22 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 21, 1998 Eisner's squad primed for Big Tens - and beyond By Mark Francescutti Iaily Sports Writer N Michigan men's tennis coach Brian Eisner says his team is looking far past the Big Ten Championships, even fur- ther than the regional championships. The Wolverines are experienced and deep -- and one of the most dangerous teams in the country. What better time than now for the Wolverines to make a run for the NCAA Tournament? In collegiate tennis, for a northern team to gain entry to the NCAA Tournament is always a big deal, because the warmer-weather schools usually have the strongest teams. But there are several roadblocks along the path to the championships in Athens, Ga. First, the Wolverines have two more huge matches at home. They will try to end their regular season with a couple wins, starting with a match against Illinois (7-0 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) on Saturday and Purdue (5-3, 10-9) on Sunday. Illinois is undefeated in Big Ten play and alone at the top of the Big Ten standings, one match ahead of Michigan. The defending Big Ten champion's 7-0 conference start is the squad's best in Big Ten play since 1972. Illinois also beat rivals Notre Dame and Northwestern, two teams to which Michigan lost last week. Michigan (6-1, 12-5) is alone in see- ond place, and with wins against the Illini and Purdue would earn the best outright record in the Big Ten - plus the No. I seed in the Big Ten Tournament. But the Wolverines have lost two of three after a six-game winning streak. And if the Wolverines lost to the tough singles of Notre Dame and Northwestern, the future doesn't bode well against the Fighting Illini -- 8th- ranked Illinois has some of the strongest singles in the nation. Oliver Freelove and Cary Franklin lead the power lineup and are highly regarded for their strong serves. Gavin Sontag and Jakub Teply head the sup- porting cast for the Illini. While the Wolverines have dominat- ed against the weaker teams in singles - as in Wisconsin on Sunday, when they dominated five of the six matches - they have fallen short against tough singles teams. Simply put, the Wolverines aren't getting the singles wins they need to earn a big victory. "It's not what 'they' are doing, it's what 'we' are doing," Eisner said. "If we play our best tennis, we expect to win." Another problem for the Wolverines has been the total collapse at doubles of late. Starting the Big Ten season with six straight wins, the No. 2 doubles tandem of Matt Wright and Jake Raiton faltered this past weekend with three straight losses. The No. 3 doubles team, which switched lineups last week, has l straight. Eisner and assistant Goldberg will search this week i right combination. "We have to determine if we just had a bad couple of days, or i needs to be a change," Goldberg But the No. 1 tandem of Brook and Arvid Swan is playing its bes bles ever, and the two have beena unstoppable in singles as of late. In addition, Michigan isn't in a trouble. After all, the two recent were both extremely close contes could have gone either way. "The Northwestern coach sai this (weekend's) match was the performance this season," Eisne "We just have to keep improving Two wins this weekend wou Michigan in good position for t Ten Tournament which Illinois w from April 30-May 3. The tournament starts outv play-in tournament between the 1 four teams in the conference. Th that survives will then join th seven for the championship tourn After Big Tens, the Wolverir almost guaranteed, barring a ca phe, a spot in the regional ch onships at Notre Dame starting M Michigan has a good chance to q as do Big Ten teams Northweste Illinois, along with host NotreI The single regional winner gain to the NCAA Championships at t of May. ost six Dan for the e have f there said. Blain t dou- almost ny real losses ts that id that ir best r said. ild put he Big ill host with a bottom e team he top ney. ies are Brooke Hart and the Michigan women's tennis team have a chance to reac 9-2 in the Big Te when Wisconsin and Northwestern come to town* next weekend. DANA UNNANE/Day t 7-2 ' women's tens hs't wrppdcc teutye Wra e U COewhen W isc ons e R Daily Sports. The best Michigan tennis coverage money can buy (plus, it's free). itastro- By Drew Beaver hampi- Daily Sports Writer Aay 15.. With a 7-2 conference record, the Michigan women's qualify, tennis team appears to be sitting pretty in the conference rn and standings. But due to a large amount of parity in the Big Dame. Ten this year, Michigan needs some help to garner the top s a bid seed in the conference tournament. he end The Wolverines, ranked No. 46 nationally, will have an opportunity to help themselves next weekend and could extend their conference record to 9-2 when Wisconsin and Northwestern come to Ann Arbor for matches on Saturday and Sunday. Both matches start at 10 a.m. Next weekend "is a very important weekend for us," Michigan sophomore Danielle Lund said. "We're not def- initely in the (NCAA) regional, and we need these wins to get there." Wisconsin enters the match with the Wolverines tied with Purdue for the No. 1 spot in the Big Ten standings. The Badgers are ranked 19th nationally and a win for the Wolverines would be their biggest upset of the year. Sunday, Northwestern comes to town with its eyes on an upset of its own. The Wildcats, who were ranked 22nd nationally earlier in the year, have fallen to No. 65 in the most recent ITA rankings. Northwestern got off to a slow start in the conference, losing matches to Wisconsin and Purdue early in the year, But the Wildcats have not lost to a conference foe since Mar. 1. They are tied with the Wolverines for the second spot in the conference. "I anticipate both of these matches to be very c,se," Michigan coach Bitsv Ritt said. "They're both very impor- tant matches. Northwestern has been playing well over the last few weeks." With several teams bunched up at the top of the coonfer- ence standings, this weekend will play a definitive role-in determining the seedings for the Big Ten Tournament April 30-May 5. Three of the top four Big Ten teams will be playing in Ann Arbor this weekend, and the team that can put two matches together will likely emerge with the highest seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Purdue is the other team at the top of the standings. The Boilermakers are sitting in fine position. with a 7-1 B Ten record and only Minnesota and Iowa left on their c6n- ference schedule. Michigan will need both the Hawkeyes and the Gophers to pull off upsets in order to secure the top seed at the Big Ten Tournament. If both Michigan and Purdue end the season with identical records, the Boilermakers would earn the higher seed by virtue of their head-to-head win over the Wolverines. The match against the Badgers could prove to be an especially crucial one for the Wolverines. Wisconsin has only one Big Ten loss, and a win over the Badgers woiu assure the Wolverines a higher seed at the tourname , barring a loss to Northwestern Sunday. Michigan has gotten some help from Wisconsin already - the Badgers handed Minnesota their second conferen'ce loss of the season last Saturday. Minnesota also dropped a match to Northwestern on Sunday. With only two conference losses, Northwestern has a chance to gain a higher seed than the Wolverines if the Wildcats pull off an upset on Sunday. Michigan can ill-afford to drop both weekend matches, as that would add up to four conference losses on the yen- See NETTERS, Page Want to earn credit this summer without setting foot on campus? Two independent study programs available: Summer Independent Reading Program Open to undergrad students with at least a 3.0 GPA Enrollment deadline: May 15 Hundreds of potential courses Tuition: $197 per credit hour* Independent Learning Course Program Open to all students No enrollment deadline corning!, (k. -A 44rcts. (6rc c J 've. NiW ol.!II~.I BASEBALL Continued from Page 19 three or four games from teams." But Michigan lost three games to the Spartans and dug an even deeper hole in the standings. Now, even winning three or four games from Penn State and Indiana in coming weeks might not be enough. Try as they may to catch up, the Wolverines will need help from other Big Ten teams. Because only four clubs make the conference tournament, Michigan has its eyes set on that fourth spot. And only if Indiana or Iowa (in third and fourth, respectively) falters big time might Michigan be able to sneak up there. Not only would the Hoosiers (10- 6) or the Hawkeyes (9-7) have to stum- ble, but three other teams still stand in Michigan's way: Minnesota, Penn State and the Spartans would have to collapse as well. Now, Iowa and Penn State could slow the sands in Michigan's hourglass a little this weekend. They have to face Illinois and Ohio State - the two best teams in the Big Ten at 11-5. But the problem with all this wishful thinking comes May 1 when Minnesota faces Michigan State. One team must prevail, and that will likely block Michigan's path. Even if the Goph and Spartans split that four-game senes, it wouldn't slow the sands of the hour- glass much. So the obstacles are numerous, 4d at this point the numbers are against the Wolverines. They're 6-10 in the confer- ence, five games out of first place and three games out of the top four, with only eight left to play. The goal is still very clear: Win near- ly every game and maybe, just maybe, enough sands will stick at the top of hourglass, that Michigan will fal Indiana (currently in third) in three weeks with a chance at jumping into the top four with a series sweep. But for now, Zahn's club can only do the hardest thing possible - wait. For further information and to register, please contact: University of Michigan Academic Outreach 1210 Buhr Building 837 Greene Street 764-5300 aocourses@umich.edu Selected courses available Tuition: $245 per credit hour* FARES ARE ROUND TRIP AND DO NOT INCLUDE, rTAXES. 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