1OB -- The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - November 18, 1996 Blue spikers drop home matches to No. 11 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State 0 SBy Kevin Kasiborski game. Mid Daily Sports Writer before it eve Lights, camera, volleyball action. Ohio State c The sights and sounds of Michigan volley- outside hitt ball were broadcast to a national television bulk of the Saudience for the first time ever Saturday night. But then & And the Michigan women's volleyball team outscored tI gave the ESPN2 viewers, as well as the crowd game, comp at Keen Arena, a good show. The Wolverines the match. threw a scare into No. 11 Ohio State before "I know ii falling, 3-i (21-15, 12-14, 16-14, 19-17). game one. 1 t t It was Michigan's second loss of the week- team) could end. The Wolverines also dropped a match to nervous," G No. 4 Penn State on Friday, 3-0 (15-6, 15-4, 15- pens when c ~ ..' .. i..11), also at homne. gamne in mni The unusual final score of the Ohio State the TV pack~ .'..ii .::::jij~, ~ ...match is a result of the modified scoring system Ohio Stat used for TV matches. The first three games in the secot ~*~' ~- ~were eight-minute timed games with sideout started its c( scoring. The fourth ganme was played using rally Trailing b scoring (point awarded on every serve) up to cut the Buck 17. minutes remr Michigan (5-11 Big Ten, 10-17 overall) Sophomo looked like it was going to force a deciding fifth kill gave M 2 -game, as it led the fourth most of the way. The got a points Wolverines posted leads of 8-5 and 13-10, and hitter Jeanin a spike by sophomore outside hitter Karen and then rol Chase broke a 16-16 tie to give Michigan a 17- digger was i Michigan couldn't close the Buckeyes out, the poin t h however. Ohio State (12-4, 23-4) got a sideout rallies of th to tie the score at 17, and two kills by junior out- First, M' side hitter Andrea Pankova ended the match. Maggie C( "I felt like our team was the best I've seen Szczesniak them all year tonight, and that includes the spike was b upset over Wisconsin," Michigan coach Greg ball was h Giovanazzi said. senior outs "Here we took Ohio State out of their game. bailed the ~ The only time they came back is when we let dliving dig, AMAPERCUDiy them back in." into a kill ai Junior mIddle blocker Sarah Jackson (left) and sophomore outside hitter Karen Chase DAMIAd nEtRESCUOath In the beginning of the match, however, the Michigan Penn State attack Friday night as the No. 4 Nittany Lions swept Michigan on its home court. Wolverines were at anything but the top of their the final 1:2 Cager Poglits moonlights for Blue volleyball Two-sport athlete takes time off from the Crisler hardwood to bump, set and spike at Keen higan found itself trailing, 8-1, n1 got its first sideout of the match. pened up an 18-4 lead, with junior er Venessa Wouters handling the offensive load. the jitters wore off, and Michigan he Buckeyes, 11-3, the rest of the iletely reversing the momentum of t just looked like a terrible effort in but it wasn't a terrible effort, (the n't function because they were so 'iovanazzi said. "That's what hap- ~ur conference gives us our first TV i-November of the second year of :age." e also jumped out to an early lead nd game, but this time, Michigan )meback sooner. ~y as many as five, the Wolverines keyes' lead to 12-10 with about two iaining. re middle blocker Linsey Ebert's ichigan a sideout. The Wolverines when a spike by sophomore outside ie Szczesniak hit the top of the net led over, and the diving Ohio State called for a lift Case pued aMichigan even, and e night. ichigan freshman outside hitter ooper dug a Jen Flynn spike. tried to take advantage, but her locked by Brianne Spiers, and the eading straight for the floor. But 1ide hitter Kristen Ruschiensky Wolverines out with a spectacular and Ebert eventually converted it nda point. was then able to hold its lead over :2, an eternity in volleyball. "I really haven't seen us fight adversity that well all year, I haven't felt like that's been our strength," Giovanazzi said. "I just felt like tonight was kind of a breaking point for us, a little bit of a metamorphosis where we became a unit." The third game was another close one, but this time it was Ohio State making a late run. An ace by Szczesniak gave the Wolverines an 11-9 advantage. Ohio State got a sideoute~ and Wouters prepared to serve. She served five straight points, two of which were aces, giving Ohio State a 14.-I lead that it was able to pro- tect until time expired. Michigan was led offensively by Ebert, who had 17 kills and a robust .536 hitting percent- age. Chase also had 17 kills, and Ruschiensky added 14. Ohio State got 26 kills from Wouters, Who is. second in the nation with a 6.11 average, and 15 kills from Pankova. Friday, Michigan simply lost to a superor. team, getting swept by Penn State. "We ran into a very good team (Friday), a team that plays such good defense and blocks so well that it even affected our side out game, which is usually pretty solid," Giovanazzi said. Penn State (25-2, 14-2) controlled the first two games while Michgan strugged to score- with a .326 hitting percentage, made only one hitting error the entire second game, hitting at an incredible .692 clip. The third game, however, was very compet- itive. Michigan made Penn State work, and managed to tie the game at 11-11 before the Lions were able to close out the match. "I thought in game three we played very well and finally got them off-balance," Giovanazzi said. "We were setting the people that were hot. : which were our outside hitters. I wish we would have done that from game one." By Kevin Kasiboreki Daily Sports Writer When the Michigan women's basketball team took the court on Friday night for the first time this season against the Slovak Republic, sophomore center Anne Poglits was unable to run on the floor with her team- mates. She couldn't watch the game from the bench or the stands either. The 6-foot-5 S ed Pogrlits has spent very little time at Crisler Arena this fall. She isn't hurt, she lust has rhn sn some unfinished business th to h around the corner and down Hoover Street in Keen Arena. d n tdo Poglits is also a member of the Michigan volleyball team, kind of a and the volleyball season lasts until the final weekend of fresh air, November. Until then, Poglits - is going to stick to the volley- -E ball hardwood. Mi chig an VOI le But Michigan basketball sophomor coach Sue Guevara's loss is Michigan volleyball coach Greg Giovanazzi's gain. "She does things naturally that other people don't do, and it's kind of a breath of fresh air," Giovanazzi said. "You put that together with the fact that she is a basket- ball player and an engineering student, and you wonder, 'Wow, where is the flaw in this woman?' Plus she is just ti r I '7 in a pleasure to coach." This is season has been Giovanazzi 's first opportuni- ty to coach Poglits. Last season, she was exclusively a basketball player. "When I started college, I was just going to play bas- ketball, but then I missed volleyball so much (last year)," Poglits said. "'When I came to play a couple of times in the spring, I liked it so much that I decided that I defi- es nitely wanted to play volleyball this year." When Giovanazzi saw Poglits play as a senior in high school, peoplehe was convinced she could play Division I volleyball. But by md it'sthat time, she had already signed to play basketball at ireath of Michigan and didn't want to play both. Unwilling to give up, .Giovanazzi approached former eg GiovanaZZi Michigan women's basketball )a11 coach, on coach Trish Roberts, and Anne Poglits Roberts agreed to let Anne attend volleyball workouts last spring. "Anne came out about eight to 10 times over the course of the whole spring," Giovanazzi said. "And it was obvious from the first day that this was a sport that she was going to pick up really quickly." Poglits has received more playing time as the season has progressed. She has played in 25 of Michigan's 27 matches and 54 of its 96 games. When Michigan is serving, Giovanazzi will some- times take out setter Linnea Mendoza and send in Poglits for her blocking presence. Often, Poglits will come right back out without hav- ing touched the ball, but not always. Against Ohio State on Saturday, Poglits was sent in for Mendoza in game four with the score tied at five. Poglits made her presence felt right away, teaming up with Sarah Jackson to stuff an Ohio State spike, giving Michigan a point. On the next serve, Poglits showed her versatility by setting Kristen Ruschiensky. Poglits didn't get an assist, but the Wolverines eventually won the point. It was a short sequence in a long match, but Michigan nearly made that two-point lead stand-up. "She hasn't had a lot of repetitions as far as touching the ball goes, and she is just so far ahead of where somebody should be," Giovanazzi said. "Her hands are second probably only to Linnea's on the team. "I think if we didn't have such strong seniors like Shareen and Kristen, she would be in there a lot. I don't see any reason why she won't be a starter next year if she puts in the work in the off-season." Poglits says she has been studying her basketball playbook and doing extra conditioning to get herself in running shape for basketball. She hasn't decided yet whether she will take a day or two off between seasons, but it might be a good bet that she won't.,, "I just like to play," Poglits said. "Even in practice? JENNIFER BRADLEY-SWIFT/Daiy Junior setter Linnea Mendoza and the Michigan volleyball team fought through a@$ case of TV-Induced nerves to stay close to No. 11 Ohio State before losing. Glare and glamour of television spices up action at Keen & OPOfli~j .9 ..~ 0% I * - By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer At about 5 p.m. on Saturday, thou- sands of regular viewers of ESPN2 were probably asking, "What the hell hap- pened to 'Speed Week'?" Quality programming such as stock car racing, cliff diving ~ and the world's strongest man competitions had to make way \6 for women's volleyball. This year, ESPN2 has 'been Note televising Big Ten volleyball, and Saturday the bright lights were in Ann Arbor, televising Michigan against Ohio State. "It definitely gave us an excited, nervous feeling," Michigan mid- dle blocker Sarah Jackson said. "It's good to know they're giving volleyball a shot."' The television cameras, normally alien to the volleyball scene, had an effect on nearly every aspect of match. From the scoring format to the crowd to the emo- tions of the players, everything was a new experience for the Wolverines. Saturday's match was the first time that Michigan volleyball has ever been ~book seen on national television. "They couldn't breathe because they were so nervous in the first game" Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. The players' nerves eventually settled down, but the crowd did- n't. The considerably large crowd at Cliff Keen Arena seemed to be more energetic in the past with several fans trying their hardest to get a couple of with an alternate scoring format. The format is as follows - the first three games of the match are timed, eight minutes in length, with the clock running only when the ball is ins play. The team leading when time expires is the winner, not the first team to score 15 and lead by two points. In the fourth and fifth games, the rally scoring format is used (which means each point counts) and the first team to reach 17 and lead by two points wins the game. Not too confusing, right? "1 think if it was the same scoring in all five or the first four games it would be great," Giovanazzi said. "I think the mix- ture of three (games) then two is a little bit hard to follow and a little bit hard to play." Television does have a positive effect on volleyball, however. The sport is get- ting an opportunity to be seen during prime viewing time. "(The game) was actually between two football games, which is really a break- through for us," Giovanazzi said. "A women's volleyball game between two powerhouse football programs, betwe4 two collegiate football games, on ESPNT -- it's kind of a neat setting." ESPN2 hopes to return to its regularly- scheduled lumberjack challenge soon.' COMEBACK KID: Michigan outside hit- ter Kristen Ruschiensky returned to tlg starting lineup earlier this season- after having missed most of last season due tt a knee injury. Since her return, she has been averaging 3.74 kills per matdlj, which is higher than her 2.76 seas average. Ruschiensky also had a seasoW high 22 kills against Wisconsin last weet. DowN THE STRETCH: The Wolverines only have four matches remaining, facing Purdue, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa to close out the season. Each of the teamns are below .500 in the Big Ten. seconds of national exposure. Along with the elevated emotions on the court and in the stands, the most noticeable effect of television was the scoring. To accommodate the network sponsors, volleyball has to be modified