Mg --I r £tvul -1111049 Uue sweeps By Ames Goldstein an ark Snyder Dailports Writers SITROIT - The goal was nothing less than a swdi. SWchigan hockey coach Red Berenson stated it. The Mirigan hockey team stated it. Going into this week- ollege Hockey Showcase at the Joe Louis Arena, stiment around the team was the same. wins, nothing less. 1uichigan met that goal by squeaking past Minnesota, 4-3 in overtime, on Friday afternoon and manhandling Wisconsin, 8-4, on Saturday afternoon. "We set team goals throughout the year and (sweep- ing the Showcase) was one of the short-term goals we wanfd to achieve," Michigan assistant captain Jason Botterill said. "It's an NCAA Tournament-type of (atnii(sphere)." n Friday, captain Brendan Morrison once again 7yed the role of hero. Morrison received a pass in front of the net from Matt Herr and quickly put the puck through Minnesota goaltender Steve DeBus' legs 51 'M' doesn't look jie a No. 7 tea LEVELANIY - One thing became quite clea after Michigan's 80-74 win over Cleveland S Saturday. Michigan is not the seventh-best team in the cou Both major polls had the Wolverines rated as high b Saturday's squeaker against the Vikings. But after Michigan struggle knock off a pesky Cleveland S squad, either the Wolverines a ranked far too high or the Viki are a lock for No. 8 this week not a likely scenario. Despite a large height advar and an even larger edge in tal JOHN Cleveland State was one 3-poi L ROI away from winning the game. the Vikings down by just three Out of 33 seconds left, the consensus Bounds press row was that Cleveland would pull this one out. A4ad freshman James Madison, who had canned f Mrees already, not missed an open shot from 22 fee Wolverines would have probably lost. Michigan, up by just three at the half, began the ond with a 17-2 run. The Wolverines had a 57-41 le with 13 1/2 minutes left in the game. With 2:34 left Vikings were down by just a bucket. After letting Cleveland State climb back into a g that it should have been blown out of, the Wolverin played well enough to pull out the win. That is to their credit. What is inexcusable, however, is that No. 7 Mich didn't handily stomp Cleveland State. The Wolverines, much larger than their Midwest Collegiate Conference counterparts, only managed outrebound the Vikings 39-32. That is ridiculous, c ering that Cleveland State took eight more shots tha Michigan did, missing six of them. "I thought we'd have a chance to use our siz strength to wear them down," Michigan coach Fisher said after the game. "It looked like, at tim See .ER01, P Michigan's junior setter Linnea Me By Kevin Kasiborski bal Daily Sports Writer set, Number one. T Linnea Mendoza wears No. 1 on the back of was jersey, which is appropriate when you con- 3,0 er what she has accomplished over the past 8, a three years. wil The junior setter for the Michigan women's volleyball team entered the season with the coa Michigan record for most assists in a match (73, a sn accomplished three times), the highest assist the Scoreboard PHILADELPHIA 24, NY Giants 0 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DENVER 34, Seattle 7 BALTIMORE 31, Pittsburgh 17 St. Louis 26. NEW ORLEANS 10 CAROLINA 24, Tampa Bay 0 Houston 35, NY JETS 10 GREEN BAY 28, Chicago 17 OAKLAND 17, Miami 7 INDIANAPOLIS 13, Buffalo 10 (OT) New England at SAN DIEGO, inc. JACKSONVILLE 30, Cincinnati 27 MINNESOTA 41, Arizona 17 Home teams in CAPS Monday December 2, 1996 11 Showcase showdowns seconds into overtime. "I was just hanging out in the slot,' Morrison said. "I think their guy thought he had me covered, but he had his back to me. Me and Herr just made some eye con- tact and I went to the net. He made a perfect pass, and it was just a one-timer through (the goalie's) five-hole." The game should not have gone into the extra ses- sion. Michigan (13-1-1) was seconds away from a 3-2 victory. But, with six Gophers on the ice, Erik Rasmussen parked himself in front of Michigan goal- tender Marty Turco and knocked in a rebound under Turco's pads with 6.7 seconds left in regulation. Rasmussen's goal gave him a hat trick for the night, as he provided Minnesota with all of its offense. Michigan forward John Madden was in front of the net and had a chance to get in the way of Rasmussen's shot. And Herr was tied up left of the goal crease. But it was Herr who felt responsible for the goal. He had the chance to take some more time off the clock. "That was me that was skating down the left side (inside the Minnesota blue line);" Herr said. "I tried to dump it in, but I should have gone off the boards. I was- n't thinking and the puck hit off a (Minnesota player's) chest." Earlier in the period, a Minnesota player got in Herr's way, but on that occasion, it was to the Wolverines' advantage. With the score tied at two, Herr streaked down the left side of the ice and was attempting to make a cross- ing pass. Minnesota defenseman Bill Kohn was playing Herr tightly. But Herr's pass deflected off of Kohn's stick, lying almost prone on the ice, and whizzed over DeBus' shoulder into the top-left corner of the net. "I guess you know you are having a good day when something like that happens," Herr said. Herr had a great couple of days, scoring two goals and assisting on six others. The junior forward increased his conescutive scoring streak to 12 games. Friday, Turco started off not having a good day. Minnesota's first shot on goal went by Turco for Rasmussen's first goal of the night 18 seconds into the game. But Turco looked solid for most of the game, fac- ing the most shots he has seen since the season's second See SHOWCASE, Page 12 JONATHAN CURIE/Special to the Daily Wisconsin and Minnesota may have kept Michigan center John Madden down, but it opened up avenues for teammates' Brendan Morrison and Bill Muckalt to score. r Im ar tate, ntry. before d to State re ings ntage, ent, nter With e with on State. five t, the sec- ad , the ame ies igan to onsid- an ze and Steve es, we age 14 Michigan eeks out win over Vikings By Will McCahill Daily Sports Editor CLEVELAND - Plundering. Back in the days when vikings terrorized the known world, that was what they set out to do. And indeed, the latter-day Vikings of Cleveland State set out to do much the same Saturday night. As things turned MIchigan 80 f Cleveland St 74 out, it was all the Michigan men's bas- ketball team could do to keep the Vikings from plundering the Wolverines' No. 7 ranking. Michigan pulled out an 80-74 victory Saturday night in Cleveland, staving off a mad Viking charge that brought them back from a 16-point deficit with just under 14 minutes remaining in the sec- ond half, to within two with 40 seconds to go. But Cleveland State fouled the wrong guy with the clock running down, putting Michigan's sophomore guard - and top free-throw shooter - Louis Bullock on the line. Bullock hit from the charity stripe with 12 seconds left to put the Wolverines up, 78-74, and ice the game. Bullock missed the second free throw, but the carom was scooped up by Maceo Baston - back after missing almost a month with an Achilles tendon injury - and he was fouled on the put- back attempt. He swished the two foul shots that provided the final margin, "We just have to put them away when we have our chance;' Bullock said. "We let them right back in the game:' It may have been Baston's surprise entry into the game with over three min- utes into the second half that helped give the Wolverines the cushion they would need as the game wound down. Michigan went into halftime with a 40- 37 lead, and after the teams traded buck- ets, the junior came off the bench and immediately made his presence felt, blocking the first shot that came his way. The Wolverines then went galloping off. Guard Travis Conlan stole the ball ; and made a long outlet pass to the streaking Bullock, who was fouled while driving to the goal. The basket was good, and Bullock canned the free throw to make it 45-39. Just over three minutes later, Michigan seemed to have the game put away for good, sophomore center Robert Traylor's jam having staked the Wolverines to a 57-41 lead. Cleveland State, under the guidance of coach Rollie Massimino, was unde- terred. Senior center Eric Nichelson started the Vikings' comeback with a 3- pointer on Cleveland State's next pos- session on an assist by senior guard Malcolm Sims. Nichelson returned the favor the Vikings' next time down, as Sims' jumper cut Michigan'slead to 11. Nichelson added another deuce just over three minutes later, and the score stood at 60-52. The Wolverines looked See VIKINGS, Page 14 MARGARET MEYERS/Daily Though his coach would have liked to have held him out of the lineup for at least another game to rest a strained Achilles tendon he suffered Nov. 7, Maceo Baston delivered a much-needed lift off the bench. t k1Lk the F1~ 7ER-Ijole ndoza is piling up assists after migrating from California to play volleyball in Wolverine country total in a season (1,478 last year), and the most assists in a conference season (917 last year). And on Oct. 5 of this year, in a win over Northwestern, Mendoza moved into first-place in one more category - assists in a career. !It is a special thing," Mendoza says of her new record. "I don't want to say it's a reward, but it recognizes the matches that I've played. With an assist record, there is much more that goes into it besides me setting the ball. It depends on the pass and the team. "I made it a point to remember who hit the mo cou Cal ear ing my wit thi you 1 for some reason. I don't remember what I but Shareen (Luze) hit it." The old record, held by Tarnisha Thompson, s 2,619. Mendoza has since recorded her 00th assist in a win over Minnesota on Nov. and every assist she registers from now on I add to her record. "She is really an elite athlete," Michigan ach Greg Giovanazzi says. "I think people see ;mall player like that, and wouldn't say that y're elite. If you just watch the way Linnea ves and her sense for what happens on the urt, she is just gifted." Mendoza, who is a native of Santa Barbara, lif., credits her court sense and a lot of her ly development to her days growing up play- beach volleyball. "It really helped me in my ball control and court awareness," she says. "When you play h just two people on the court, you develop igs that you wouldn't indoor, especially when U do it at a young age. "(The beach) was integrated into our workout in high school and in club. We would have to run on the beach, jump in the sand - I was a beach bum for a long time." The sun, the surf and the sand. What could be better? As it turns out, Mendoza had to be talked into playing volleyball. She was in sixth grade, happily playing soccer, when her parents made her try out for a club team. "I was going to be the youngest one on the team, everyone else was in seventh or eighth grade," Mendoza recalls. "But it was actually a good thing." Mendoza kept her good thing going, and when she got to high school she realized that athletics could earn her a scholarship. "It was between soccer and volleyball," Mendoza said. "Which one was going to take me further? Which one did I want to pursue and put more time in too? "I ended up playing soccer and volleyball through high school just so I wouldn't get burned out on one sport, but I knew in my heart that wanted volleyball. There were more oppor- tunities and more programs." Mendoza only ended up in the Michigan pro- gram through what she called "a lucky situa- tion" and what Giovanazzi describes as "good fortune." In February 1993, when Giovanazzi was watching Mendoza's Santa Barbara Club team play, Mendoza was sitting on the bench. She was still a junior in high school and there were two senior setters on the team who the coaches were showcasing in hopes of earning them a scholarship. One of the parents pulled Giovanazzi aside and pointed out Mendoza. "This guy who came up to me was the father one of the other setters" Giovanazzi remem- bers. "And he said, 'Hey, Linnea should be out there, not my daughter. I really want you to look at Linnea, she is something special.' "As soon as we saw her touch the ball, we knew that this was a gifted kid. She has been a See MENDOZA, Page 13 JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily . E. C SJ. Gallo Win Sales Management Program ery LAST E CHANCE bbst Put Gallo To The Test.... 1 :. --- i