ITA rankings By Drew Beaver Daily Sports Writer Heading into spring break, the Michigan women's tennis team had a record of 4-1, with its only loss coming at the hands of 12th-ranked Tennessee. "We're looking forward to improving our national rank- ng," Michigan junior Jen Boylan _________ said. . Boylan, along with every other Tennis member of her team, is very con- Commentary scious of where her team is ranked in the national polls because, unfortu- nately, the polls, not the teams themselves, are the major factor in deciding who are the top tennis teams in the coun- try. Michigan is currently ranked 24th in the national polls. This low ranking kept them from competing in the ITA ational Team Indoor Tournament in Madison the last full Seniors to be ho women's gymna Vaughn R. Klug Wolverine draws to Sor the Daily "I've seen a real The seniors on the No. 4 Michigan has really been ma women's gymnastics team will com- remaining time," pete in the last home meet of their Plocki said. "Sh careers when they face No. 30 things lately that I Massachusetts at Cliff Keen Arena on since she arrived as The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 12, 1998 - 19A leave 'M' women's tennis out of tourney weekend in February. Only the top 16 teams in the country are invited to this prestigious tournament, and Michigan is 24th. But wait a second - the Wolverines finished last season ranked 16th in the country. They won the Big Ten Tournament and the Southeast Regional Tournament. They were ranked No. I in the Midwest Region at the conclusion of the season. This apparently is not enough to get an invite from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association though. The ITA consid- ers preseason ranking as well as last season's finish when considering who will be invited to one of the best tourna- ments in college tennis, and apparently Michigan did not measure up. At the beginning of the season, individuals play in four different tournaments, and from the results of these tourna- ments, individual rankings are established. Unfortunately for Michigan, team rankings are also determined from the results of these tournaments. nored in final stics home meet "That's not really an accurate picture of what a team does on the court," said Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt. Herein lies the problem. For example, Notre Dame has two players ranked in the top 30 in the country, Jennifer Hall and Michelle Dasso. As a team, Notre Dame is ranked 15th in the country. based mainly on the strength of these two players. In team play, however, these two players can only earn one point each. In college tennis, each match is worth one point. That means that the match at No. 6 singles is every bit as important to the team score as the match at No. I singles. For this reason, the ITA preseason ranking system is ineffective. It can be argued that there is no other way to establish which teams are the best 16 in the country at the time the ITA Team Indoor Tournament is played than to use preseason rankings. This is not true. Aside from the fact that Michigan should have earned a spot simply by finishing in the top 16 last year, why can't the ITA rank the teams after the beginning of team play? The rankings should be based on record, strength of schedule, and other factors that measure a team by its depth - not by the top individuals. Depth is the most important factor in team tennis. Michigan did not expect an invitation to this tournament because of its ranking. "We know there's always some kind of biased way of selecting teams for these tournaments," Boylan said. Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt expressed her regret as well. "It would have been a great tournament to participate in,' Ritt said. "We would have loved to have played." The Wolverines should have been invited to play in Madison. Their performance last year should have been enough to garner an invitation. By the way, that regional championship team was ranked 69th at the start of the season. So much for preseason rankings. DAILY SPORTS. HEART AND DESIRE* a close. spark in Lauren, she king the most of her Michigan coach Bev he has been trying haven't seen her do s a freshman" Saturday. Appropriately, seniors Heather Kabnick and Lauren LaBranche will be recognized for their contributions to the University by both the women's gym- Iastics program and the athletic depart- ment prior to the 2 p.m. meet. LaBranche and co-captain Kabnick have compiled impressive resumes dur- ing their time at Michigan - an NCAA Central Regional Championship, a Big Ten Championship and NCAA 'Super 6' invitations which recognize the top six teams in the nation, in each of their four seasons. LaBranche has been training espe- Oially hard lately, as her career as a As a result of the hard work LeBranche has been showing, she recently scored a career-best 9.925 on the balance beam against Michigan State. Also, as a team Michigan has been performing exceptionally well lately - even by its own high standards. The Wolverines are coming off a monumen- tal win over intrastate rival Michigan State on March 6, in which the team's overall score of 197.550 was the sec- ond-highest score in Michigan history. It was also only the sixth time in pro- gram history that the team has scored 197 or better. Riding the wave of fine recent per- "We want to make sure we're rested and - Bev Plocki Michigan women's gymnastics coach formances versus the Spartans, the Wolverines hope to continue their per- fect record against the Minutewomen. The meet marks the fourth meeting between Massachusetts and Michigan. Michigan will adhere to its normal practice schedule in the days leading up to the duel with Massachusetts. "We've been doing the same prepara- tion, maybe tapering down a little bit," said Plocki. "We want to make sure we're rested and feeling good." DISCOVER CARD presents 100 REASONS YOU SHOWULD BE LISTENING TO CLASSICAL music " a P MARIA JOAO PIRES , 0 THE N91 REASON: slot"t"er , o ~ /D/,Ooqj:07e This summer... give yourself some credit. qwt_ Jie oyage magnifrue Schubert -Impromptus Schubert was classical music's great poet, and his Impromptus are evocative voyages for the mind and soul. Pianist Maria Joao Pires calls these exquisite pieces, "The most simple, direct, dreaming music which can speak to everyone." 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