The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 14, 1995 - 13
*r TENNIS
Continued from page 12
win. We could have won the match, but
overall, they did play better tennis than
we did and really deserved to win the
match."
Wolverine freshman Arvid Swan
lost to John Jay O'Brien, 6-4, 6-2, at
No. 4 singles, while senior Grady
Burnett dropped his match at No. 6
singles to Steve Flanigan, 6-4, 7-6.
Eisner sees the loss to the Irish as
a chance to point out things to work
on.
"For us, it means that we've just
got to continue to keep improving,
which I firmly believe we will con-
tinue to do," he said. "There were
some things in doubles that we didn't
quite do as well that didn't make a
difference against a lot of teams but
did against them (so) we didn't win
the doubles point. We've always won
the doubles point against all teams in
this part of the country."
Michigan now turns its focus to
this weekend when it has the chance
to earn its first Big Ten regular season
title in five years.
The Wolverines take on Ohio
State tomorrow, followed by Indi-
ana on Sunday. Both matches will
be held at the Liberty Sports Com-
plex in Ann Arbor. Michigan has
not played a home match since its
March 26th victory over Wiscon-
sin. Ohio State has dropped only
one match in Big Ten play, and
Indiana is on the rise, led by fresh-
man Derek Pope at No. 2 singles.
"Pope was injured, (but) with him
back in the lineup, it makes Indiana a
very, very good team," Eisner said.
The Wolverines are competing
against the Buckeyes and Minnesora
for the best record in the conference.
All three have one loss apiece. The top
team will be the No. I seed in the Big
Ten Tournament, held April 27-30 in
Bloomington.
Eisner stressed the importance of
being the top seed in the tournament.
"(Having the top seed) really gives
you a tremendous psychological ad-
vantage going in, plus, it gives you a
better draw," he said.
Netters hope to clinch third seed f
'C a0 /M ME&MRNENMNEBNE
or conference. tourney
By Dan Stillman
Daily Sports Writer
With two weeks remaining before
the Big Ten Tournament, the Michigan
women's tennis team has one goal in
mind as it closes out the regular season
this weekend: clinch the hotly-con-
tested third seed in the Big Ten Tourna-
ment.
The Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 12-6
overall) take on Illinois today and Pur-
due tomorrow, with both matches slated
to begin at 1 p.m. at the Liberty Sports
Complex.
Michigan, Illinois, Purdue and
Wisconsin are all vying for the third
seed. It is a highly coveted position
since whoever earns it, won't play
in Indiana's half of the bracket. The
Hoosiers (7-0, 16-7) are the top team
in the conference.
"Even though we only lost to
Indiana 5-4, we'd much rather face
Northwestern (second place) in the
semifinals," Wolverine coach Bitsy
Ritt said.
For now, Michigan occupies third
place and controls its own destiny. The
Fighting Illini (5-1, 11-6), Boilermak-
ers (4-2, 11-6), and Badgers (4-3,6-10)
all trail the Wolverines.
If Michigan fails to sweep Illi-
nois and Purdue, its fate will be out
of its hands as most of the Big Ten
teams will finish their seasons next
weekend when the Wolverines are
idle.
For now, Michigan will have to
focus on the strength of the Illini's
doubles play.
"Illinois is traditionally strong in
doubles," Ritt said. "(They) are al-
ways intense and ready to play."
Today's most anticipated con-_
test is the No. I doubles matchup.
Michigan's Sarah Cyganiak and
Sora Moon will face the tough Illi-
nois pair of Kristen Jones and,
Camille Baldrich.
"They're solid and consistent,"
Cyganiak said. "They've played to-
gether for three or four years now.
"When we lost to Northwestern.
last weekend, we didn't go out there.
pumped," Moon said. "When we're
pumped and have a lot of energy, we;
play well."
Tomorrow, Michigan closes out
theregularseason against an unranked,
but consistent Boilermaker squad.
"Purdue is the most improved team
in the Big Ten," Ritt said. "They have
more depth then they've ever had."
Nevertheless, the Wolverines re-
main confident.
"The consensus is that we should
win both matches," Moon said. "But
it's gonna be a good fight."
MOLLY STEVENS/Daily
Angle Popek and the Michigan women's tennis team take on Ilinois and Purdue in key Big Ten matches. The
Wolverines are currently In third place in the conference and can secure the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten
tournament.
Men 's golf looks for continued success in Indiana tourney
By James Goldstein
Daily Sports Writer
Someone from high above is toying
with the Michigan men's golf team.
Justwhen the Wolverines were gain-
ing momentum, three inches of snow
and cold weather sent the golf cart and
the squad in reverse-off the links and
back home.
It's unfortunate for the team that the
fairways this week have been more
white than green after such a successful
performance last weekend's tourna-
ment. The Wolverines placed third out
of 18 teams in the Marshall Invita-
tional. Since Michigan wasn't able to
practice this week at home, the Wol-
verines hope that today's practice on
the Legends golf course in Indiana
will fine-tune their skills enough for
tomorrow's Legends of Indiana tour-
nament in Franklin, Ind.
"Coming back here and putting on
greens that are like fairways we play
on doesn't do you any good," Chris
Brockway said. "The conditions this
week have been horrible.
"If we were playing every day since
we got back, I think we would pick up
where we left off. Hopefully, we won't
lose too much in the first round."
The fact that Michigan hasn'tpulled
out the clubs from the bag this week
worries the team. Forasquad that hasn't
gotten off to a good start in any of its
previous competitions, the Wolverines
don't want to play themselvesout of the
tournament after the first 18 holes.
This will be crucial for this particu-
lar event because teams will compete
in 18 holes Saturday and 36 holes Sun-
day - the opposite from what Michi-
gan is used to playing.
Brockway and Bill Lyle lead the
Wolverines along with Kyle Dobbs,
Adam Anderson, and Brent Idalski
rounding out the other players.
Lyle is coming off his best round of
golf ever. He fired a three-under-par 68
in the second round of the tournament
last weekend.
Michigan's team score last week-
end was just as impressive as Lyle's
second-round performance. The Wol-
verines posted a 877 for its lowest 54-
hole score since recording an 855 at the
Stanford Invitational in 1992.
Even though Michigan has made a
dramatic improvement, it is not com-
pletely satisfied.
"I was extremely pleased with our
performanceattheMarshallInvitational,"
Michigan coach Jim Carras said. "We're
getting better and better with each touma-
ment, but we're still not quite where we
want to be yet. Our goal is to be in the top
six of our region to qualify for the NCAA
Central Regional."
Throughout the season, the Wol-
verines have been ranked in the bottom
half of the top ten in its region. The
Legends of Indiana tournament tomor-
row will be a good opportunity for
Michigan to move up in the rankings.%
Ohio State, the Marshall Invitational
winner in both individual and team
play, will not be participating in the
Franklin tournament. Among the field,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Miami (OH)
pose the biggest threats to Michigan.
-.4
Rugby split squads head to Indy, Louisville
w Amw W
By Sarah DeMar
Daily Sports Writer
Size and numbers are two impor-
tant components of any rugby match.
This weekend, the Michigan Rugby
Club (2-1) will be lacking both.
Six Wolverines will not be
present Sunday to take on Louis-
ville. Mike Springs, Lee Gray,
Larico Harley, Carl Wahn, Jay
Friedan and Jim Yak will be part of
a team representing the state of
Michigan at the Midwest Select-
Side Tournament in Indianapolis.
The group will compete against
otherMidwestern schools such as Indi-
ana, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio.
Harley predicts big things for the Michi-
gan squad.
"We stand a real strong chance of
winning," Harley said. "Last year we
took second or third and this year we
may be stronger."
Strength is something the Wolver-
ines will be missing Sunday. Not only
We're very
welirounded."
- Larico Harley
sophomore, Michigan rugby
will they be small in numbers, they will
also be smaller, literally.
"Louisville will definitely be
larger than us," co-captain Evan
Pratt said. "But we have speed and
fitness on our size and hopefully the
big guys are too slow to hang with
us."
Although the Cardinals qualify
for Division I status while Michi-
gan is currently labelled Division
II, the Wolverines are hoping that
they will excel against their larger
opponents.,
"We're very well-rounded," Harley
said. "We have a strong pack (of for-
wards) and two exceptional centers
within our backs. We also got a new
fullback (Friedan, who transferred from
Illinois) this year who really helps out."
In a game which revolves around
full-contact tackling, Michigan is
relatively healthy and injury-free. 1
However, Tip Blish, received a+
season-ending injury when he rolled
an ankle against Sciota Valley last
weekend. The ankle was diagnosed
as broken. The Wolverines are look-
ing to avoid such calamities against
the Cardinals.
"The better the competition, the
less likely players are to get in-
jured," Pratt said.
Michigan has had a very diffi-
cult schedule thus far, and Louis-
ville is no exception. But the Wol-
verines are up to the challenge.
"Tougher teams get lined up for
the spring," Pratt said. "Louisville
will definitely be tough. All we will
try to do is retain possession of the
ball throughout the game, or else
(Louisville's) big guys could plow
right through us."
Women golfers forced to
play with limited practice
By Brian Sklar
Daily Sports Writer
While the Michigan women's golf
team has had to deal with inconsisten-
cies in its play this season, it has been
able to count on one thing all season
long - bad weather. The weather has
not been kind to the Wolverines, and
this week has been no exception.
The team has not had many oppor-
tunities to practice for its upcoming
meet this weekend at State College in a
tournament that includes Penn State,
Purdue and James Madison.
The only day Michigan was able to
get a full day's worth of practice this
week was Tuesday. Other than that, the
inclement weather has either caused
practice to be canceled or only allowed
the team to practice for short periods of
time.
As the Wolverines head into an
important stretch of the season, they
look to shed the inconsistency that
has characterized the team's play so
far this spring. However, this has been
difficult to do with the limited amount
of practice the team has had.
"In order to be more consistent,
we have to play more," Michigan
coach Kathy Teichert said. "Unfortu-
nately, the weather has been a disad-
vantage to us. We're at a point where
the more we plav. the better we'll he
sistently well for Michigan is Shannon
McDonald, who won the Saluki Invita-
tional April 2 and finished fourth at the
Boilermaker Invitational last week.
"Shannon has been our leader this
spring," Teichert said. "She's played
especially well."
Others who have recently begun
to step up are Jenny Zimmerman and
Laura Tzakis. The two golfers tied for
fifteenth in the tournament hosted by
Indiana University two weeks ago.
The rest of the team though, has
struggled with its unpredictable play.
"Most of the kids have been up
and down this season," Teichert said.
"I've switched the lineup a few times
trying to figure out our top six per-
formers."
As for this weekend, the Wolver-
ines will send McDonald, Tzakis,
Zimmerman, Molly Vadenbark,
Wendy Westfall and Ashley Will-
iams to Penn State. The team is hop-
ing to finish among the top three teams
in the tournament.
Teichert is confident that the
team will fare well even though they
have had limited practice time this
week. She is also optimistic that
eventually the team will reach its
potential.
"We have a good group of kids,"
she said "Thev work hard and ae
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