Scoreboard NATIONAL LEAGUE FLORIDA 9, Chicago 2 MONTREAL 6, San Francisco 0 PITT S6URGH 5, Colorado 2 CINCINNATI 12, Atlanta G San Diego 2, PHILADELPHIA 1 NEW YORK 3, Los Angeles 2 ST. LOUIS 6, Houston 4 AMERICAN LEAGUE TORONTO 6, Kansas City 0 CHICAGO 11, Detroit 6 Cleveland 7, MILWAUKEE 0 Minnesota 7, TEXAS 6 New York at OAKLAND, imc. Baltimore at CALIFORNIA, Irnc. Boston a SEATTLE, inc. {I Thursday September 5, 1996 12A Home team in CAPS _ _. 4 FILE PHOTO/Daily Spiked by a tough Big Ten, which features several top-10 teams, the Michigan women's volleyball team will have a net-high task this season. Experience, confidence key to Blue volleyball Michigan harners limp with injuries By James Goldstein Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's cross-coun- try team will miss two of its key mem- bers for the first month of the 1996 sea- son - two All-Americans, Junior Pauline Arnill and redshirO sophomore Michelle Slater are side- lined for at least the six meets in September with stress fractures in their legs. Both runners suffered their injuries in late spring and have not recuperated, enough to be ready for the first meet, which gets under way in a dual meet in East Lansing. this Saturday ate Michigan State. Arnill, who earned her secont, straight All-America citation last year, has the stress fracture in her shin. Arnill performed consistently, grab- bing one first-place win and six sec- ond-place finishes in all her meets. Slater has done serious water train- ing this summer to strengthen the leg, but will not participate in this week-i end's meet. The Rochester Hills native was the biggest surprise of the 1995 seaso which was her first year running crossi country. Michigan coach Mike McGuire will follow the status of his two injured run= ners carefully. "We'll be on top of the situation fron week to week," McGuire said. "But it definitely looks as if both runners will be out for the first month. We will miss them, but I think we'll be OK with tte other solid runners we have and tl$ people who will fill in for (Arnill and Slater)" One of those runners is 1995 BigTen Freshman of the Year Katie McGregor. Coming into just her sophomore year, McGregor will be looked on by McGuire as one of the Wolverines' top runners. McGregor grabbed two third place finishes, including one at last years NCAA Championships. McGuire calls McGregor, Arnill Slater (when the two injured runner return) the "cornerstones" of the squad. By Dan Stillman Daily Sports Writer The goal is clear: make the NCAA tournament. Although NCAAs seem like the next logical step for the Michigan women's volleyball team, getting there will be no easy task. Last year, the Wolverines made their first postseason tournament appearance since 1981. The Wolverines finished 19-15 last year. Their record landed them in sixth- place in the Big Ten and earned them a trip to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship tournament. This season, the Wolverines are off to an 0-3 start after losing to No. 1 Hawaii, No. 6 UCLA and No. 25 Louisville last weekend in the Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite the losses, the Wolverines have several reasons to be optimistic -two of which are last year's late-sea- son upsets of No. 8 Penn State and No. 21 Illinois. Overall, the Wolverines won five of their last seven matches in 1995. "It was really exciting (when we beat Penn State and Illinois), because we started to see that the potential wasn't just in the future," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. The confidence gained from last year's strong finish, combined with the team's experience will help the Wolverines in their attempt to attain their goal. The Wolverines lost co-captains Shannon Brownlee and Suzy O'Donnell to graduation, but Giovanazzi antici- pates that five of the six starters this sea- son will be juniors or sophomores. "This is the first year since I've been here we haven't had to rely on freshmen to come in and take over right away," Giovanazzi said. Michigan will compensate for the departure of Brownlee, who topped all Wolverines last year with a 4.30 kill average, and O'Donnell, who led the team last season with a .337 hitting effi- ciency, with several veterans. One of them, Linnea Mendoza, is already off to a fast start. The junior set- ter, who directed Michigan's offense last year while averaging 12.63 assists, moved into second place on Michigan's career assist list earlier this week. A couple of healthy seniors, specifi- cally outside hitters Colleen Miniuk and Kristen Ruschiensky, could also boost Michigan's offense. Both missed more than half of each of the past two seasons. When healthy, Ruschiensky is one of the top attackers in the country, Giovanazzi said. In case injuries plague them again this season, the Wolverines are stocked with three more outside hitters that should receive significant playing time - senior Shareen Luze and sopho- See VOLLEYBALL, Page 16A FILE PHOTO/Daily The Michigan women's cross-country team finished second In the Big Ten last year, but the Wolverines will be without former All-American Courtney Babcock this season. Two other All-Americans, Pauline Amilil and Michelle Slater, will miss the first month with stress fractures. See HARRIERS, Page 16A Career opportunities at J.P. 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