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Sports Desk: 647-3336
Giovanazzi's troops rock the house, defeat
Michigan State behind Ebert, Mendoza
By Tracy Sandler
Daily Sports Writer
It's called the State Pride Match, and
the Michigan volleyball team is proud of
how well it dominated No. 16 Michigan
State. The Wolverines defeated the
Spartans, 3-1, on Friday night at Cliff
Keen Arena.
After starting out slow, Michigan (4-0
Big Ten, 12-4 overall) lost a tight first
game, 13-15. From then on, it was all
Michigan. The Wolverines came out in
the second game to take a quick 2-0lead.
Despite trailing the Spartans, 3-5, at one
point, the Wolverines rebounded to take
a 6-5 lead and never looked back on their
way to a 15-9 victory.
During the third game, the Wolverines
scored their first four points on
Michigan State errors, with their fifth
JOHN KRAFT/Daily coming on an ace by senior setter Linnea
Senior Sarah Jackson prepares to spike the ball through the Michigan State Mendoza. She had 54 assists in the
Jefense Friday night. The Wolverines beat the 16th-ranked Spartans, 3-1. match, giving her more than 4,125 career
assists, a mark achieved by only 17 play-
ers in Big Ten history. Michigan never let
up and went on to take a 2-1 lead, with
their 15-3 win.
"The passing was really good,"
Mendoza said. "The passing was great,
so it was easy for me to make a decision
on who to set."
Junior Linsey Ebert contributed to the
Wolverines' offensive prowess with 12
kills on a .600 hitting percentage. Yet, a
team total 65 kills and .218 hitting per-
centage would not have been possible
without strong assists from Mendoza.
"Linnea set great offense tonight,"
Ebert said. "As a middle hitter, when
you're setter's on fire, hitting the ball in
the right spot is not too difficult"
The fourth and final game saw the
Wolverines fall behind, 0-3, before scor-
ing their first point on a Michigan State
error. Two more errors by the Spartans
and a point by freshman Sarah Behnke,
who was filling in for the injured Karen
Chase, put the Wolverines up, 4-3.
"Sarah's a very explosive player and
an exciting player to watch," Mendoza
said. "I think we needed an outside hitter
to be like that, to be able to put balls
away the way she does. When she goes
up and hits it, everyone's really excited."
The Spartans were able to tie the game
twice, but they could never gain enough
momentum to take a lead, losing, 15-9.
"Michigan played excellent,"
Michigan State coach Chuck Erbe said.
"Their freshman, Sarah Behnke, really
stepped up, and she just went for it. She
found the creases in the block, and there
were a lot of times when she kept them
in every play.
"Once they got some momentum
going, Ebert became a real force at the
net offensively."
Not to be lost in the talk of Michigan's
offense was the Wolverines' ability to
pretty much shut the Spartans down.
Michigan's defensive play was equally as
impressive as its offensive play.
"The defense was definitely phenome-
nal tonight," said outside hitter Anne
Poglits, who had 12 kills on a.269 hitting
percentage. "You can take more swings
when you get the ball back every time"
Part of the reason for Michigan's
strengths in all aspects of the game was
pregame preparation. The Wolverines
were not taking anything for granted
before or during the game.
"We talked about, even before the
match, that this was not going to be a
blowout on our side," Michigan coach
Greg Giovanazzi said.
"We were going to talk to Linnea
about trying to keep their block off-bal-
ance, which she did. And also, just to
recognize that a team of that level is
going to get some great shots and not to
let it intimidate or disrupt your game."
Intrasquad
game first
action for
VI' icers
By Pranay Reddy
Dqil Sports 'Writer
The Michigan hockey team killed
itself Saturday night at Yost Ice Arena
- but what else would you expect
from the annual Blue/White game?
Michigan's Blue team slammed the
door on its White counterpart, 6-3, in
only full scrimmage in front of fans
before next week's road opener against
Minnesota.
And like exhibitions played in any
sport, defense was not a key factor.
"It was good to get in a game envi-
ronment," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "I didn't like all the
goals against. The defensemen got
toasted a couple of times."
In years past, the contest served as an
ibition for Michigan fans, however
this year's game had a different tone.
The exhibition was a coming-out party
of sorts for Michigan's nine freshmen,
who have not played in Yost.
"I was a little nervous - it definite-
ly was a learning experience,"
Michigan freshman Josh Langfeld said.
VAt was helpful for me."
Despite Langfeld's nerves, however,
the 6-foot-3 forward attempted to make
ite a first impression on both
chigan fans and coaches.
Langfeld's first goal came midway
through the second period, giving the
Blue squad a commanding 4-2 lead.
The goal was the last of three in the
period for the Blue team - the first
two coming in power play situations.
. Langfeld added a second goal in the
tigd period while fellow freshman and
White team member Bill Trainor
aed that achievement in the same
riod, scoring his second goal of the
4 -While some players found it easy,
iwever, others faced difficulties in the
eibition.
*fn addition to having an under-
raagned unit in front of him on a num-
lir: of occasions, White goaltender
Marty Turco, Michigan's starting net-
0ii4der, suffered from the high number
defensive turnovers on his end of the
he Blue squad capitalized on these
opportunities, converting two of its five
power play opportunities.
On the other side of the ice, Blue
oaltender Gregg Malicke was impres-
sive, facing 23 shots while only allow-
mg two goals.
According to Berenson, strides must
be taken to prepare his defensive unit
tnext weekend.
"The defense is still looking to find
themselves," Berenson said. "As a unit,
we're still a long way from being the
defense we want to be.
"We'll get better every week?"
Michigan captain Matt Herr reiterat-
ed those sentiments.
We "definitely see things we need to
Griese,
offense spark
Wolverines to
37-0 blowout
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Editor
BLOOMINGTON - All it took was a little
patience. And that's been characteristic of the slow-
starting Michigan team this season, just a little time to
warm up before laying it on its opposition.
After a sluggish first quarter, the heavily favored
Wolverines proved the oddsmakers right, dumping 28
points on Indiana in the game's second 15 minutes en
route to a 37-0 blowout and
Mihigan 37 leaving a sour gift for the
Hoosier faithful at their'
Indiana 0 Homecoming.
"So many times when
you're favorite and you're coming off an emotional
win, you have a letdown," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
said.
For the second time this season, Michigan avoided
such a letdown with a dominant quarter featuring a
play-calling scheme that continually confused the
Hoosiers and with a defense that was stifling from the
Wolverines' starters straight down to the bench warm-
ers.
Brian Griese, despite playing just a little more than
half of the game, continued his magnificent play,
completing 16 of 26 passes for 204 yards and going a
third-straight game without throwing an interception.
"We wanted to establish some balance between our
running game and passing game," Griese said. "But
we came out and threw a lot more in the first half.
That's something we wanted to do and that will help
us down the road, and we're going to have to do it
again."
Griese, as well as those who followed him under
center, Tom Brady and Jason Kapsner, gave Indiana
fits with simple dump-off passes to Michigan's back-
field all day long. The running backs caught 15 pass-
es from Michigan quarterbacks mainly because the
Wolverines were able to exploit Indiana's man-to-man
defensive scheme.
"Their defense over-pursues a lot," fullback Chris
Floyd said. "They go with fakes and put pressure on
the quarterback and in the process of putting that
pressure on, the back can sneak out and get wide open
and we hit that for big plays."
Surprisingly, after Michigan found much success
with that play in the first half, Indiana coach Cam
Cameron, a former Michigan assistant, did not make
any halftime adjustments and the Wolverines proceed-
ed to execute effectively in the second half.
"I thought in the second half, we'd run it up the
middle because in the first half we were running
around the ends," Floyd said. "Our game plan was to
test them on the outside and around the ends and
when they adjust to that, then we would hit it up the
middle. But they never adjusted at all so we stuck to
our game plan."
It took awhile for Michigan to put that game plan to
practice. The Wolverines came away from the first
quarter with only a 27-yard field goal from Kraig
Baker to show for themselves.
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Using stiff-arm tactics to his full advantage, Michigan tailback Chris Howard led a vaunted Michigan attack during its 37-0 blowout of Indiana
on Saturday. While Howard only compiled 14 yards on the ground, three of those were for a score in Michigan's 28-point second quarter.
M'defensive domiance G,&gabzinzsteam
LOOMINGTON - The Indiana
band playing on the field at the end
of Saturday's game couldn't mask the
disaster that had occurred that afternoon,
even with its peppy little fight song. The
scoreboard still read Michigan 37, Indiana
0, it still was Indiana's homecoming, the
alumni and students had yet another bad
football game experience and everyone
wearing red and white was feeling a little
blue.
The Wolverines dominated the game
after a slow start in the first quarter, but
they turned things around quickly enough
to thoroughly embarrass the Hoosiers on
their homecoming weekend. Or maybe it
should be said that the defense turned
things around quickly enough to thorough-
ly embarrass the Hoosiers on their home-
coming weekend.
After the Hoosiers fumbled on the
Michigan 19-yard line in the first quarter -
the only time the Hoosiers managed to
creep inside the red zone - the Michigan
defense put a stranglehold around the
Hoosiers and their quarterback Jay Rodgers.
"Our defense came out and gave us some
tency, and most important, they are playing
with heart and focus.
And the heart and focus is stemming
from a defense that looks incapable of
inconsistency and looks like one of the best
in the country.
The Michigan play-
ers acknowledge the
intensity and focus,
too. This is what they
had to say as they gath-
ered under Indiana's
Memorial Stadium fol-
lowing the game:
Michigan tailback
Chris Howard: "We
didn't want them to
hang around. We want-
ed to put this team
away early. Everybody
is really focused."
types of teams that gave the Wolverines
problems in the past.
For the first time in years, it appears that
the Wolverines are burying the demons that
led to the four straight four-loss seasons.
If another four-loss season occurs this
year, it probably won't be because they lost
to teams they should have destroyed and it
probably won't be because they lost their
focus like they did in past years. The inten-
sity is there, week in and week out, and that
is half the battle.
"A lot of teams didn't beat us last year;
we beat ourselves," Howard said.
The thrashing this weekend was a state-
ment about what the Wolverines hope to
accomplish this season. It is the same thing
they hope to accomplish every year - a trip
to the Rose Bowl and a Big Ten title - but
talk is cheap. This time, Michigan is making
a statement on the field.
The Wolverines' defense this weekend -
and this season - has been phenomenal.
The Wolverines have given up just two
touchdowns and allowed an opponent inside
the red zone just six times in four games.
Indiana managed just nine first downs
DANIELLE
RUMORE
Rumore
Has It
Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson:
"We came out with that killer instinct. We
knew we were the better team. We just came
out and played hard. We're just a better
team. People around here are tired of four-
loss seasons."
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