ixhie 40, at( ti ArtullUn ia r IIWWAIWW p.. . e 3y NuL °a < e rYU' ° xlt. .Q Ex@ QBs shine in spring game By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor If only one of Michigan's quarterbacks could kick field goals, then coach Lloyd Carr would probably feel a whole lot better about his team. In Saturday's annual Spring game - won by the Brian Griese-led Maize team, 22-20 - the quartet of quarterbacks gunning for the starting job were significantly more impressive than the team's second-biggest question mark --the kicking game. "(The quarterbacks) all played well," Carr said. "I was pleased with everything they did. All of them displayed good poise. "Since we started spring practice five weeks ago, they've all improved." Griese (7-for-11, 84 yards) and junior Scott Dreisbach (7-14, 146 and two touchdowns) put up the best numbers of the day, but their younger challengers sophomore Tom Brady and redshirt freshman Jason Kapsner also looked sharp. Brady completed six of 12 passes for 71 yards, and Kapsner displayed confidence along with a lightning-quick release before he injured his left shoulder late in the first half. Although he didn't return, Carr said that the injury wasn't serious at all and that the compe- tition is as strong as it has been all spring. "Competition brings out the best in people, and that's certainly happened here;' Carr said of the quarterbacks. "I told them not to worry about the fall but to worry about today. s "We'll go into fall practice and make a deci- sion within a couple of weeks. We want to be fair to the individuals and to the team." But finding the silver lining in the kicking game was about as difficult as trying to count the number of empty seats in Michigan Stadium. Senior Jay Feely, one of the frontrunners for the placekicking job, missed the game due to an injury and senior Kraig Baker bounced a 46-yard field goal off the cross-bar and over in the game's final minute. But other than that, there wasn't much to write home about. Extra points weren't even gimmies. "Obviously, when Baker kicks one through like that it gives him a jump" Carr said. "But we're not where we need to be there." The punting game didn't fare any better. Sophomore Cory Sargent and senior Jason Vinson hardly put up numbers that would leave Carr drooling. Each punted five times, with Sargent averaging 32 yards per boot and Vinson only 30.4. "I was hoping we would punt the ball well," Carr said. "There was some good and some bad with our kicking game." And for all you pooch-punting fans out there, neither Griese nor Charles Woodson, who's been rumored to try his hand with his foot, didn't see any action in that department. As for the game itself, it had the intensity and competitiveness of a mid-October Big Ten See SPRING, Page 2B H tters sweep Wildcats, move into fitst place ByKevin Kasiboraki Daily Sports Writer uring a brief rain shower between games Saturday, the hig n baseball team doubled as the grounds crew at Fisher Stadium by covering the field with the tarp. Yesterday, the Wolverines put away the tarp and got out their brooms to make a clean sweep of their four-game series with Northwestern. Michigan (11-3 Big Ten, 22-12 overall) rallied from behind twice to beat Northwestern, 10-8, thereby vaulting themselves into first place in the Big Ten. Closer Tyler Steketee relieved Matt Herr with runners at the corners and two out in the ninth. He fanned Jason derson, ending the game and getting his third save of the kend. Herr (1-0) entered the game in the sixth and extinguished a Northwestern (3-9, 8-24) uprising. He pitched three scoreless innings, getting the win in his second appearance of the spring. "The difference was Matt Herr" Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "He's been around two weeks; he comes in and throws very well. He went right after them, was very aggres- sive, and made them hit the ball." Michigan took the lead for good by sending eight men to the plate in the sixth inning and scoring three runs without getting t. Bobby Scales and Jason Alcaraz each walked on four sMight pitches, and Derek Besco was safe at first when Northwestern third baseman J.P. Williamson's throw pulled Keith Haan off the bag. With the bases loaded and nobody out, the Wildcats played the middle of their infield at double-play depth. That move appeared to pay off when Brian Besco hit a tal- lor-made double-play ball to second. However, Wildcats sec- ond baseman Mike Adams fielded the ball and then inexplica- bly fell down. Everybody was safe. Kirk Beermann drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Wolverines the lead, and then Beermann got in a pickle to tid a double play on Mick Kalahar's ground ball, which allowed another run to score. "We took what they gave us," Zahn said. "We scored 10 runs, and we needed them today. They did make five errors, which probably gave us the ball game, but our guys swung the bats a little better today." Michigan starter Ryan Kelley settled down after getting into early trouble. The first four batters of the game reached base on a walk, triple, double and single. "He was having trouble with his mechanics, so we made some adjustments," Zahn said. Ukfter giving up two runs, Kelley got out of the inning with a strikeout and a double play. Michigan exploded for six runs in the third, and Kelley left the game in the sixth with a 7-5 lead. Saturday's doubleheader was controlled by the pitchers on both sides, as the Wolverines swept the twinbill by scores of 2- 1land 3-1. in the first game, the Wolverines took an early lead when Dan Sanborn reached base on a fielder's choice, and came See WILDCATS, Page5B Ne battl won MWInetters grab first-ever regar- season crown By Alan Gomez Daily Sports Writer Watching the Michigan women's tennis team this weekend was much like watching a movie for the 20th time. You knew what was going to happen, but you just had to keep watching. The Wolverines improved to 9-0 in the Big Ten with huge wins over Minnesota and Iowa. How huge? Michigan didn't lose a single match the entire weekend. The two conference victories gave the Wolverines a regular-season Big Ten title, but the conference war is not over just yet. The Big Ten title will be determined at the Big Ten championships in West Lafayette starting April 24. The regular season serves only to seed the teams in the tournament. With the record they have right now, the Wolverines should be the No. 1 seed in the tournament. "There's still a full week of tennis to play in the Big Ten," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "But it looks like we'll be the one to beat." The conference title would be something that Michigan has never experienced before. Indiana has dominated the Big Ten for the past 15 years, winning all but three of the titles in that span. The closest the Wolverines came to the title was when they were the run- ner-up to the Hoosiers in 1994. The Wolverines started off their weekend against Minnesota on Saturday. As always, all eyes were on the No. 1 spot of senior Sarah Cyganiak against freshman Nora Suaska. The match-up pitted Cyganiak, No. 44 in the nation, against the 48th-ranked freshman who held a 21-1 record entering the weekend and was named Big Ten athlete of the month for February. Cyganiak didn't seem too impressed with Suaska, as she won, 6-3, 7-5, and improved her team-leading record to 14-3 overall and 8-0 in the Big Ten. The rest of the match also went according to plan, as all the other Wolverines posted victories. Freshman Brooke Hart won her 20th match of the sea- son, against the Gophers, and maintained her tie for the team lead with the identical record as Cyganiak. Also picking up her 20th victory was freshman Erryn Weggenman. Sunday, Iowa rolled in and suffered the same fate that See NETTERS, Page 6B Admire Taylor for living his dream all come to college chasing a dream. Some of us don't W know exactly what that dream is when we get here, yet it's something powerful enough, enticing enough, to get us to leave home, forsake the cozy confines of high school and hometown for the sprawling, intimidating world- unto-itself of Ann Arbor. Then there are those who know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the drean they are pursuing. They have a con- fidence of pur- pose that the rest don't possess, for they can see that light at the end of the tunnel, that pot WILL of gold at the end McCAHILL of the rainbow. Whatcha talkin' Maurice Taylor ,bout Willis? was one of those bl lucky souls. He arrived here in 1994, knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to play professional basketball, to run the court with the best in the world. And now, three years later, he's in a position to realize that dream, to make a reality out of the visions that have danced in his head for as long as he can remember. There are, of course, those who will criticize Taylor's decision to forego his senior year at Michigan and declare himself eligible for the NBA draft in June. Some will say that he's not ready, that he needs to stay in school, finish his education, give himself something to fall back on after he leaves the court for the final time. Those are the people who have for- gotten how to dream, who don't remember what it's like to have that shining ideal beckoning you. For those of us who still do hold such things close to our hearts, there is nothing we can do but cheer for Taylor, to wish him nothing but the best. It no longer matters if we think he made the right decision. The time has passed for that debate. Taylor has decided to leave, and now he deserves our best wishes. We should give him the same fond farewells that we would give any friend, any classmate going off to chase a dream. Taylor has talked a lot about his dream in the last week, at the Basketball Bust last Wednesday night and at his press conference Friday. He talked about playing basketball on the playground, pretending he was Michael Jordan. "Achieving a dream is something that you can't put words to," he said Friday. And he's right, so I'm not really going to try. Taylor's given us some great memo- ries in his time here. Maybe not every- thing we hoped for, but as I've already said, that's water under the bridge. It's been my pleasure to cover the Michigan basketball team this season, and Taylor has been a big part of that. Nobody on the team is required to like the press, but never once did I get the impression from Taylor that I was bug- ging him, was pissing him off by being in the lockerroom after games, pester- ing him with silly questions. Sure, maybe it's common courtesy to be polite, but if you're competitive, the last thing you want to be doing after a loss is explaining what you did wrong, particularly to some reporter. It's a shame most people around here haven't had a chance to see as much of See McCAHILL, Page 3B JEANNIE SERVAAs/Daily Erryn Weggenman and the rest of the women's tennis team won their first-ever regular-season Big Ten title with wins over Minnesota and Iowa this weekend.- *reaking Ground MIRROR IMA( By Chris Farah and Fred Lnk Daily Sports Writers Te Aborigines of Australia consider twins to be evil har- bingers of doom for the entire community. In fact, in many African tribes of antiquity, twins were immediately slaughtered upon birth, while their mothers were banished from the village. Far less common are cases in which twins represent symbols of good luck. In two of these rare instances, the Togo and Masai of West Africa honor and revere the twins born into the community as omens of good fortune. t women's teams have a pair of twins on the roster - Kevin and Martin Bowman, and Tonya and Marcella Cornell. Kevin and Martin are the sons of Edwin Bowman Jr. and Sheryl Byrd (neither of whom have been banished from their community, of course). They were born Oct. 8, 1976, attend- ed New Providence High School in New Jersey, and are now sophomores on the men's team. Freshmen Tonya and Marcella were born Aug. 24, 1978. Tonya was born first of the two, but it quickly becomes clear upon talking to them that Marcella is the more social of the pair. "There are subtle differences," Tonya said. "It's hard to describe. Marcella's more outgoing. We have different inter- ests. It's hard to explain, but if you knew us well, they'd be pretty apparent." Marcella agreed. "We're together a lot," she said. "But we have different classes, we have friends that aren't in common with each n'ther i thinktfhat rneonle alot of timies. us~tbecause we look When they are sitting side by side, however, minor differ- ences in their appearances quickly add up -after a couple of minutes, it's almost easy to forget that they're supposed to look exactly alike. "There's an analogy we thought of that's pretty useful," Marcella said. "Edith Wharton is my favorite author, and Jane Austen is Tonya's. They both are women that write about rela- tionships and people in society. But their styles are very dis- tinct and different. That is kind of like our personality, because the main things are similar, but when you get down to the details ... "... there's a little difference," finished Tonya. On the other hand, the Bowmans are the epitome of identi- cal twins. They _ resemble each See TWINS, Page 8B Y. Sharing joys and pains of 'M' track, Bowman, Cornell twins stick together I I . I'ie {