The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 1, 1996 - 11 Blue spikers face Wildcats, MSU By Kevin Kasiborski Daily Sports Writer Normally, you want to have a strong game plan prepared for a match again.t a top-five team. And when that top-five team is your archrival, and the battle is for State- Pride, what else matters? Well, before the Michigan women's volleyball team faces No. 5 Michigan State at home Saturday, it must play Northwestern at home today. And that's no small matter. The Wolverines (3-7 Big Ten, 8-13 overall) have spent the majority of this week preparing for their match against the Wildcats (0-11, 9-15). "Our feeling is that we have got to take care of our turf," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "And our turf right now is from the middle to the bot- tom of the Big Ten. We have got to take care of those teams. So we are not doing a lot of preparation for Michigan State right now." The match against Northwestern could not have come at a better time for Michigan. The Wolverines finished up the first half of the Big Ten season with a disappointing loss to Purdue. "We need to re-focus and just forget about the first-half, because there is nothing we can do about it now," Michigan senior Kristen Ruschiensky said. "We need to come together as a team and have a better second half" The Wolverines were 0-3 in the con- ference the first time they played Northwestern, but after defeating the Wildcats, 3-0, Michigan went on to upset No. 9 Wisconsin the next week. After that, however, came a streak in which Michigan lost four of five. "(Northwestern) is an absolute must win," Giovanazzi said. "They are win- less, and they are playing against a team that is struggling, so we better expect them to come out and come after us. "I really believe that even though it's a team that's 0-11 in the league, if we have a good match against them, we'll devel- op some momentum, and hopefully we can carry that into Saturday's match." Michigan will need momentum before it faces the Spartans (1 1-0, 17-4). The Spartans have won their past 16 Big Ten matches and 30 of their past 31. "We just have to realize that it's all in our hands now," Ruschiensky said. "There's nothing the coaching staff can do. It's all what happens when the six people chosen go out on the court." In their first meeting with Michigan State on Oct. 4, the Wolverines jumped out to 1-0 lead, taking the first game 15- 10. They dropped the next three, howev- er, 15-3, 15-6, 15-11. "The fourth game was very close;" Giovanazzi said. "When you have a fourth game that is very close, you can easily go to five. There is nothing we would like more than to get into a fifth game with Michigan State." Jenna Wrobel had 20 kills for the Spartans in their first meeting with Michigan and is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week. Saturday will be Michigan's 100th match played in Cliff Keen Arena. Anyone with a football ticket stub will be admitted free. JOE WESTRATE/Daily Johnfladden and the rest of the Wolverines square off at Notre Dame tonight and at Michigan State tomorrow night. If Michigan comes away with two victories this weekend, the Wolverines will break the school record of 15 consecutive wins set during the 1990-91 season. jrish, Spartans in the way of 'M' icers consecutive win record a- MANAGEMENT TRAINEES/SALES COORDINATORS Dty Andy Knudsen Daily Sports Writer ; Once again, Michigan State may "ave the chance to thwart a Michigan milestone. iThe Michigan hockey team has won games in a row since its 7-3 loss at ake Superior on Feb. 24. A victory tonight at Notre Dame would tie the school record of 15 -traight victories set during the 1990- 1l season. The game will be shown on 'ape-delay by PASS Sports at 10 p.m.. n The Wolverines (2-0-0 CCHA, 5-0- 0 overall) would then have a chance to break the record at Michigan State toniorrow night at 7 p.m. '9But history may be stacked against Michigan. Ironically, the 1990-91 squad's streak was broken by -- surprise, sur- prise - Michigan State in a 6-2 loss at J6e Louis Arena. Also, the last time the intrastate rivals met in Munn Ice Arena, the Spartans emerged victori- "(Munn is) a tough rink to win in," Michigan coach Red Berenson said, Michigan's memories of Munn n't all bad, however. It was the site ,,of "'The Goal" by Mike Legg and the Wolverines' 4-3 victory over Mhnesota in last season's regional final. To even have a chance at setting the new record, the Wolverines can't look past tonight's game with the Fighting Irish (1-1-1, 2-1-1). "We can't take Notre Dame lightly' *ht wing Bill Muckalt said. "They've played us tough down there the last two years. There should be no excuse for us coming out flat." Michigan leads the overall series against Notre Dame 41-32-2, but is hty 13-15-0 when playing at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is used to low-scoring affairs. In four games this season, the Fighting Irish have scored nine goals Ind only given up six. None of the ghting Irish has more than three points. By contrast, having played one more -ame, seniors John Madden (five gals, six assists) and Brendan Morrison (two goals, nine assists) lead l h& Wolverines with 11 points each. Notre Dame goalie Matt Eisler has ""4 tough job of trying to stop M higan's potentially explosive ense. But he just might be up to the Eisler, possibly benefiting from the presence of volunteer-goalie coach Darren Pang, a former NHL netminder and current ESPN analyst,'has an impressive .954 save percentage, allowing only six of the 131 shots he has faced get past him. "We really need to get off on the right foot against both of these teams this weekend," Berenson said. "They're both going to be tough at home." The Spartans (2-0-0, 3-2-0) will be looking to get back at Michigan after losing four of five meetings to the Wolverines last season. For anyone unfamiliar with the intense rivalry between the two squads, Madden gave a Cliff Notes version. "They hate us. We hate them," he said. "It's more (about) bragging rights than anything." Berenson said the rivalry has not changed much since he played for the Wolvennes. "It was a war when I played here," he said. "It was a war when (assistant coach) Billy Powers played here, and its still a war." Michigan State lost its leading scor- er and perennial go-to guy Anson Carter to graduation, but so far has not had much trouble replacing him. Junior Sean Berens (three goals, seven assists) leads the Spartans with 10 points, and the team has scored in 14 of 15 periods. "I see (Michigan) State as an improved team over last year, and maybe a little bit because Carter is gone," Berenson said. "They may play more like a team this year than they did with Carter there." Michigan has also scored in all but one period, averaging 5.2 goals per game, but still is not satisfied with its offensive output. "We need more balance on ottense throughout the team," Madden said. "There are a couple guys who could probably step it up. They know who they are. "We need a balanced attack from all four lines like we had last year." Berenson mixed up the second and third lines in an effort to increase their productivity. "We need Legg to get going, and the third line has to contribute more,; Berenson said. Legg was moved to left wing with Madden and Warren Luhning on the second line, and Greg Crozier was moved to the third line with Matt Herr and Sean Ritchlin. Five games into the season, Legg has one goal and two assists. The last time he knocked the puck in the net was in Michigan's opening game of the season against Waterloo at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube on Oct. 8. 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