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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS Texas at NEW YORK, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Today's schedule Cleveland at BALTIMORE, 1 P.M. (ESPN)
Texas at NEW YORK, 8 P.M. (NBC) San Diego at ST. LOUIS, 4 P.M. (ESPN)
Cleveland at BALTIMORE, 1 P.M. Atlanta at LOS ANGELES, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
(ESPN) HOME TEAMS IN CAPS

04

Tuesday
October 1, 1996

12


No question, Steele
has overcome injury
Bad back hasn't kept end from starting

By Ryan White
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan defensive end Glenn Steele has
questions about where his questionable status
has been coming from.
He wasn't expected to play at all against
Boston College two weeks ago, and was only
expected to see limited action last weekend
against UCLA.
But that was news to him.
"I'm going to start and, I'm going to play,"
Steele said. "I really couldn't tell you why they
list me as questionable."
It could have something to do with the back
injury Steele suffered in San Antonio, Texas,
four days before last season's Alamo Bowl loss
to Texas A&M.
While Steele's recovery has been slow, caus-
ing Michigan coaches to list him as question-
able, he hasn't seemed to miss a beat on the
field.
Against Boston College he had six solo tack-
les, two tackles for loss and one sack. Not a bad
performance for a guy Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr didn't expect to see on the field.
Steele didn't have to play much against the
Bruins, but he still managed to make an impact
by continually pressuring UCLA quarterback
Cade McNown, sacking him once.
It was Steele's 13th career sack, tying him for
ninth on Michigan's all-time sack list. He is only

three sacks away from tying former teammate
Trent Zenkewicz for seventh place.
Even though Steele is playing well, he's tak-
ing things one step at a time. He doesn't practice
as much as he would if he were healthy, and he
is continually rehabilitating his back.
"I'm not out there trying to kill myself,"
Steele said. "My back is getting stronger, but it's
going to take time."
How long is questionable.
COMING OUT THROWING: Carr jokingly su
gested yesterday that Michigan's first three
plays against UCLA, all passes, were called to
appease the media.
In reality, however, only the first and third
were called passes. On second down, quarter-
back Scott Dreisbach checked out of the run and
into a pass play. On the third play, Dreisbach'
again called the play at the line of scrimmage.
"Instead of calling a route that would have
gotten us the first down, Scott checked to the
deep pass, which I didn't appreciate," Carr sai
It was one of the few things Carr could fin
to criticize.
Michigan piled up 559 yards in total offense
while the defense held the Bruins to only 170.
"I think we have a lot of tests ahead of us,"
Carr said. "But I wouldn't be honest if I didn't
say I was pleased."
The Wolverines return to playing Big Ten
See WOLVERINES, Page 14

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan defensive end Glenn Steele has been wondering why the coaching staff keeps listing him as questionable for the Wolverines' games. So
far, the only thing questionable about Steele is how many quarterbacks he will eat each Saturday.

i

Tough
schedule
awaits 'M'
stickers
By Pranay Reddy
and Richard Shin
Daily Sports Writers
The Michigan field hockey team
got a taste of the high level of com-
petition in the Big Ten this past
weekend, dropping two matches at
home to Ohio State and Penn State.
Despite the losses over the week-
end; the Wolverines have played
well all season and have had no
trouble staying competitive in each
of their matches.

u

Vi

Open
Season

National champs
By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Writer
When the Michigan hockey team
took the ice yesterday, some things
were different than the last time the
Wolverines were on their home ice.
Four players have graduated. Yost
Ice Arena is amidst construction.
And there was no game.
Despite the minor variations,
Michigan took the ice and held its
first practice of the season.
Michigan coach Red Berenson
felt the players got in a good work-
out for their first time on the ice at
Yost.
"The attitude is there, and the
work ethic (was high)," Berenson
said. "We did a lot of skating and
puckhandling, and the pace didn't
drop too much."
The upbeat pace of the practice

' practice begins
was marked by the back and forth
drills the team ran. Various two-on-
two and three-on-two combinations
had the Wolverines moving up and
down the ice.
The players' conditioning played a
large role in the transition back t
practice, Berenson said.
"The good thing about (this team)
is that the players skate more in the
summer and are in better shape than
players of 10 or 20 years ago," he
said.
While this was the first day with
the coaching staff, many of the play-
ers participated in unofficial cap-
tain's practices.
Michigan captain Brendan
Morrison, along with assistant ca
tains Jason Botterill *and Blak.
Sloan, have conducted workout ses-
See PRACTICE, Page 13

"I think (the
Notebook

0-2 start) is disap-
pointing as a
team," Michigan
co - captain
Meredith Franden
said. "We've
played well, but
we have the rest
of the Big Ten
season to look
forward to."
But the sched-

KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
All-American goaltender Marty Turco and Michigan coach Red Berenson return to the ice for the first time together since the
Wolverines won the national championship in March. The Wolverines opened practice officially yesterday.

Mendoza 50 assists from Michigan all-time record

ule doesn't look to be getting easier,
with four of the six conference
teams competing in field hockey
ranked in the top 20 in the nation.
Michigan State, the Wolverines'
next opponent, is ranked No. 11 and
is joined in the poll by No. 3 Iowa,
No. 12 Northwestern and No. 19
Penn State.
Michigan State began its Big Ten
campaign with a victory over
defending Big Ten tournament
champion Penn State, 4-2, raising
its record to 8-1 overall.
Big Ten front-runner Iowa has
started off its season strong with
wins over top-notch competition.
The Hawkeyes have defeated No. 7
Northeastern, No. 10 Boston
University as well as conference
rival Northwestern.
Despite Iowa's impressive victo-
ries, the top spot in the Big Ten
belongs to Ohio State, which, ironi-
cally, is not ranked. The Buckeyes
defeated Michigan State in East
Lansing on Sunday, 3-0, behind the
solid defensive performance of
See FIELD HOCKEY, Page 14

By Sharat Raju
Daily Sports Writer
The "Mendoza Line" is a term often used in
sports - normally in reference to the Detroit
Tigers - as a demarcation of mediocrity.
But not for the Michigan women's volleyball
team. Mendoza refers to Linnea Mendoza, the
talented setter for the Wolverines.
"I can't say enough about how good she is,"
Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "She's
the best server on the team, one of the top
three defensive players and she runs our entire
offense - which is more than a quarterback
does."
The Wolverines have gotten off to a rough
start this season (0-2 Big Ten, 5-8 overall),
having dropped matches to Illinois and Iowa
during the Big Ten's opening weekend. In
those 13 games, many players have shown
flashes of brilliance, while many have played
below expectations at times. Only Mendoza
has stayed on top of her game.
"My role is to be consistent every game,"
Mendoza said.
And the line on Mendoza is consistency. A

two-time varsity letter-winner, the junior is
averaging 11.87 assists a game, seventh in the
Big Ten.
One of the most important tasks Mendoza
has as a setter is to keep the opposing defense
off-guard with her passing.

Notebook

"I have to look at the
blockers across the net,
know who to attack, know
who our hot hitter is,"
Mendoza said. "It's a com-
plex thing. I have to think of
who to set and where to set
them."

Santa Barbara native has already become the
fastest Wolverine ever to reach the 2,500 assist
plateau.
But Mendoza remains modest and down-to-
earth about the record.
"I don't really think about it, especially.not during
the game," Mendoza said.
"Assists are assists."
The Wolverines hope she
continues to think that way -
.> it's been working so far.
Hopefully for Michigan, the
rest of the team can fall in sync.
"I think when it's all said
and done, she'll be in the
record books for digs and
aces as well," Giovanazzi
Mendoza said.
NOT A TOTAL LOSS:
Although the Wolverines lost both matches
over the weekend, there were some positives.
The team's 208 attempts against Iowa were a
season high.
Sarah Jackson had a career-best eight block
assists against the Hawkeyes.

1I can't say enough
about how good she Is
.she runs our entire
offense,.
- Greg Giovanazzi
Michigan volleyball coach
Karen Chase set four career-highs and tieP
two others. She recorded career-bests in kills
(23) digs (22), block assists (4) and solo
blocks (2). Chase tied her career mark in aces
(2) and total blocks (4).
A LITTLE STATE PRIDE: "Intrastate rivalry"
is a tired and trite expression used by a count-
less number of sports reporters. Apparently
the powers-that-be in the world of Big Ten vol-
leyball read those same sports sections.
When the Wolverines and Michigan Sta*
face off Friday and Nov. 2, it won't be any
See STATE PRIDE, Page 13

Mendoza's influence on
the court is most clearly
shown in the fact that she's
about to break the all-time Michigan assist
record. Tarnisha Thompson, who played for
the Wolverines from 1989 to '92, is the current
record-holder with 2,619.
Mendoza needs 50 more .assists, so she
should break the record some time on Friday
when the Wolverines play Michigan State.
Having played in 229 games (69 matches), the

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