The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, April 22, 1996 - 5B Ule 3i4uidwu Daig COMMUNITY SERVICE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Who: Brian Steinbach Sport: Baseball [ Eligibility: Sophomore Year: Junior Hometown: Pewaukee, Wis. High School: Arrowhead Why: On Friday morning, Steinbach read to 40 second graders at Abott $4 ' Elementary school as part of the SHARE reading program. Steinbach read two books and autographed schedule cards for the kids. Earlier in the week, Steinbach and the rest of the Michigan baseball team autographed a baseball and a media guide for Tyler Moreno, a fifth-grader from Grand Rapids whi is suffering from a rare form of bone cancer. Background: Steinbach compiled a 3-3 record this season, including a 5-3 win at Northwestern. He scattered four hits over seven innings and struck Steinbach out three ... won the Geoff Zahn award as the Wolverines' most valuable pitcher in 1995, his first season with Michigan ... earned academic All- Big Ten honors last year. ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Who: Tshimanga Biakabutuka Sport: Football Eligibility: None Year: Junior Hometown: Lonquiel, Quebec Team: Carolina Panthers Why: Biakabutuka played well enough for the Wolverines during the 1995 football season to forego his senior season of eligibilty at Michigan to be chosen in the top 10 of this year's NFL entry draft. The Carolina Panthers made Biakabutuka the eighth overall selection with their only first-round pick. Background: Biakabutuka led the Wolverines in rushing this season ... ran up 313 yards, second most in Michigan history, to lead Michigan to a win over then-No. 2 Ohio State and deny the rival Buckeyes a Rose Bowl berth ... was the second running back Bliakabutuka selected behind Nebraska's Lawrence Phillips, but ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George of Ohio State . ignier Latest for Fisher By Parry Sollenberger ily Sports Editor The tall Michigan basketball team 4ust got taller. ,On Friday, the Wolverines signed PeterVignier, a 6-foot- 11,240-pound center from Teaneck, N.J. The lanky youngster joins a Michigan front line that already includes 6-foot-8 Robert Traylor, 6-foot-9 Maceo Baston and 6-foot-9 Maurice Taylor. "We're very excited to add Peter to e Michigan basketball program," . Fisher said. " ie'll be an outstanding -addition both as a player and a student 'here." Vignier averaged 11 points and I1 rebounds per game for Teaneck High School this past season. He also en- joys swatting a shot once in a while, as evidenced by his nine block-per- game average his senior year. Vignier helped lead his team to a 29-1 record. "He's a player who has gotten bet- er and better each year," Fisher said. "We look for that growth and devel- opment to continue at Michigan. We think his best days are ahead of him." Vignier is certainly no dumb jock, either. His 3.7 GPA and 1,300 SAT score were good enough for admission to Harvard. Vignier chose Michigan over the Crimson, Ohio State and St. Louis. * While Fisher was pleased to land Vignier, the freshman-to-be wasn't as heavily recruited as recent Wolver- ine signees. Nor is he expected to come in and dominate the Big Ten. But he is likely to push Michigan's other big men. "He brings size, enthusiasm and is another big man who will add strong competition to our team," Fisher said. Vignier is the second Michigan re- cruit to sign this year and the first this Wring. Brandon Hughes, an All- American point guard from Barton County (Kansas) Community College, signed in November. Several publications ranked the past two Michigan recruiting classes to be the nation's best. That has made re- cruiting this year that much tougher for Fisher. It's hard to sell a program that has so many young players. The olverines return five juniors and ree sophomores next season. Michigan does remain in the run- nitig for a couple of other recruits - center Jamaal Magloire from Toronto afid guard Vernon Jennings from At- lanta. Mucha wins thick-fil-A The Associated Press STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. - Barb Mucha, forced to play 29 holes because of rain the previous day, closed with a 2-under-par 70 yesterday to win the w 'GA Chick-fil-A Charity Champion- ship by two strokes. Mucha finished with a three-round -:otal of 8-under 208 for her fourth vic- .ory in 10 years on the tour. Her previ- )us win came at the State Farm Rail Classic in 1994. Dottie Pepper, a co-leader when play was halted Saturday, and Liselotte Neumann shared second at 210. Men's spikers take 17th at national championships By Mark Snyder Daily Sports Writer After a season that was pieced to- gether little by little, the Michigan men's volleyball team finished the puzzle this weekend - almost. The team finished 17th at the na- tional volleyball championships Thursday through Saturday in Toledo, Ohio, after beginning the weekend seeded No. 31. "I'm happy with the fact that we went in and finished a lot higher than we were seeded," Michigan captain Jamie Reynolds said. "We played very well, and if we would have had one match go a little differently, we could have finished even higher." Even higher in Reynolds' book meant third or fourth overall, a posi- tion the team aimed for at the begin- ning of the season. The tournament began with all 48 teams participating in pool play in an effort to narrow the field. "There's no tournament that every team comes to except this one," Reynolds said. A large number of teams partici- pated because of the club-tournament format. The teams who attended were the ones that could afford to pay for the trip. "Most schools don't have varsity (men'svolleyball) teams," Reynolds said. The pool play began with matches against the Connecticut, Navy and Northern Colorado. Navy began the tournament as the No. 7 seed, but it struggled against Michigan. Although the Wolverines lost the first set 15-12, they stormed back to take a 15-11 victory in the second. The tightly fought match went to the Midshipmen as they won the last game, 16-14. "We lost in rally score in the third match. We had a chance to win and we didn't," Reynolds said. Northern Colorado, a top 10team, was up next for the Wolverines and the Michigan handled it with relative ease. Straight sets were the result as the Wolverines rolled to a 15-8, 15-10 trouncing. The final match for Michigan in pool play was against Connecticut. The Huskies gave Michigan more trouble than expected, but the Wol- verines still came away with a vic- tory, hanging on in three sets, 15-6, 14-16, 15-10. At this point, Michigan learned its fate. The power pools were next with eight groups of three teams emerging from the original pools. The teams were re-seeded entering the powerpools, and Michigan moved up to No. 17. Reynolds said the seeding was well- deserved and reflective of the Wol- verines' effort. "We gave some teams that are very good a lot of trouble," he said. The Wolverines' power pool con- tained Virginia and Colorado. The Buffaloes were one of the top- five teams in the country heading into the weekend, and Michigan didn't ex- pect to defeat them. But Virginia was a target the Wolverines believed they could handle. Someone forgot to tell Michigan's opponents. Michigan beat dominant Colorado in three sets, 15-6,8-15, 15-13. A win over a top five team displayed the talent the Wolverines possessed on the court and expectations were high. "We beat Colorado, who is defi- nitely atop five team," Reynolds said. But as was the case throughout the season, Michigan fell to a lesser foe after a big win. Virginia ended Michigan's season with a 15-12, 15-10 victory. Reynolds didn't feel that there was much Michigan could do to combat the Cavalier attack, however. "(Virginia dominated) every aspect of the game. They were serving very tough," he said. "All of their offense was landing on the line. They were playing great (defense), but in order for us to have beaten them, we would have had to be (great.)" The loss to Virginia hurt more than Michigan knew at the time. With a I- 1 record in the power pool, it lost out to Virginia on a tiebreaker. Although they didn't advance, Reynolds ac- cepted the Wolverines' fate. "We playedwell. Wecouldbeat(Vir- ginia) any other time except for the match they played us," he said. "(The Cavaliers) really played the best match they could have played against us." The tournament was a high point in a season of change for the Wolverines. They began the year with only a few returning starters and a very young team. Inexperience plagued Michi- gan in matches against bigger, stron- ger opponents like Michigan State. But the Wolverines adapted to the styles of play of their opponents and improved with each passing match. Passing in the matches also was a problem, however. Michigan went through a number of setters as it needed to adjust to the varying line- ups that took the floor. The rotation was more in and out of the lineup than around the court. Suresh Pothiraj, one of the few re- turning players from last season, battled both mononucleosis and a sprained knee, which limited his ac- tion. Andy Spitser began the season as the team's most powerful hitter on kills and ended it playing with a soft cast on his broken thumb. Additions to the team, though, are what created the different atmosphere for every match. Chad Stilstra took the position of assistant coach to begin the season. His Wolverine career had been suc- cessful, but the itch to compete re- turned and he soon followed. Stilstra began taking graduate classes at the University, and activated himself to a starting spot on the front line. Ernesto Rodriguez had played with the team last season, but didn't begin the year as a part of the team. He returned to the court in March, com- pleting the lineup - almost. Last season's captain Stan Lee watched quietly as Michigan's sea- son of ups and downs unfolded. Lee, a Medical student at Michi- gan, pulled his sweats out of the closet to compete at the national champion- ships this weekend. - ----____ - - C.tIGR&~I I ra4 mp of f ~orefpo tx e[ o2 -R -r LAIOKS ateI srp b °rder* $ ea6 MICHIGAN RECORDS "phone: 663.5800 1140 south university (above goodtime chadeys), AA mon.-thurs.: 9:00a-10:00P sundays fri. & sat.: 9:00a-11:00p 11:00a-8:00P 1these sal~e Wi (e5 nelef, ever end4 -real music i ff i VISA 14 -sl pries n tis -d ed o I vi v CoA i 1' 1 i MW N'W AUIW U0N1tGIIT Iqpmi SW V Sl N 'l-a o I ?A1 C k cock b sue, ..P ALL *vv 3 TJ'' c@aiwvAs -ta' aSl 11f '1Z. I F-TR C CAAN4 Sracy Chvpmtn gy" INp.E c,#ty.M i. Irtf ' . . . ... . .. . .. .. . -... . . } L., R&OL'Ap- ,c j f-ijtL r i I 11= .-, f :