The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, October 31, 1994 - 3 .Women's volleyball losing streak reaches nine games By RODERICK BEARD Daily Sports Writer If it is true that finders are keepers and losers are weepers, the Michigan women's volleyball team may be both ,nders and losers. The Wolverines ay have found something that they have desperately needed in the midst of a long losing streak. No, Michigan did not win either of its road matches this weekend. But the Wolverines did find leadership in the form of senior outside hitter Aimee Smith. Michigan (1-11 Big Ten, 5-18 overall) stretched its losing skid to ine matches with a disappointing 15-5, 4-15, 15-13, 8-15, 15-9 loss to Purdue Friday and a 15-13, 15-4, 13- 15, 15-4 defeat at Illinois Saturday. "This is the highest level of vol- leyball in quite awhile," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. The Boilermakers (3-8, 5-15) avenged their loss to the Wolverines earlier this season with a thrilling ive-game win. Purdue found an an- swer to each of Michigan's come- backs. After the Boilermakers won the first game, the Wolverines battled back to win game two, allowing only four points. In the third game, Michi- gan continued its momentum, racing to a 13-4 advantage, but its offense stalled. The Wolverines could not manage another point in the game, and Purdue stormed back with 11 ,oints and a victory in game three. Michigan had an 8-1 lead in the fourth game, and again allowed the Boilermakers to battle back. The Wolverines did not fold as they did in the previous game and forced a decid- ing fifth game. Purdue jumped out to an early lead and never let Michigan back into the match. "This is a match we should have won, that's for sure," Giovanazzi said. "We had our best hitting match in weeks and dominated in games two, three and four. We just have a huge problem in finishing games." Smith led the Wolverine attack with 17 kills and 25 digs. Redshirt freshman Darlene Recker added 16 kills and a .333 hitting efficiency, contributing to Michigan's improved .220 team percentage for the match. Smith and Recker saw a lot of action at outside hitter, due to the injuries to Colleen Miniuk and Kristin Ruschiensky. Smith, one of two seniors on the team, posted good offensive numbers and provided leadership that the team was lacking. The team captain is play- ing, despite a knee injury that has kept her out of many matches this season. She said she will finish her senior season and have surgery on the knee, but will play through the injury until then. "(Aimee) is unbelievably valu- able," Giovanazzi said. "She plays the whole game well." Saturday's match at Illinois was an improvement for the Wolverines. The Illini swept Michigan in three games in September, but this match was much closer. The Wolverines scored 13 points in the first game and won game three 15-13, but finally succumbed in a long fourth game. Michigan could not stop the Illi- nois threesome of Erin Borske, Julie Edwards and Amy Brickley. Borske boomed 25 kills and a .429 percent- age; Edwards and Brickley each con- tributed 17 kills. BRETT FORREST Forrest Fires IM b roombali? You really must be joking ome strange virus plagues the Intramural Sports Department. All sense is lost. Vision is obscured. These people really must be deranged. Broomball over hockey? According to the IM Sports Program, yes, certainly, broomball over hockey. IM hockey, traditionally played during three separate seasons throughout the academic year, is being forced out of Yost Ice Arena. Yost, as you may have heard, is the home of the Michigan hockey team. A varsity broomball squad has yet to apply for permanent residence to the old field house. However, the powers that be down at the IM offices deem broomball to be of a higher consciousness than hockey. What flair. What panache. "Perhaps we can do something different for a change," one IMer says. "Yeah, why not? How 'bout we throw away hockey for ... for ... for what," says the another. "Oh, I dunno. Broooooommmballllllll," the former howls. They laugh in unison. OK, so it really didn't happen that way. Probably not. There are actually some concrete reasons for the decision. Yost will be renovating its hockey facilities following the conclusion of Michigan's hockey season, widening the ice surface to Olympic size. At the latest, depending on how the varsity fairs, the rink will close the first week in April. At the earliest, the second week in March. The three hockey seasons usually take place as follows: one in the fall, one during January and February, and one in March and the beginning of April. With the advent of broomball last year, the third hockey season was axed. Due to the Yost construction, IM Associate Director Robert Fox said there was time enough only for one season, whether it be broomball or hockey. The Michigan hockey team, it must be noted, is quite good. In fact, the Wolverines have been one of the top teams in the nation for the past four seasons. It's a safe bet that Michigan will be playing past the second week in March. So in the 11 weeks (one subtracted for spring vacation) between the start of the winter semester and the estimated end of the hockey season, only one IM season could be fit in? Something smells bad, doesn't it? I walked down to Yost this weekend after hearing the broomball news. I wanted to find some sign that broomball belonged in the rink, as I was sure it did. As I walked through the entryway, pictures and trophies of hockey seasons past stared back at me. No broomball there. But this was just the vestibule. I ventured to the side of the playing surface only to see a hockey team conducting practice. No luck. I took a seat in the stands and my foot rested on a plastic cup on the floor. It said "Michigan Hockey" on it. They might make broomball cups too, I thought. I searched for about two hours, really I did. But I couldn't find anything. Maybe I didn't know where to search. Everywhere I looked: hockey, hockey, hockey. It made me feel sad that broomball had no shrine on campus. But then I remembered that the IM people were giving hockey the boot from its own shrine. And I thought, man, no shrine. Fox doesn't have a problem with this. Hockey, he says, attracts about 30Oto 35 teams, while broomball's ranks swelled to 88 squads last year. And, he offers, if you cannot find ice time at Yost, "there are plenty of places to play ice hockey." That is, if plenty connotes the number one in your mind. And, if you have a small bankroll burning a whole through your elbow pad. "It's too expensive to play hockey in the city," says Victor Hannak, currently an IM hockey player. "Plus, I have no ride to the rink." The logic that pushes hockey aside for broomball is dangerous. Solely because more athletes want to play broomball, it displaces hockey. "The people who play hockey work really hard at it," says IM hockey player KarCrawford. "They don't really get a chance to do it anywhere else." Why display a novelty in place of an actual sport many IM players have participated in for their entire lives? "Broomball creates equality for everyone who plays," Fox says. What is this, hockey for the skating impaired? I guess we can expect to see Nerf soccer in Michigan Stadium next fall. EVAN PETRIE/Daily The Michigan volleyball team may have found leadership this weekend, but it lost two more games. The team fell to Big Ten foes Purdue and Illinois. lue stickers complete season sweep of Spartans By JENNIFER DUBERSTEIN Daily Sports Writer In its last regular season game, the Michigan field hockey team defeated Big Ten rival Michigan State, 3-2, in East Lansing. The contest was the second of two meetings with the Spar- tans, both of which the Wolverines were victorious. The Wolverines (4-6 Big Ten, 9- 1 overall) scored first, less than ten minutes into the game. Junior Sherene Smith scored off the corner with the assists by juniors Gia Biagi and Jen Lupinski. "(The penalty corner) was on. We had some great opportunities on the penalty corner," Michigan captain Nancy Irvine said. "It was really .-thrnti a WP rnmP ln to nr- ing on a lot of them." At 18:02, the Spartans' Stephanie Hart tied the game at one with a shot from inside the circle. Then at 17:58, just four seconds later, Biagi retaliated with a goal from outside the line. State coach Michele Madison immediately substituted goalie Tricia Gann for Therese Lostroscio after Biagi's goal. State came back to tie the game for the second and final time. Jill Lusher netted one for the Spartans with 2:50 left in the first half. In the second half, Sophomore Michelle Smulders tallied the game- winning goal for the Wolverines to conclude the scoring. "We are really confident when we play State," senior Nancy Irvine said. "It shows on the field... We had a lot of poise and confidence." "Character was the factor in the game," Biagi said. "It wasn't a pretty. game and we needed to step up on them. The key was who was going to get to the ball first." "(Michigan State) plays very ag- gressive and is a physical team," sophomore Bree Derr said. "At times they were beating us to the ball, but in the second half we stepped up. (Michi- gan coach Patti Smith) told us, 'who- ever gets to the ball first will win."' In the first game against State on Oct. 5, Michigan shut the Spartans out, 2-0. Smulders netted both goals for the Wolverines. "Before this game, I hadn't been playing very well and I didn't want to end the season on that note," Smulders said. "It was all or nothing and I needed to play well." Statistically, the match was as close as the score, with Michigan having the edge. Wolverine goalie Rachael Geisthardt had seven saves. The combined number of saves for Spartan goalies Lostroscio and Gann was five. Michigan received seven penalty corner attempts and capital- ized on one. State only had four cor- ner opportunities. Michigan also had the slight advantage in the shot col- umn with 14 total compared to the Spartan's ten. Yesterday's game was the final regular season match for the Wolver- ines. Next weekend, Michigan will play in the Big Ten tournament at Ohio State. A MAYOR WHo GOES To ANY LENGTH (OR DEPTH) To HELP THE COMMUNITY Mayor Ingrid Sheldon gets dunked to raise dollars for the City of Ann Arbor's United Way campaign "General Motors. A global leader with global concerns. As the world's largest corporation, we understand the responsibility that comes with success. That's why our diverse workforce continues to explore new technologies and set new standards of excellence. We proudly direct more resources into safety research and development than any other auto manufacturer in the world. 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