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. ... r THURSDAY NO COVER AT J n 0 d lA - RESTAURANT -U SPORTS AIR Also featuring: I20 a wing $3.25 pitchers Coors ight $5,.00 pitchers Long Island Ice Tea During observan meal optic for resider or studen standai the Ramadan Information and forms ice, alternative available at all residence ons are available A D N hall offices, Entre6 Office, ce hall residents and Housing Information its with entre6 / Office. Forms must be sub- rd meal plans. mitted by January 31 University Housing in cooperation with the Muslim Students Association " " A T $ . a. 1220 South University uI and over after 9pm 665-7777 EARN EXTRA CASH IENCE If LER Tired of 10/41to* already? Start thinking about e~prins and o~ummoro now! Come to the OIP's annual a Surin and Summer if GAIN VALUABLE WORK EXPER BE A PHONATHON CALl The School of Education is now interviewing candidates by phone for our 1995 Winter Phnnathon In tAlAnhone SchnnI of Fducatinn alumni and nlicit