The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 1, 1996 - 13 field hockey to host anticipated showdown with Big Ten rivals By Pranay Reddy Daily Sports Writer The stage is set. The Michigan field hockey team turns home this weekend for the most anticipated home series of the season. The Wolverines (2-6 Big Ten, 7-8 over- all) close out their regular season against conference foes Northwestern and Iowa. The Wildcats (2-6 Big Ten, 7-10 over- all) head to Ocker Field today to face Michigan at 3 p.m. Northwestern is coming off an up-and-down week. The Wildcats lost two tough contests to Ball State, 3-2, and Iowa, 1-0. #rthwestern played well in both match- es, yet still lost both games. In fact, the Wildcats gave Iowa fits for the most part of the match - which is saying a lot, considering the Hawkeyes are undefeat- ed in the conference. Iowa coach Beth Beglin certainly real- izes the toll the Northwestern battle took on her squad. -"i'm a little concerned with how banged up our team is and the fact that * are not coming off a well-played game,' she said. Regardless of Northwestern's strong play and a previous 4-2 win over Michigan in Evanston, tomorrow's match might be the undercard to Sunday's main event - a showdown at high noon with regular-season Big Ten champion Iowa. The second-ranked Hawkeyes have I want to make sure they go out with a bang." - Marcia Pankratz Michigan field hockey coach on her four senior co-captains been nothing short of dominant this year, with a 15-1 overall record, including an 8-0 run in the Big Ten. Michigan is flying high coming into the weekend, however, especially follow- ing a 3-2 road win over Ohio State, which vaulted the previously unranked Wolverines to No. 18 in the nation. "(Our) morale is on an upswing," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "We've got a lot of good momentum going into the weekend." And it seems momentum has been in short supply this year for the Wolverines, who had lost four straight conference games prior to the victory over the Buckeyes. The triumph was more than welcome in the eyes of Pankratz. "(The girls) now know that they have it in them (to play consistently), and they feel really good about that," she said. "I think their confidence level is up." Michigan's newfound excitement should no doubt be fueled by the pres- ence of its seniors. For senior co-cap- tains Bree Derr, Meredith Franden, Selina Harris and Michelle Smulders. this weekend will be their last hurrah with the Wolverines. "I think (the seniors) are very, very fired up," Pankratz said. "These four seniors have put a lot into this program, and we are going to miss them tremen- dously. "I want to make sure they go out with a bang and really have a great experience for their last home game." And what an experience it would be for Michigan, considering the Wolverines have lost to Iowa in all of their 30 meetings, includinga 6-1 defeat earlier this year in Iowa City. The contest also holds great impor- tance to Michigan for another reason. With the ultra-competitive Big Ten tour- nament looming, Pankratz is stressing the importance of heading to the playoff with momentum. "All of the teams (in the Big Ten) on any given day can battle each other and win,"she said. "So it's important to have great momentum and be peaking going into (the tournament)." FILE PHOTO/Daily Michigan's Bree Derr and three other seniors will play in their last regular-season games as Wolverines against Northwestern today and Iowa on Sunday. Derr, Meredith Franden, Selina Harris and Michelle Smulders will grace Ocker Field for the final time before heading to the Big Ten tournament Nov. 8-10 at Evanston. ' netters carry high ranking to Districts By Jordan Field aiy Sports Writer With confidence and optimism, the No. 24 Michigan men's tennis team trav- els to East Lansing this weekend for the District IV Championship as the highest ranked team in the tournament. "We are extremely optimistic and anxious for this tournament" Michigan. tennis coach Brian Eisner said. "We had a tremiendous effort from everyone at Georgia Tech (Oct. 18-20), and we are nly going to build on that performance. Wveryone is really ready to play." The tournament is one of eight district championships scheduled nationally for this weekend. The winner and runner-up in the singles draw, and the winner of the doubles draw from each district tourna- ment, will qualify for the National Indoor Championship in Dallas in February. "This championship in East Lansing *ically serves as a sectional champi- nship for the national championship in February," Eisner said. "Our goal is to have as many of our guys to qualify for that championship and to continue the excellent play we know we are capable of." Michigan is the highest nationally ranked team in its district, making it the favorite at the tournament. "Our national ranking just validates the hard work we have put in this year, id confirms our confidence, despite osing three of our top five singles play- ers from last year," Eisner said. "We feel that we should even be ranked higher, and this is our first opportunity to prove our dominance in District IV" Despite being the team to beat, Michigan doesn't feel pressure heading into the tournament. "We have prepared very hard for this tournament,' junior Arvid Swan said. "No one feels pressure on their shoul- ders. Everyone has a great attitude and is very focused for this tournament." Michigan is led by juniors Swan, Brook Blain and David Paradzik. Sophomore Will Farrah and freshmen Matt Wright and Brad McFarlane will also compete for Michigan in East Lansing. All six will compete in the sin- gles draw as well as the doubles draw. Swan and Blain, ranked No. 34 in the nation in doubles, will team up as Michigan's No. I doubles team with Paradzik and Farrah following at No. 2 and Wright and McFarlane at No 3. "This tournament gives us, as a team and individually, a chance to jump into national rankings, Blain said. "Arvid (Swan) and I are out to prove to the world how good we are. "We all want to prove that Michigan again is a dominant tennis team." Michigan is stressing this tournament to show they have not lost a step since winning last season's Big Ten title. "I actually believe that we are a better team now than we were at this stage of the season last year," Eisner said. "We are ready to prove ourselves and this is the time to do it." great scores... 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