The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 2, 1996 -13 omen :cagers scare No. 1 Stanford Richard Shin Daily Sports Writer The unranked and unheralded Itchigan women's basketball team ame within seconds of pulling off an upset of epic proportions last night in Hawaii, losing, 77-74, to top-ranked Stanford in the finals of the Hawaiian Air Wahine Classic. The game, which ended just before press time, pitted the Wolverines inst the heavily favored Cardinal. Michigan fell behind by as many as 17 points in the second half, but junior center Pollyanna Johns and freshman guard Stacey Thomas led a comeback that brought the Wolverines within a point with 12 seconds to play. 0Stanford's Kate Starbird hit the win- ning free throws to ice the game for the Cardinal, after missing the front end of a one-and-one and allowing junior for- *vard Molly Murray to sink a 3-pointer and run the score to 75-74. The close encounter with the coun- try's top squad came after the Wolverines (5-1 overall) breezed ::through the Thanksgiving tournament. While most people were gobbling ~tip turkey, Michigan' was feasting on opponents, defeating host Hawaii, 75- ,,63, to reach the showdown against top- ranked Stanford. In the first round, cihigan carved up Virginia Tech, 79- 3. In Saturday's semifinal game against the Rainbows, the Wolverines led at halftime, 35-29. In the second half, Michigan guard Jennifer Kiefer "hit her third 3-pointer of the game with 15:43 left, ignitiig an I1-point run to open a 52-38 lead which the Wolverines would not relinquish. : In all, Michigan had four players ore in double digits, led by junior center Pollyanna Johns, who scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Kiefer added 16, including 4 of 6 from behind the arc, and Tiffany Willard and Stacey Thomas added I1 and 10 nts, respectively. Hawaii was led by forward Nani Cockett's 32 points, but the Rainbows only shot 35.5 percent from the field. Michigan dominated the Rainbows on the glass with a 54-33 rebounding edge and forced 15 Hawaii turnovers. On Friday against Virginia Tech, Michigan went on a 13-1 run early in the first half to take a 19-5 lead. The Wolverines never trailed in the game, winning 79-63. Michigan held a 56-36 advantage in rebounds over the Hokies, and has out- rebounded every opponent this season. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For in-depth coverage of the lverihes' near-upset, read Daily t~orts tomorrow :EI 'M' volleyball ends year by winning last four matches By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer Not a bad way to end a season - four straight victories to steal sixth place in the Big Ten. The Michigan women's volleyball team defeated Illinois and Iowa over the weekend to close the season at 14-17 overall and 9-11 in the conference. As recently as a month ago, the Wolverines were staring at a ninth-place finish. But a final surge at the end of the season has thrust Michigan into sixth place, its fourth-best Big Ten finish in the 12 seasons that the conference has used the current scheduling format. The first of Michigan's two weekend victories did not come easily. On Friday, the Wolverines faced then sixth-place Illini (8-12 Big Ten, 13-15 overall). The match turned out to be a gut-wrenching contest, with Michigan rallying from two games behind to win, 4-15, 15-17, 15-13, 15-13, 18-16. After being walloped in the first game, the Wolverines man- aged a close second game, tying the match at 15 before drop- ping the final two points. Michigan forced a decisive fifth game after holding on in game three and a tight game-four victory. Game five proved to be a good old-fashioned barn-burner, with the Wolverines and the Illini tangled up in nine ties. Michigan finally broke through and won the match on a blocking error by Illinois. The victory featured several standout performances, includ- ing record-breaking ones. Michigan setter Linnea Mendoza recorded 95 assists, breaking the team's previous single-match record of 80, set by Mendoza last week against Purdue. The total is the third-highest ever by a Big Ten player, and the high- est by any player in the conference this season. Mendoza's distribution of the ball to all the hitters was instrumental in the victory. The biggest beneficiaries of her sets were outside hitter Kristen Ruschicnsky, who had a sea- son-high 24 kills, and outside hitter Karen Chase and middle blocker Sarah Jackson who recorded 21 kills apiece. On Saturday, the Wolverines played on their home court for the final time this season. The Hawkeyes (5-15, 10-21) were all that was in the way of Michigan's drive to capture sixth place. Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi started the match with Meg Akehi, Shareen Luze, Erin McGovern and Ruschiensky - four seniors playing in their last match at Michigan. The fourth game turned out to be the decisive one in the match. The Wolverines stormed out to a 14-0, lead with Jeanine Szczesniak serving 11 of the points. The Hawkeyes couldn't rally from that point, and the Wolverines eventually won, 15-11, 17-15, 15-10, 15-5. Mendoza finished with 45 assists, giving her 1,359 for the season - a total surpassed only by Mendoza's mark last year. Luze and Jackson again led the offense, each tallying 17 kills. Michigan's season has ended. At 9-11 in the conference, the Wolverines are unlikely to be invited to compete in theNCAA tournament. The NIVC tournament, designed for those teams that were not selected for the NCAAs, has been eliminated this season for unspecified reasons. However, the Wolverines do have hope Tor the future. Four of the five regular starters will be returning for next season and several freshmen and sophomores, such as Maggie Cooper and Anne Poglits, saw significant playing time during the season. JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily Unnea Mendoza (facing), Michigan volleyball's all-time assist leader, had her sea- son end over the weekend as the Wolverines finished sixth place in the Big Ten. MENDOZA Continued from Page 11 god-send for this program." While growing up, Mendoza was a UCLA. fan, and that was where she wanted to go to college. She only knew about Michigan through the football and basketball teams, and from watching the Rose Parade. Being recruited forced her to take a longer look at Michigan. And the more she looked, the more she liked it. "I wanted to go to a really good school with a good reputation," Mendoza said. "I always wanted to go to UCLA, but there is the height issue, and I am not the typical player that they would want on the court. I compare UCLA and Michigan, and I think they are very similar." Michigan, the similar school, now had a unique player. The beginning of Mendoza's career was an adjustment period, as it is for all freshman, and she split the setting duties with current senior Erin McGovern. "My freshman year was a lot of instructional work," Mendoza said. "When I should set this and why. There are so many little things, and I was so overwhelmed. I never would have guessed that was what setting was all about" One of those little things was decep- tion. Mendoza admits that as a fresh- man, she didn't worry about faking the other team, she was just worried about where she was setting the ball. Giovanazzi says that predictability is something that all setters have to guard against, especially when their team is not passing well. "In our game, 60 percent of the sets go out the left side, so everybody's defense is used to that play," he said. "It's kind of like if your playing against the Green Bay sweep every play. They're all ready for it. "When Linnea is doing a great job, she turns that average pass into an opportunity to set (right side hitter) Jeanine Szczesniak or (middle hitter) Linsey Ebert, or someone other than the left side. And when she is able to do that, then our offense opens up, and we are a different team." In her first season, Mendoza, far from home and in a new climate, learned quickly and even took the winter weath- er in stride. "My first winter here I was rooming with (fellow California native) Sara Griffin, who's on the softball team, and the first flurry we were so excited. Our next door neighbor was Sarah Jackson, and she was just laughing at us, because she is from Minnesota, and it was old- hat for her." For the past two seasons, Mendoza has been the starting setter. She says it is much easier to process everything on the court now, just from the two years of experience. Giovanazzi now gives her a lot of freedom in directing the offense. This paid off last season when she set the Michigan record for assists in a match with 73, and later in the year she tied her own record twice in consecutive weekends. This year, Mendoza had not approached her record until a week and a half ago. In a match against Purdue on Nov. 22, she topped her old mark, set- ting her teammates up for kills 80 times. Unlike the three previous times she had set or tied the record, the Purdue match only lasted four games, and not five. This Friday, with the ink not even dry in the record book, Mendoza shattered her week-old record with 95 assists in a five-game, come-from-behind win over Illinois. It was the third-highest assist total ever by a Big Ten player. Even the casual observer can often tell when Mendoza is on her game. If the Michigan attackers only see one blocker in front of them when they ele- vate for the spike, that one-on-one situa- tion was probably caused by Mendoza. And leaving Karen Chase, 'Kristen Ruschiensky and company one-on-one is just asking for trouble. "I think one of the reasons Linnea has progressed the way that she has is because of Erin," Giovanazzi said. "Erin is kind of the Montana for Steve Young. I think Erin has done a great job of being supportive her and tutoring her, and almost being an interpreter for me. ' "I communicate probably a little bit better with Erin than I do with Linnea during matches. So a lot of times I will communicate to Erin what I need to get to Linnea. Then I sit there on Sunday, and I think, 'Wow, that's what pro quar- terbacks are doing.' It's worked out real- ly well." Mendoza says that, in addition to interpreting the coaches instructions, whichever setter is not in the game has the responsibility of deciding which sets are working and identifying the sets which might work even better. The communication between the two setters required for Michigan to succeed makes it vital that the setters have a good relationship, and Mendoza says they do. "It's a really good relationship," she said. "We are competitive with each other, but itis a good kind of competi- tive. We raise each others play. I think she is a really good setter." Mendoza, who has been such a quick learner, is majoring in education, with the goal of being a teacher some day. But first there is the business of her senior season next fall. Record wise, this season has been a little disappointing for the Wolverines. After an 11-9 finish in the Big Ten last year, Michigan only managed 9-11 record this year. Mendoza said the Wolverines didn't learn how to win during their brutal non-conference schedule. "We never learned how to shut a game out," she said. "We never had that feeling of going all the way through to the very end. We were always cut-off because these teams knew how to do that. "But when it came to the teams that we should have beat, and we didn't do it, that's when things started to fall apart for us confidence-wise." Two of the teams the Wolverines felt they should have beaten are Iowa and Illinois. Michigan dropped its first two matches of the Big Ten season to the Hawkeyes and Illini, and both matches went five games. This weekend Michigan got a mea- sure of revenge with wins over those two teams, finishing its season with a four- match winning streak. But with the final chapter of their season now closed, the Wolverines are not thinking about what might have been. Instead their thoughts are shifting forward to next year, when five of Michigan's six starters, including Mendoza, will be back. "Can I say just one more thing?" Giovanazzi asked. "I am really looking forward to Linnea's senior season." It's safe to say he isn't the only one. "DISNEY MAGIC HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!" AMEICAN tRBAN RADIO NETWORKS "A CLASSIC MASTERPIECE! 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