11 c1Ie Sigrbin &dlg 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." I I