Men's basketball
vs. St. John's
Sunday, 12:05 p.m. (CBS)
Crisler Arena
SPORTS
Hockey
vs. Western Michigan
Friday, 7 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
414 "- ee4 -- 4 " -_ " 41 -- -"
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
der of season
questionable for Ward
By RYAN WHITE
Daily Basketball Writer
An already rough freshman season just got rougher for Michigan basket-
ball player Jerod Ward.
Ward underwent arthroscopic surgery yesterday to repair a torn Meniscus
in his right knee. The knee was injured last Sunday against Michigan State and
will force Ward out of the Wolverines' lineup indefinitely.
Ward, who won the Naismith Award as the nation's top high school player
last season, has admitted to having a hard time adjusting to both college and
college basketball.
Ward, averaging 6.9 points and 4.2 rebounds, will miss the Wolverines'
game Sunday against St. John's and its super freshman Felipe Lopez. Ward
and Lopez were rated No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, respectively, coming out of
high school by recruiting expert Bob Gibbons.
GOOD LUCK ROOMIEs: Ray Jackson and Maceo Baston roomed together for
the fourth time this season on the trip to Indiana, and the Wolverines are now
4-0 in those games.
The room setup also gave Jackson, the senior co-captain, a chance to talk
to Baston, the freshman.
"Ray told me to get out on the court and show what I can do," Baston said.
"He told me to play like I did at Spruce High School."
Baston finished the game against the Hoosiers with his first career double-
double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
OH, THAT GENERAL: After Tuesday night's game, Knight was asked if the loss
ending the Hoosiers 50-game home winning streak would tarnish the mystic of
playing at Assembly Hall.
Knight responded in slightly more than sarcastic fashion.
"I doubt that we'll win here again this century," Knight said. "I think this will
affect our ability to win at home so much that we won't win.for another six years."
Plocki begins League's
afternoon coaches' series
By JENNIFER IVANELLI
For the Daily
"Straight from the coaches'
mouths," a new series of lectures in-
volving Michigan athletic coaches, de-
buted yesterday atthe Michigan League.
The continuing series will provide in-
sight into the experiences of various
athletic teams.
The series began with women's
gymnastics coach Bev Plocki. who
helped promote the sport by explaining
what gymnastics is really about. The
lecture was held in the Underground of
the Michigan League from 12 to 1 p.m.
"(They are) high-skilled athletes,"
Plocki said. "Just watch one event and
you'll be in awe of their strength.
"You get to see the fight of the sport
with their athleticism and then can also
sit back and enjoy the grace and beauty
while tapping your foot to the beat of
the music."
These lectures were created to let
people learn more about the teams and
how the events are structured. A video
was shown ofa meet from last year with
Plocki explaining all of the technical
terms and scoring procedures to famil-
iarize everyone with the formalities.
One goal that Plocki wanted to ac-
complish through this lecture was to
clear up any misconceptions about how
the meets are run.
"People believe that you have to be
quiet (during the meets)," Plocki said.
"But there is a lot of interaction with the
spectators - it's very powerful."
Although the athletes compete indi-
vidually, Plocki stressed that it is a team
sport.
"My athletes push themselves bet-
ter against each other rather than from
me, and that's the way I'd like to keep
it," Plocki said.
Plocki's coaching is also a key fac-
tor in the team's continuing success.
Six years ago she came to the Univer-
sity as the team was coming off of a 2-
19 season. In this short span of time, she
has managed to bring the squad to first
place in the Big Ten.
To make all of this possible Plocki
stressed complete reform in the atti-
tudes of the team.
"If you stay focused, you will get
benefits," she said.
Next week the lecture series will
continue with men's gymnastic coach
Bob Darden.
Gymnasts open conference
slate with trio of matches
Forward Jerod Ward, who suffered a knee injury last Sunday against
Michigan State, underwent arthroscopic surgery yesterday.
Women tankers return home for Auburn meet
By REBECQA MOATZ
Daily Sports Writer
* After two months of steady travel-
ing, they're finally coming home.
The No. 2 Michigan women's
swimming team (7-1) is returning to
Canham Natatorium tomorrow to face
No. 4 Auburn in what will be the
Wolverine's first home meet since
before the Thanksgiving break.
Two weeks ago the team faced
No. 1 Stanford in a meet that came
down to the final relay. Though the
team lost by two points, Michigan
was not disappointed with the final
score. In fact, it is hoping that memo-
ries of the Stanford meet coupled with
the home pool advantage will help the
team through this weekend's meet.
"We are still excited about
Stanford," co-captain Alecia Humphrey
said. "It'll help to beat (our home pool).
We've been away traveling a lot."
Michigan is not overlooking the
competition, though. The Tiger's
strength lies in the 50- and 100-yard
freestyles, two of the Wolverines'
weakest events.
"I think that they should be good,"
Humphrey said. "We are looking at
them as competition, but we are really
looking toward the future (NCAA's)."
Tomorrow's meet, which contin-
ues Saturday morning, will have spe-
cial meaning for several of the Wol-
verines as it has been designated as
parents' weekend. It will be the first
time in a while that the Wolverines
will have a large crowd backing them.
"It'll help having our parents in
the crowd," Humphrey said. "Their
cheering really helps us."
The traveling has taken its toll on
the swimmers. Having to fly back and
forth to the west coast three times in
the past month has worn the swim-
mers down, and while a few have
begun to rest for the March NCAA
meet, most of the team continues to
train for the championship meet.
With only one more dual meet and
just under two months to train for
NCAA's, the Wolverines have a lot
of work to do. Seven Michigan swim-
mers have already qualified for the
NCAA meet, including Talor Bendel,
Alegra Breaux, Lisa Butzlaff, Rachel
Gustin, Kern Hale, Alecia Humphrey
and Anne Kampfe, but coach Jim
Richardson expects more.
"I'd like to see another seven or
eight," Richardson said. Yet with onl
three more meets this season, the tea
has to work fast to gain those entries.
By MICHAEL JOSHUA
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan's women's gymnas-
tics team gets its first taste of Big Ten
competition this weekend. The team
will get more than a mere lick; the
Wolverines will getan enormous chunk.
Michigan opens the Big Ten sea-
son at Crisler Arena Friday against
Minnesota and Illinois. With barely a.
day off, the team then travels to Iowa
to face the Hawkeyes for a Sunday
afternoon meet.
The No. 4-ranked Wolverines (2-
0) have been the top team in the con-
ference the past three years. How-
ever, both the Golden Gophers (3-1)
and the Fighting Illini (1-1) present
stiff competition for this year's Big
Ten title. Both teams have talented
newcomers to combine with numer-
ous returning letterwinners.
"In their last meets, both Illinois and
Minnesota posted scores similar to what
we usually score," Michigan coach Bev
Plocki said. "Both teams present us
with legitimate competition, and it
makes the meet more interesting."
With the addition of five freshmen,
the Gophers hope to improve on last
year's third-place finish in the Big Ten.
"We have a tremendous incoming
class," Minnesota coach Jim
Stephenson said. "We got some dy-
namic performers and some skills that
have not been seen at Minnesota in
awhile, if ever at all."
Heading the list of freshmen for
the Gophers is Stacey Batza. The
Oxford, Conn. native posted a team
high 36.975 in the all-around versus
ninth-ranked Arizona State,
Minnesota's lone loss this season.
Illinois is coming off a convinc-
ing 189.575 to 185.30 defeat of Iowa.
The Illini were led by freshman
standout Stacey Redmond. On her
way to receiving the top all-around
score, Redmond also broke the record
for the highest all-around score in
school history with a mark of 38.625.
"Everyone is eager to see what illi-
nois will do this season," Illinois coach
Lynn Cranesaid. "We areup tomeeting
the chal lenge and showi ng our improve-
ment to the rest of the country."
The Wolverines will have more
depth to meet the challenge of their
conference foes. Seniors Beth Wymer
(shoulder) and Debbie Berman (knee)
will return from injuries this weekend.
Iowa is still in the process of re-
building. The Hawkeyes (0-1) are
coming of the season opening loss to
Illinois and hope to regroup when
they host the Wolverines.
Men spikers try to overcome injuries for weekend trip
By ALAN GOLDENBACH
Daily Sports Writer
Attention doctors. The Michigan
men's volleyball team is looking for
medical clearance to resume its charge
towards a championship season.
After two straight weekends in
which a hobbled Wolverine squad
split their two matches each time,
Michigan (4-2) will try to field a
healthy unit as it heads into Wiscon-
sin Saturday and Kalamazoo Sunday.
Once again the Wolverines will look
to win on instinct as they seemed to do
at the beginning of the season.
Tomorrow the Wolverines will
battle Western Michigan for state brag-
ging rights in Kalamazoo. Michigan
will then face a tough Wisconsin team
followed by Iowa Saturday in Madison.
Outside hitter Ernesto Rodriguez
has almost entirely recovered from a
shoulder injury that has bothered him
since the start of the new year. He will
start this weekend, and should be ready
to go the distance in each match.
The news isn't as good for fellow
outside hitterGun Unluer. His shoulder
injury, similar to Rodriguez's, has taken
much longer to heal and his status for
the weekend is questionable.
Rodriguez and Unluer both saw
limited action last weekend in the
Wolverines' win over Illinois and loss
to Minnesota. However, at times their
injuries forced them to stray from
their normal positions of outside hit-
ters to setter and middle, which present
less of a strain on the shoulder.
Rodriguez's speedy recovery is
especially surprising considering the
initial diagnosis three weeks ago. He
was originally slated to be out until
the Collegiate Classic Tournament
on Feb. 4.
Michigan coach Jennifer Slosar
said that she would consider keeping
the two out of the match Friday against
Western Michigan to give them an
extra day off so they would be ready
for Saturday's twinbill.
"Their injuries are ones that just
require rest," Slosar said. "They can
reoccur without getting full-time rest."
Wisconsin is the marquee oppo-
nent of the weekend. It plays a very
quick, up-tempo style, similar to that
of beach volleyball, that can catch a
lot of teams off-guard.
"They like to set the momentum
of play," said Slosar. "But if they get
taken out of their rhythm, they can
crumble. Our goal is to control the
rhythm of the match."
Controlling the rhythm, as well as
monitoring the health of two of it's
top players, will be the keys for suc-
cess for the Wolverines during this
pivotal weekend. A weekend sweep
would put Michigan back into the
mindset it had at the beginning of the
season - unbeatable.
...
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