The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - November 3, 1997 - 78 State takes Pride in beating Michigan N in four games to wrap up season series By TJ. Bea Daily Sports Witer EAST LANSING - The good news from the Michigan volleyball team's match yesterday against Michigan State was that the Wolverines wrapped up the State Pride Battle over the Spartans for the first time since 1993, winning the state flag as a result. The bad news from yesterday's game as far as the Wolverines are concerned was its result - losing to the Spartans in four games, 15-13, 15-3, 8-15, 15-12. Due to a resounding victory a month ago, the Wolverines got to carry the state flag back to Ann Arbor after a three-year stay in East Lansing. 'It's definitely a positive,' said Michigan middle blocker Sarah Jackson, who had never been on the winning side of the rivalry with Michigan State. The loss dropped the Wolverines (8-4 Big Ten, 15-8 overall) into a three-way tie for third place in the conference, tied with the Spartans (8-4, 18-7) and Ohio State "The primary focus for this game was to get into a third-place tie with Michigan and Ohio State," Michigan State coach Chuck Erbe said. "There are six teams playing for five spots (in the NCAA tournament), and we need to stay in range of the other teams." To do that, the Spartans relied on out- side hitter Jenna Wrobel, the game leader with 32 kills. Wrobel almost sin- gle-handedly won the final game. After the Wolverines went on an 8-1 run to forge ahead 12-9, Wrobel delivered four consecutive kills to put the Spartans ahead. Wrobel "without question is in a league of its own. She has a great vari- ety of shots and uses her passes well," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. As the Wolverines keyed on Wrobel, fellow outside hitter Christine Landry took advantage by delivering the last two kills to put Michigan away. "When Landry was hitting, it was one on one instead of having two players defending her like we did for Wrobel and (Veronica) Morales," Michigan outside hitter Jane Stevens said. "That made it hard for us to defend her attacks." The Wolverines also had a hard time mustering an attack of their own during the match. After losing a hard-fought first game, the Wolverines fell apart in the second game, committing1l errors and only mustering 11 kills, totalling a woeful .000 hitting percentage. The Spartans "scouted us very well," Giovanazzi said. "In the first two games they did well in blocking and defending against our sets." All was not bleak for the Wolverines yesterday, though. Michigan got good contributions from middle blockers Sarah Jackson and Linsey Ebert, as they took advantage of the Spartans' doubling up on the outside hitters and combined for 28 kills. "Linnea (Mendoza) was setting a lot, and there was only one blocker on me most of the time, which helped me out a lot," Jackson said. After trying to get the outside hitters involved in the first two games, the Wolverines relied on Jackson's hot hand to take the third game and push the Spartans in the fourth. "We started the match with the inten- tion to distribute the ball evenly," Giovanazzi said. "There was a mix-up in communication between (Mendoza) and I in the first game, as we were passing almost exclusively to the outside.' The Wolverines finished the match with a less-than-stellar .222 hitting per- centage. Jackson led the way with 16 kills and a .355 hitting percentage. Outside hitters Jeanine Szczesniak (14) and Sarah Behnke (13), along with Ebert (12), were part of the double-figure kill club as well. Wrobel wasn't the only Spartan who showed up yesterday. Outside hitter Veronica Morales nailed 24 kills and middle blocker Lindsey Clayton added 18. The Spartans hit .332 on the gane. Beautiful, Sexy & All Yours Cheerleader Swimsuit CALENDARS & CD Rom interactive SCREEN SAVERS. 12 poster-like pages+48 more photos of the lucious ladies will make 1998 your year. Now Available: COWBOYS, BRON- COS, DOLPHINS, RAIDERS. Call NetWorks at 1-800-550-8164. Calendars $12.95. Screen Savers $29.95. Plus S+H. Checks, money orders & credit cards. Michigan's Jeanine Szczesniak and the Wolverines weren't able to provide enough punch yesterday in East Lansing. Michigan lost to Michigan State in four sets, dropping the Wolverines Into a three-way tie for third place in the Big Ten. Notre Dame boots 'M' soccer into Big Ten tourney with 5-0 beating _, ZENNI F To become the best, you've got to slay the best. And sometimes in the process, you've got to endure serious beatings at the hands of the best. The Michigan soccer team experi- enced such a defeat Friday, falling 5-0 to No. 2 Notre Dame in South Bend. The season-finale proved that the Wolverines (7-1-1 Big Ten, 15-3-1 overall); who suffered their first loss in almost a month, have not yet fully ascended the ladder to join the nation's lite.t "Notre Dame is the best team we've faced, by far," Michigan coach Debbie Belkin said. "They're going to be either the national champions or the runners-up." Notre Dame dominated in almost every facet of the game, peppering Michigan goalie Carissa Stewart with 44 shots. Meanwhile, the Irish's stifling efense kept the ball away from the Wolverines, holding Michigan's usual- ly potent offense to just one shot on the day. "They did a great job of not allow- ing us to have the ball," Belkin said. "When you don't have possession, it's hard to muster an offense." Things started off relatively well for the 12th-ranked Wolverines, who allowed just one first-half goal despite } shots from the offensive-minded sh The second half was a different story, as the Irish proved that their national ranking and 17-0-1 record is no fluke. They blitzed the Wolverines with 11 No, it can't be! But it is. acrobatic saves by Stewart. Notre Dame's first goal of the sec- ond half came on a penalty kick by Irish forward Anne Makinen, a momentum-killer for Michigan. "The penalty kick really took the wind out of our sails," Belkin said. "It was the turning point in the game." Notre Dame scored two more goals in the next five minutes, and when for- ward Jenny Heft headed in a deflected corner kick for her second goal of the game, Michigan found itself on the short end of a 4-0 deficit. "They were knocking on the door in the first half, and they continued to put the pressure on in the second," Michigan captain Debbie Flaherty said. "Good teams will score on you if you make an error, and we let up for two minutes and they scored two goals," Flaherty said, referring to Notre Dame's third and fourth goals. Stewart, who managed 17 saves on the day, withstood the barrage of Notre Dame shots remarkably. "Carissa was unbelievable," Belkin said. "All of their goals were quality scores, and she saved many more that could have gone in." Michigan's offense, which features three of the top scorers in the Big Ten, is accustomed to being on the other side of the coin, having outshot their opponents 397-133 this season. On Friday, however, the Wolverines were unable to penetrate the stubborn Irish defense to mount any attacks. Odds are, however, even if "Notre Dame is the best team we've faced, by far." - Debbie Belkin Michigan soccer coach Michigan had been able to squeeze off more than one shot, Notre Dame goalie LaKeysia Beene would have been there to stop any opportunity. Beene, who owns the nation's best goals against average with 0.28, set a school record against Michigan by recording her 14th shutout of the sea- son. With the Big Ten tournament begin- ning this weekend, the second-seeded Wolverines are looking to translate Friday's loss into a learning experi- ence. "The players took the game as a great challenge, Belkin said. "We're pretty realistic and know that they're the better team, but this was a great experience." Flaherty agreed, noting that while Michigan may not be one of the nation's few top teams, they are cer- tainly among the Big Ten's best. "We won't meet another team as good as Notre Dame unless we get to the final four of the NCAA tourna- ment," she said. "We can beat every team in the Big Ten, so there's no reason why we should be intimidated." 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