The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 20, 1995 - 7
'M' upsets Vanderbilt
with late-set victories
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Writer
It's been said that the good thing about making mistakes is that you can
learn from them.
Coming into this weekend, a black cloud seemed to come over the
.Michigan women's tennis team whenever it would enter the third set of
matches. The Wolverines had lost seven of their last 10 matches that went
the distance. This run of bad luck peaked last weekend when Michigan
dropped four of six three-setters against No. 12 Indiana on its way to a
tough 5-4 loss.
But the Wolverines put an end to that string Saturday. Not only did they
upset No. 15 Vanderbilt, 5-4, but they did it, in part, by winning all three
of the matches that went the full three sets.
For Michigan (7-5 overall, 3-1 Big Ten), No. 1 Sarah Cyganiak and No.
3 Angie Popek both won in three sets in singles play. Cyganiak won, 6-4,
3-6, 7-5, and Popek came back from a set down to win, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. No.
*6 Liz Cyganiak won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Going into doubles action, the score was tied at three matches apiece.
Sarah Cyganiak and Sora Moon won, 6-3, 7-6 to put the Wolverines on the
verge of clinching the victory. But the Commodores avoided defeat
temporarily by winning the second doubles match and tying up the score
once again.
Just like the meet with Indiana, the third and final doubles match would
decide the outcome. And once again, Michigan's hopes were riding on
seniors Simone Lacher and Jaimie Fielding. Against the Hoosiers, the duo
fell in three grueling sets, which gave Indiana the victory.
After losing the first set 7-6, Lacher and Fielding were down 4-0 in the
second set, and Michigan seemed to be on its way to dropping a meet it
should have won.
But the Wolverines didn't concede the win to Vanderbilt.
Lacher and Fielding showed their poise and experience as they came
back to take the second set, 7-5. After that, it was easy to see which side
had the momentum going into the deciding set.
Michigan used that momentum to take the third set easily, 6-1, and
came away with a solid win over one of the top teams in the nation.
"They did a great job once they [Lacher and Fielding] came back in the second
set and then they played a great third set," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said.
. ,Ritt didn't undermine the importance of winning the long matches.
"One of the keys to winning a close dual match is winning the three-set
matches," Ritt said. "And against Vanderbilt we were three for three."
However, the Wolverines couldn't work their magic two days in a row.
Yesterday, they fell to No. 13 William and Mary 5-1. The Tribe, playing
their third match in as many days, showed no signs of weariness. The three
Doubles matches weren't played because the victory had already been
clinched for the Tribe.
Fielding was the only Michigan player to emerge with a win as she won
et No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-2.
"(William and Mary) played well and it was clear that they were
definitely stronger than Vanderbilt," Ritt said.
But Ritt won't let the loss damper the weekend for her team. She
recognized the improvement the Wolverines made.
"The improvement from our Indiana match was great," Ritt said. "We
really fought hard and competed well."
Women's gymnastics
closes season in style
By Michael Joshua
Daily Sports Writer
To erase any doubts from specta-
tors about the potential of the squad,
the No.5 Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team ended the regular season with
a record-setting performance.
The Wolverines(18-2 overall, 11-0
Big Ten) posted a career team-high
score of 197.225 in defeating North
Carolina State (191.175), Massachu-
setts (188.0250) and Penn State
(151.575).
Michigan's score was a mere .075
points less than the nation's season
high posted by the No. 1 Georgia Bull-
dogs.
"We all came together real well
even when there was not a perfect
performance," sophomore Andrea
McDonald said.
However, as usually is the case for
the Wolverines, there were a few per-
fect presentations on the evening. This
time it was senior co-captain Beth
Wymer who reached excellence on the
uneven bars and freshman Heather
Kabnick who did the same on the vault.
Wymer has become accustomed to
perfection on the bars. This was the
fourth straight meet in which she re-
ceived a 10. Furthermore, it was the
17th perfect score for the six-time All-
American.
"I'm really happy with my perfor-
mance," Wymer said. "And I couldn't
have been happier with what the rest of
the team accomplished.
"We really outdid ourselves. I'm
proud of every single one of us."
Wymer stood out among the crowd
in the last regular season meet for the
seniors. She won the bars, beam (9.9),
floor (9.95) and the all-around (39.8).
Kabnick won the vault.
The Wolverines displayed their
dominance by taking the top three spots
of every event -- except two. Christi
Newton (N.C. State) placed third in the
floor and Tara Swartz (Massachusetts)
took second in the bars.
The win over the Nittany Lions was
the 26th straight win over a Big Ten
opponent for Michigan. Going into the
Big Ten Championships next week-
end, the Wolverines will be the clear-
cut favorites to win their fourth-straight
title.
However, the team is careful not 0~
get over-confident.
"There's always those teams that
can come up big in the champion-
ships," McDonald said."We can never
count anybody out because anything
can happen."
Though the team has broken sev-
eral team records and accomplished
many of its goals for the season Michi-
gan realizes that there is room for im-
provement in every area.
"Until the entire team gets 10s,
there's always a possibility," Wymer
said. "Hopefully, we can get a higher
score than we got this time."
The seniors ended their regular-sea-
son careers on seventh heaven. But
with Big Tens, regionals and theNCAAs
left, there is business to be finished.
"I'm notready toleaveyet,"Wymer
said. "I'm not ready to let go of the
memories, either.
"I still have three more meets to go,
hopefully I can make more memories
that I can never forget."
Wendy Marshall helped Michigan to an impressive weekend performance.
Michigan's Postseason
Hockey - NCAA West Regional Championships at Madison, Saturday.
Women's Gymnastics - Big Ten Championships at Champaign, Saturday.
NCAA Central Regionals at Crisler Arena, April 8. NCAA Championships at
Athens, Ga., April 21-23.
Men's Gymnastics - Big Ten Championships at Champaign, Saturday and
Sunday. NCAA Regionals at University Park, April 8. NCAA Championships
at Columbus, April 21-22.
Men's Swimming - NCAA Championships at Indianapolis, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday.
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