed is starting to come around to make her other pitches more effective, which is what we need to happen. And I have a lot of confidence in Kovach. When we get all of them in a groove at the same time, look out. We just need to put it all together." The Rockets are led by first baseman Amy Galvin, who leads the team in batting average (.384), extra-base hits (seven) and runs batted in (18). It was Galvin who singled home the only run in the teams' earlier meeting. "It was not an offensive game," Hutchins said. "Their strength is that they play some good solid defense. I thought they were a better defensive team than I've seen them in someyears." As for today's games, concentra- tion is the key for the Wolverines. "We've just got to take it one game at a time," Hutchins said. "We just really have to stay focused. We can't worry about anything (right now) except (Toledo)." Men's volleyball claims second place at Big Tens SARAH WHITINGDaily *e Michigan softball team takes on the Rockets in Toledo today. Golfers take eighth in first tournament of the spring By DAN McKENZIE DAILY SPORTS WRITER When the Michigan men's volley- ball team began its season, then-coach Pam Griffin said that one of her goals was to win the Big Ten. But after a season of high points, low points, and everything in between -including a coaching change -- that looked like wishful thinking. However, the Wolverines had con- fidence going into the Big Ten tour- nament. Captain Stan Lee claimed that his team had all the tools to make a run for the title and that they had a new found confidence, thanks to Griffin's replacement, Duane Storti. Michigan lived up to what may have seemed like unrealistic expecta- tions in this past weekend's tourna- ment, finishing second in the Big Ten. "It was by far our best perfor- mance of the season," Storti said. The tournament started off Satur- day in Illinois, with apool format that divided teams into two groups. Michi- gan was ranked second in its pool behind Michigan State. However, the Wolverines outplayed the Spartans and everyone else that they faced, claiming one of the two No. I seeds going into the single elimination round. Because of its strong pool play, Michigan received a bye into the semi- final round, where it expected to face Michigan State once again. But Min- nesota thwarted the Spartans' plans, eliminating them in the quarterfinals. The Wolverines put an end to the Gophers' attempt at a Cinderella story, defeating them convincingly 15-8, 15- 7. Michigan advanced to play Illinois. Because of Illinois' taller-than- average lineup, the Wolverines aban- doned Storti's plans to try new line- ups this weekend in preparation for the club national tournament. "Illinois was very big in the middle," Storti said. "Our new lineups didn't have the height that we needed, so we stuck with our traditional lineups." Michigan came out strong, taking the first game, 15-13. But Illinois regrouped to overcome the Wolver- ines surge, claiming the last two games, both by a score of 15-10. The No. 1 seed, Ohio State, and the No. 2 seed, Michigan State, fin- ished sixth and fifth respectively. Lee and Ernesto Rodriguez both received first team all-conference honors. "Chad Stielstra also played ex- tremely well," Storti said. "He was also on my ballot for conference honors." The Wolverines play their final regu- lar season matches this weekend against Ohio State and Michigan State at Cliff Keen Arena. The club national tourna- ment begins the following Wednesday. "The results of this last tournament and the matches this weekend will have a big effect on our seed going into the national tournament," Storti said. by DARREN EVERSON bAILY SPORTS WRITER The Michigan men's golf team *ngled with ten otherMidwestern teams in Dallas last weekend, and when all was said and done, it came out of the woods with an eighth-place finish. Kent State took the Tanglewood Intercollegiate, finishing with a total of 874 strokes, 60 fewer than the Wolverines. Big Ten rivals Illinois, Northwestern and Wisconsin wound up 3-4-5, respectively, with nine strokes separating third and fifth place. * The three-round, two-day event was the first action the Wolverines have seen since last fall, so the out- come did not weigh heavily on the mind of head coach Jim Carras. "There's no way we can go into our first tournament and have many expectations," Carras said:"We had not even hit a ball outside. That's always been our problem (in the spring) all 14 years I've been here." Freshman Kyle Dobbs was the top individual golfer for Michigan - 12th overall - firing 76, 74 and See GOLF, Page 10 BEST OF LUCK SON YOUR EXAMS DASCOLA BARBERS 615 E.LIBERTY OFF STATE. - " M-F 8:30-5;20pmSat til 4:20pm" No Appointmettts Needed " SEE YOU IN THE FALL /"ANNI RESEARCH INFORMATIQ Largest Library of Information in U.S. 19,278 TOPICS-ALL SUBJECTS Order Catalog Today with VISA,MC or COD ' 800-351-0222 or rush $2.00 to Research information 11322 Idaho Ave. #206-A Los Angeles CA 90025 LAW DAY for STUDENTS OF COLOR THURSDAY * APRIL 7, 1994 MICHIGAN UNION 10:00- 1100am Andarson Room Admissions Panel Presentation 11:00 am - 300 pm Pandtton Room Law Fair 3:00 -1:00 pm I. L VL: @ , e U' RESTAURANT w;/ v he ww Order your college ring NOW. JO STRNS SPORTS C Al 11 i