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*Women cagers to unveil
freshmen in exhibition
Volleyball sweeps Wildcats
By RODERICK BEARD
Daily Basketball Writer
The Michigan basketball program
is becoming adept at acquiring out-
standing recruiting classes.
Never mind theFab Five or the new
freshmen on this year's men's basket-
ball squad.
Bolstered by seven freshmen-the
No. 11 recruiting class in the country
- the women's basketball team will
definitely be a group to watch this
season.
The newest Wolverines are guards
ASemeldaElverton, Akisha Franklin and
Molly Murray; forwards Maritza
Dubois and Tiffany Willard; and cen-
ters Tennille Caruthers and Pollyanna
Johns.
Call the newest Wolverines the
Sensational Seven.
Michigan coach Trish Roberts un-
veils her exceptional recruiting class
and three returning starters from last
*eason's 3-24 squad in an exhibition
against the Denmark National Team at
7:30 tonight at Crisler Arena.
With the addition of the freshmen,
the Wolverines doubled the size of last
season's seven-member team. Besides
depth, Roberts believes the freshmen
will give Michigan strength and size,
especially in the form of Johns, a 6-
foot-3 center and Caruthers, a 6-foot
forward/center.
"It's exciting not to have to dress
'M' kickers
bow out of
pational
tournament
By JOHN LEROI
Daily Sports Writer
Heading into the National Colle-
giate Soccer Association National
Tournament, the Michigan men's soc-
wer team knew it would have its hands
full.
Therefore, the Wolverines' elimi-
nation in the first round wasn't much
of a surprise.
Following its usual pattern of low-
scoring play, Michigan bowed out
after three games. Notching only two
goals and a 1-2 record in first round
action, the Wolverines' season is over.
But Michigan's early exit and scor-
Ong woes were fairly predictable. A
consistentdefense, paired with an ane-
mic offense, which seems to hit more
goalposts than goals, can only go so
far in the national tourney.
The Wolverines battled their way
through a 2-1 victory over Colorado
State and a pair of shutout losses at
the hands of Weber State and Baylor.
Weber State eventually beat Baylor,
@2-1, in the tournament finals.
Michigan finished the season with
a 14-10-4 record. After a season of
lost opportunities and missed chances,
the Wolverines don't have to look far
to see what might have been.
"This was a little frustrating but
pretty predictable," coach SteveBurns
said. "It seems like I've been frus-
trated a lot this year. The (team)
keeps saying we're unlucky, but when
every loss is unlucky, something's
not quite right."
Though Burns never made ex-
cuses, he thought of a few reasons
why Michigan remained mired in
mediocrity.
Michigan's youth and relative in-
experience were cited as a possible
factor. The Wolverines' average age
falls just short of 20 years. In contrast,
other club rosters list players in gradu-
ate school - some of whom who
have even played in Europe.
And in an injury-plagued season,
the Wolverines have played more fresh-
men than usual. First-year players Matt
Daily, Eric Frickel and Joe Cusumano
saw considerable playing time in the
tournament. Burns feels that they will
all be team leaders by the time they are
seniors. So while Michigan soccer is
done for this year, Burns has his eyes on
the seasons to come.
"We're setting goals for the fu-
ture," Burns said. "I thought at the
beginning of last year that we were
three years away from making a run at
the (national) title. Next year is going
out this year," Roberts, a former Ten-
nessee standout, said at the Women's
Basketball Tipoff Luncheon.
Roberts said having only seven play-
ers limited the Wolverines' strategy
because they got tired from playing the
entire game. This season, however,
Michigan will have a more up-tempo
transition game.
Depth will be a key because the
Wolverines lost sophomorepointguard
Jennifer Kieferto a season-ending knee
injury over the summer. Murray, the
runner-up for last year's Miss Basket-
ball award in the state of Michigan, is
showing potential and could start at the
point guardposition. Michigan also lost
12.3 points and eight rebounds with the
graduation of forward YeshimbraGray.
Sophomore Amy Johnson returns
with her 15.6 points per game aver-
age. Johnson, an All-Big Ten Fresh-
man Team selection, was the first
freshman to lead the Wolverines in
scoring in 10 years.
On a team with no seniors, junior
forward Jennifer Brzezinski is the
Michigan's oldestmember. Brzezinski,
who started 19 games last season, aver-
aged 7.4 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per
game and was fourth in the conference
with 37 blocked shots.
Tonight's exhibition is the last of
six games for Denmark's Horsholm
Basketball Club, a professional team
from Copenhagen.
By ALAN GOLDENBACH
For the Daily
If Saturday's match against North-
western is any indication of what the
Michigan men's volleyball team is ca-
pable of achieving, then its opponents
will be shuddering at the sight of the
Wolverines on their schedules.
Michigan opened its 1994-95 regu-
lar season in impressive fashion with
a three-game victory over Northwest-
ern, 15-4, 15-8, 15-2.
The three-game sweep came as no
surprise to the Wolverines, who went
into the match with the hopes of doing
just that against a much smaller Wild-
cat team.
The Wolverines played the first and
third games against Northwestern in a
near-flawless manner. They committ-
ed only two hitting errors in the first and
three in the third. Michigan's outside
hitters, junior Gun Unluer and sopho-
more Ernesto Rodriguez, were forces at
the net throughout the match. The duo
led the team in kills, while taking ad-
vantage of Northwestern's weak hit-
ting attack. Wolverine junior Yaacov
Rubin and team captain Stan Lee
manned the frontline, laying up perfect
passes that resulted in numerous kills.
Team President Kevin Urban, an
outside hitter, set the tone for the romp
in the first game with four kills.
"The team played relatively well,"
Urban said. "We were able to try out
some new patterns and combinations
and it allows us to prepare for tourna-
ments later in the season like the na-
tionals."
The third game was sheer domi-
nance by the Wolverines as they staked
themselves an 11-0 lead behind the
strong hitting of Rodriguez and Unluer.
This virtually ended any chance the
Wildcats had of getting back in the
match.
The win over Northwestern fol-
lowed afirst-place finish in apreseason
tournament held at Michigan State last
weekend. At that event, Michigan won
all eight matches it played.
After its impressive showing in the
preseason tournament, Michigan was
concerned about maintaining its focus
coming into the start of the regular
season. It could not afford to overlook a
much improved Northwestern team.
But the Wildcats gave up several inches
in height to the Wolverines, who are
dominated by six-footers.
"This match tested us not only physi-
cally, but mentally as well," Urban said.
"Coach (Jennifer) Slosar told us in be-
tween the first and second games to
focus on making fewer mistakes, and
after that, the team began playing a lot
better (in the last two games)."
In order to stay sharp for their next
match, at Michigan State on Decem-
ber 3, the Wolverines will need to
maintain their focus during the two-
week layoff. Urban believes that re-
maining focused should not be that
much of a problem.
"After a match like this, we feel a
lot more confident in ourselves to go
out and win," Urban said.
FILE PHOTO
Michigan captain Stan Lee helped the volleyball team to a three-game
sweep of Northwestern on Saturday. The Wolverines won 15-4, 15-8, 15-2.
Merrill Lynch
Cordially invites all seniors interested in interviewing
for a full-time position to submit a resume and cover letter
to the Career Planning & Placement Center
from December 5 -January 5.
The appropriate contact persons are listed below.
Investment Banking
Analyst Program
Greg Margolies
Debt & Equity
Intern Program
Sara Karlen
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