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. i Copying doesn't have +o be a pain in the neck. 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