BB - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, April 8, 1996 TENNIS ' Moon leads Blue to victories. Sophomore's heroics lift 'M' past Boilermakers, Illini By Jiten Ghelani Daily Sports Writer Throughout the month of March, the ball just wasn't bouncing the Michigan tennis team's way. The Wolverines had played tough competition in many of those matches, but came up short at times when perhaps they should have won. They could have crumbled; they could have called it quits. Instead, Michigan began a new month with new-found faith and pulled out two close matches posting 4-3 victories over Illinois and Purdue. The Wolverines found ways to win in places they hadn't looked before, maybe because they just hadn't searched hard enough yet. Sophomore Sora Moon had been strug- gling in her singles game as of late, not experiencing the success of her freshman year. Moon, Michigan's No. 2 singles player, had lost her competitiveness and was lacking confidence. This past weekend, however, Moon came up big down the stretch in both matches with three-set wins. "I was in a slump for a while," Moon said. "I've been prayingto God fordesire. I gave it everything. I just wanted to go out there and win." Moon's first clutch victory came against Illinois. Moon and Stacey Shapiro split the first two sets with 7-5 counts apiece. In the third set, Moon was on the brink of elimination when she was down 30-love and receiving serve. At the time, Shapiro led 4-5 in the set, and two points would have closed out the match. Moon over- came the deficit by breaking serve and tied the match. Shapiro wasn't able to hang on, and Moon took advantage, clos- ing out her match and a Michigan win. Against Purdue, Moon was just as impressive. Up 3-2 in the third set, the usually quiet Moon came into the change-over and asked coach Bitsy Ritt the score of the dual match. Ritt told her the match was tied, and Moonjust shook her head in acknowledgement of the familiar situation. She went back out onto the court and took care of business, reeling off three straight games. Moon was a 4-6,6-4,6-2, winner over Boiler- maker Alyssa Kohl. Moon uncharacteristically showed emotion on the court. Moon usually doesn't express herself much during games, but over the weekend she was very intense. When all was said and done, Michigan went out a victor, and Illinois was left in shock. Senior TaraGraff came up with a big win of her own versus the Illini. Graff faced southpaw Natalie Adsuar. Aware that Adsuarwas left-handed, Graff'sgame plan was to serve wide on the deuce side. Also, Graffexploited Adsuar's weak back- hand, going in behind every shot to the backhand side. The strategy worked well, and Graff led, 4-1, in the first set. Adsuar tied up the set, 4-4, after Graff drifted from the game plan. Graff reverted back to her successful scheme and defeated Adsuar, 6-4, 6-3. Graff and Jodi Brewer helped Michi- gan claim the doubles point against Purdue, notching a win at third doubles. The top doubles tandem, Moon and Sarah Cyganiak , extended their winning streak to six at the expense of the Boilermakers. Cyganiak and Moon went into the week- end ranked No. 26 in the nation. The two won a close match, 9-7, over Nan Smith and Amanda Scott. Cyganiak and Moon broke at 4-5 and at 8-7. Scot who was serving at the end of the matchW had a strong serve, but Michigan was able to contain it. Cyganiak and Moon also took advantage of Scott's weak net play. The No. 2 doubles team, consisting of Sibyl Smith and Tumeka Harris fell be- hind early in its match but made a run to get back into it. Purdue's Mary Beth Maggart and Kohl won 8-6 when Smith and Harris' run ended up a bit short. Cyganiak and Harris were also notable singles winners. Harris won in straight sets, 6-3,6-1,overIllinois' JessicaKlapper and then 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, over Purdue's Cohen. Harris was down 4-1 in the third set against Cohen, but didn't lose a game the rest of the way. Nurrvn KNIANAnA,/ Diy Michigan's Sybil Smith swung her way to a straight-set victory over Illinois' Jessica Kapper. Smith also saw action at No. 2 doubles against Purdue and Illinois. The Wolverines pulled out two one-point victories over the weekend behind stellar play from sophomore Sora Moon, who had been struggling in her singles' matches before the weekend series. Men sweep a pair .~ ~' ~ ...Czechs oiist S.tir E :n~~. teamin D avis C UP By Richard Shin Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's tennis team's dominance at the Liberty Sports Com- plex is enough to give the Wolverines' opponents complexes of their own. Michigan swept two matches at Lib- erty this weekend in convincing fash- ion, defeating Purdue, 5-2, and blank- ing Illinois, 7-0. The wins move the Wolverines to 4-0 at home, 5-1 in the Big Ten and 10-7 overall. The Wolverines opened the weekend facing a much improved Purdue team, coached by former Michigan assistant Tim Madden.Tempersflaredbutdidn'tboil over as Michigan won four ofsix singles matches against the Boilermakers. "We came out and, for whatever rea- son, a lot of our players were in a real bad mood," Michigan coach Brian Eisnersaid. "Yes, we won the match, but we didn't move forward. "I was a little disappointed, and I think that (the team) was disappointed, too." For Michigan, Peter Pusztai defeated Derek Myers in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. In the battle of the ranked doubles teams, the Wolverine duo of Pusztai and John Costanzo, ranked No. 24, defeated the 20th-ranked tandem of Myers and Cris James of Purdue, 8-2. "We've probably got two of the five best doubles teams in the midwest," Eisner said. "And that's what has car- ried us. We usually win those matches like we did (this weekend)." Yesterday, the Fighting Illini came to Ann Arbor looking to stop the Wolver- ines, who are riding atwo-match winning streak. Illinois ended up being little more than a speed bump, dropping the dual match, 7-0. Eisner was happy with the team's performance against the Illini. "This was our best performance of theyear," Eisnerrsaid. "It didn't seem to make any difference what (Illinois) was going to do; we were going to do some- thing better. "That's what we want to build on to become a great team."- Leadingthe singles sweep for Michi- gan was Pusztai, who extended his own winning streak to six matches. He de- feated Jeremy Sutter in straight sets, 6- 3, 7-6 (7-4), recording a career-best 32nd victory on the season. In the second set, Pusztai found him- self down, 5-4, and 6-5, in the second set but stayed on serve to force the set into a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Pusztai displayed the composure that has allowed him to win 32 matches, winning four straight points to clinch a 7-4 tiebreaker victory. "I returned serve a lot better (against Purdue)," Pusztai said. "Again, I just let my mind wander, and I hit a few bad shots, but I still pulled out the win." The victory against a veteran Illinois team boosted the confidence of the Wolverines and their coaches, Eisner said. The Illini entered the match at 4-1 in the Big Ten and figured to be the toughest challenge thus far in the con- ference for Michigan. "This is huge win for us," Pusztai said. "We almost lost to Illinois last year, and they're a really good team. "And to beat them 7-0, it really helps our confidence. I'm sure everybody else in the Big Ten will notice this win." Several Michigan players bounced back after dropping the first set. The Wolverines' Arvid Swan, Jake Raiton and William Farah each posted three- set victories after a first-set scare. "Our guys turned those matches around and played better and better (after dropping the first set)," Eisner said. "I was really pleased with the effort our players showed." The only loss Michigan suffered yes- terday was at No. 3 doubles, where Raiton and Farah lost a close match to Sutter and Oliver Freelove, 8-6. Third doubles has been an enigmatic position for the Wolverines, but the combina- tion of Raiton and Farah at that position pleased Eisner. "No. 3 doubles been a question mark forus," Eisnersaid. "Totry to figure out which twosome is going to give us the best performance there has been very difficult. Even thoughthey lost, Raiton and Farah played a very good match." The victories against key opponents come at a good time for the Wolverines, who have seven Big Ten matches left on the schedule. The win against Illi- nois also provided apsychological boost for Michigan, said Goldberg. "The thing that stood out to me today was the competitive spirit of the play- ers," Goldberg said. "Everybody's per- severance, especially in the matches where we were down, that was the dif- ference." The Associated Press LONDON - The United States is out, the Czech Republic is in the Davis Cup semifinals. With Petr Korda beating American MaliVai Washington in three sets yes- terday in the decisive match, the Czech Republic upset the American "third- stringers" 3-2 and ousted the defending champions. The Czechs, who won their only Davis Cup in 1980, next play Sweden on Sept. 20-22. The Swedes completed a 5-0 sweep of India yesterday. In the other semifinals, Italy will play France. The Italians defeated South Africa 4-1 in Rome, while France beat Germany 5-0 in Limoges. The U.S. team, without Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier, had to go with Washington and Todd Martin in singles and Patrick McEnroe and Patrick Galbraith in doubles. Yesterday, Martin tied the series 2-2 by beating Daniel Vacek 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-1, before Korda overwhelmed Wash- ington 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-2. In Rome, South Africa's Wayne Ferreira lost for the the third time - twice in singles, once in doubles - as Italy moved to the semifinals for the first time since 1981. Renzo Furl an, ranked 21st, beat 10th- ranked Ferreira 3-6,6-0,7-6(7-4),k6-2, yesterday. Andrea Gaudenzi then beat Marcos Ondruska 6-1, 0-1, retired. . In Limoges, Guy Forget, subbing for Arnaud Boetsch, beat Germany's David Prinosil 6-3,0-6,6-4, and Cedric Pioline topped Hendrick' Dreekman 6-4, 6-3 Ailing Boris Becker played iA Saturday's doubles, which the Germans lost. France clinched its semifinal berth by winning Saturday's doubles. "This 5-0 win gives me a lotif plea- sure because it proves we havea solid team," French captain Yannick 'Noah said. "That makes 15 matches without a defeat." On grass in Calcutta, the Svede* already were 3-0 ahead before'Ncklas Kulti beat India's Leander Pae8-,3, 6- 7 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6) and Jonas Bjorkman defeated Mahesh Bhupati 6-2.6-4.; In zonal group matches, it was: Croatia 5, Ukraine 0; Romania 3, Fin- land 2; Morocco 4, Zimbabwe 1; and Spain 4, Israel 1 in the African-Euro Zone; and Australia 5, Japan 0 and Thailand 5, Hong Kong 0 in the Asia- Oceania Zone; Saudi Arabia 3 Bahrai 2 in the Oceania Zone Group II. In the American Zone I, it was Ar- gentina 4, Bahamas 1, and Brazil 4 Venezuela 1. .' , ' . AP PHOTO Former Michigan standout MaliVal Washington dropped his match to Peter Korda. Sanchez-Vicano takes Family Circle for first time in 10 tries The Associated Press HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Afteradecade of trying, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario finally won the Family Circle Cup, beating surprise finalist Barbara Paulus, yesterday. Sanchez Vicario won 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to earn the $200,000 first prize in the year's opening clay court tournament at Sea Pines Racquet Club. "I was coming every year, hoping to do a little better than the year before," she said. "Finally, the 10th time has been the one." Paul us made the final by topping two- time defending champion and No. I seed Conchita Martinez 7-6(7-2),6-4. Sanchez Vicario defeated No. 6 Jana Novotna in the semifinals, held Sunday because rain washed them out a day earlier. Sanchez Vicario started playing Hilton Head as a 15-year-old in 1987. But even after becoming known as an elite clay court player, she always seemed to run into someone hotter at the Family Circle. Sanchez Vicario lost to eventual cham- pion Steffi Graf in 1989 and 1993, even- tual 1991 winner Gabriela Sabatini, and in 1990, as a No. 2 seed, lost to Jennifer Capriati in the American's debut tourna- ment. It looked like 1995 would be Sanchez Vicario's tournament as she came in ranked No. I in the world. But a haphaz- ard stumble in the quarterfinals severely sprained her right ankle and forced her first withdrawal from a pro tournament. "I was playing some pretty good tennis then," she said, "but you can't worry about that. It gave me the strength to come back here and try to win it." It was probably too much to expect that Paulus, who missed 1993 and 1994 with wrist and back injuries, could beat the world's second- and third-best players- who were acombined 8-1 lifetime against her - on their favorite surface within a three-hour span. It did look possible, though, when Paulus came back from her first set to break Sanchez Vicario three times to tie the match. Sanchez Vicario, who whipped Novotna in 67 minutes, had almost an hour more rest than Paulus coming into the finals. But instead of the pow- erful forehands of Martinez, Sanchez Vicario had to deal with Paulus' speed and spin. Paulus, a tall, thin Austriaq, continu- ally pounded running forehands into the deep corners. It was a strategy that wore down Martinez, but couldn't hold up against Sanchez Vicario, known for long rallies and her ability to return almost any shot. "It was a good tactic in the second set," Paulus said. "But only in the second set." U El Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario celebrates her three-set win over Barbara Paulus: $10 CASH L _U UU mu~T 1Im'I U On Have an nnininn?. rl" Hf / , .< sue'