The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 30, 1998 - 3 ;'M' tennis 'back on track' after victories ALAN GOLDENBACH The Bronx Bomber By Mark Francascutti daily Sports Writer NMichigan coach Bitsy Ritt gave high- fives to her players after the Michigan omen's tennis team went undefeated or the weekend. The results - a 4-3 comeback win against Indiana on Saturday, and a 5-2 victory over Ohio State yesterday - brought all smiles, for the most part, to the faces of the Wolverines at their after match meeting. Michigan (4-1 Big Ten, 7-6 overall) had lost four straight and five out of the past six matches, and the weekend was its chance to get back on track. * After a hard-fought victory over Indiana the day before, the Wolverines hosted Ohio State yesterday. The Buckeyes were ready to exact revenge after being obliterated last season by the Wolverines, 7-0, in Columbus. But the young Buckeyes were not happy to see that the Wolverines had rejuvenated doubles teams. "We were really focused in doubles today" Ritt said. "We had talked about ttle things that make a huge differ- ence. Like, our serving percentage was way too low yesterday - we were rely- ing too much on our second serve." Yesterday, that problem seemed to have been fixed as Michigan won all three doubles matches in relatively easy fashion compared to the poor showing the previous day. "We started out a little slow, then tarted to hit better, (Ritt) told us to set- tle down a little bit and things just snowballed from there," Weggenman said. But the Wolverines' power really exploded in the singles matches, allow- ing the Buckeyes only four games in four straight-set wins. Weggenman shut out her opponent 6-0, 6-0. "I didn't have hardly any unforced errors, and when that happens your day is pretty good," Weggenman said. The Wolverines did lose the last two matches to finalize the score at 5-2, but by then, the meet was in the books. "We dominated in several positions while others we really battled and fought," Ritt said. "But I think, overall, it was a good team performance." On Saturday, Michigan hosted the Hoosiers, who arrived as very grumpy guests. Indiana started by blanking the Wolverines in all three doubles match- es and earning the crucial doubles point. Down 2-0 in team points, and facing the prospect of having to win the last four singles matches, Jen Boylan and Erryn Weggenman brought the Wolverines back into the meet. Boylan broke the Indiana monopoly with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Then Weggenman - behind 4-3 in ADRIANA YUGOVICH/Daily Brooke Hart and the Wolverines met the Buckeyes yesterday at the Varsity Tennis Center. Michigan won, 5.2. the first set - won the next three games to take the set 6-4. She went on to give Michigan its second point, and most importantly, tie the team score, 2- 2. Brooke Hart's win at No. I singles gave Michigan a 3-2 lead. But Indiana's Jessica Anderson dom- inated Sora Moon in the third set and went on to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. The win tied the score, 3-3, and moved the eyes of the Michigan fans - those who were still left in the stands - to the deciding match between Michigan sophomore Danielle Lund and Indiana's Kelly Blanch. After an easy 6-1 first-set victory by Lund, Blanch barely came back to win the second, 7-6 - setting up a third and deciding set for both the match and the meet. Lund gained the upper hand, 6-5, in the third set, but couldn't put the pesky Hoosiers away. Despite a 40-15 advantage, Lund couldn't get that last point and Blanch tied it up at deuce. But after several back-to-back deuces, Lund finally surged ahead and took the match 7-5, securing the meet for the Wolverines. "She had so many match points, it just took her awhile." Ritt said. .Sisters in tennis become rivals, stay sisters Underdogs' success make " for refehn~g toumameni eeling down and depressed? Spend a weekend at the NCAA hockey tour- nament and everyone's bound to find at least one form of the story of "The Little Underdog That Could" to lift their sunken spirits. Even before the tourney got underway Friday night, seeing Princeton and Yale receiving invitations as two of the 12 best teams in the nation made us all realizc that college sports are not as corrupt as we tend to think. Even though Ann Arborites may have disdain for the uppity Ivy Leaguers, these traditional book- worms proved that the words "student" and "athlete" carry equal weight on at least some campuses. In addition, these two schools' appearances widened the American college hockey audience. Instead of stacking the tournament with teams like Lake Superior and St. Cloud State, schools that are only recognized for their prowess on the ice, college hockey was brought into the homes of people who like hocke and don't have to look under a rock for the competitors. The Ivy Leaguers' stories were also good because they were tales of underdo rising from the depths of their sport. By matching its school record for victories with 18 this season, Princeton made its first tournament appearance ever. Yale, picked to finish 10th in the 12-team ECAC before the season, wound up winnip the regular-season title and landed in the tournament for the first time since 1952. Although the Tigers (whose stunning hot streak in the postseason carried then into the tournament) and the Bulldogs (who play without their top scorer) lost their first-round games, they made college hockey more palatable for a mid- Atlantic audience that has yet to embrace it.m Still down in the dumps? Consider what Ohio State accomplished this week end, and for that matter, this year. Just three years ago, the Buckeyes were a joke of a hockey program. They played in a rink that could have been mistaken for a frozen bathtub and had abot as many fans in Columbus as they do in Ann Arbor. Even as recent as last sea-- son, Ohio State was an embarrassing 12-25-2 and light years from the top of the CCHA. But in 1995, the Buckeyes' braintrust hired John Markell to rebuild, or rather, just build the program. And now, faster than you could say, "rejuvenation," Ohlo State is in the final four. The Buckeyes' stunning 4-3 overtime victory over the nation's undisputed No. I team was sweet revenge for the loss the Spartans handed them a week ago in the CCHA finals, and, like Princeton and Yale, opened up college hockey to a whole new audience. "This is good for the (CCHA) and good for college hockey," Markell said. "We have a great market for hockey in Columbus, Ohio, and with the Columbus Bluejackets coming into the (NHL) and our 17,000-seat arena opening next year we hope we can sell the product to a whole new area of the country." But seriously, with this audience, the Buckeyes would have to do better than that to cheer up a Michigander. With that said, who could have asked for a better story from this weekend than that of Michigan? There were many great angles; from which to view the Wolverines' spectacular weekend, which led them to familiar but unexpected territory. Let's start with the fact that Michigan is in the national semifinals for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in seven years, and has won 30 ganes for the eighth straight season - a dynasty in every sense of the word. Other than the 20 guys in maize and blue on the ice Saturday night and the men behind the bench, who could have figured this team - one that lost the greatest recruiting class in college hockey history to graduation, and is forced to routinely dress freshmen for half its skaters - to come within one point of the CCHA title, and then three weeks later, fall two goals behind North Dakota, yet come back and knock off the defending national champion? See GOLDENBACH, Page 6C By Stephanie Offen DalDy Sports Writer - For the past 19 years, Briana and Tumeka Harris have been close sisters, but yesterday's match at the Varsity Tennis Center brought sibling rivalry to a new level. A spectator in the stands would be confused sitting near the Harris family. They had their own cheering section - yelling loudly for both teams. Jackie Harris, the players' mother came in from Cleveland to see her daughters play. w"This gives me an opportunity to be with the fami- ly' she said. "It also gives me a chance to support my daughters in their tennis." Tumeka, ajunior and Michigan's No. 3 singles play- er, finished her match before her sister. She had a tough match, which she lost 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, after com- ing off a come-from-behind doubles victory. Tumeka, along with Erryn Weggenman, won 8-2, after trailing 1-2. Briana, a freshman and Ohio State's No. 2 singles player, was still trying to deliver the final blow to Michigan's Danielle Lund when her sister finished her singles match. Tumeka came over to join the family, but would not say who she was cheering for - her sister or her teammate. Tumeka simply said, "It's a secret." And the secret was never revealed. Briana was able to deliver that final blow after three long, grueling sets, beating Lund 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. She was quickly congratulated by her sister, who also con- gratulated Lund on a well-played match. The two sisters try their hardest not to be competi- tive with each other when it comes to tennis. They have not competed against each other yet in the 15 years that they have been playing. And, since Tumeka plays in the No. 3 spot, and Briana plays in the No. 2, they probably never will. Jackie Harris has done her best to keep this non- competitive attitude among the girls. "With tennis, and life itself - whatever you elect to do, you should feel good about it," she said. "If you put 100 percent in and you focus and go in and play the best you can play, then you should be satisfied. If you've given your best, then that's it." Look fir Yeager from NCAA hockey e meet may ment made ,mntmae coverage from . Freshman is personal ches with a Bosfin in the third place. pman, hurled Daily ,fini hpr in Distance squad stays in fron y Nick Koster For the Daily Against some of the stiffest competi- tion in the nation, the Michigan men's track and field team proved what every- one already knew: The Wolverines have a'deep distance squad, but lack any for- midable threat in the sprints. - The Arizona State Castillo Invitational at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., #as the site of Michigan's initial outdoor meet of the season this past weekend. Although there was no team scoring, the Wolverines were content with their per- formance. "It was a good way to start the sea- son, Michigan distance runner Jay Cantin said. "Everyone fared fairly well, but we were more concerned with hav- ing a good training weekend." Heading up the strong distance crew, All-American Kevin Sullivan won his *ne race of the weekend, the 800-meter run, in 1:52.05. In the same event, Cantin and Don McLaughlin finished fifth and 10th, respectively. John Mortimer led the Wolverines in the 1,500-meter run with a fifth-place fin- ish. Don McLaughlin followed in sixth. Sullivan, the NCAA champion in the outdoor mile, sat out the 1500. Tom Snyder closed out the distance events for Michigan with a fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run. His time of 14:21.40 was more than 25 seconds faster than his best time last year. As expected, Michigan also made a good showing in the relays. The Wolverines finished fourth in the 4 x 100 with a time of 41.17. But, in the 4 x 400, Michigan was destroyed by Big Ten rival Illinois. The Wolverines finished in third, 3.5 seconds behind the Illini. In the sprints, no Wolverine fared bet- ter than Jon Cohen, who finished 13th in the 110-meter hurdles -almost two full seconds behind winner Ty Y Indiana. The biggest surprise of th have been the vast improve by the younger Wolverines Charles DeWildt topped h best pole vault by 1 1/2 in vault of 16-7 1/2, good for Andrew Derr, another freshn the javelin 184-02 and also third place. "It's great to see the you well. They are the future o track," Cantin said. "For the lege meet, they were phen definitely something they ca The Wolverines will turnt diate focus to USC, which th April 4 in Los Angeles. "Right now we are more about training for the Big T said. "We want to take adva weekend trips for working on 1inisne in ng guys do f Michigan ir first col- omenal. It's n build on." their imme- ey will face concerned ens," Cantin ntage of the our speed." 1 /M 11 Mid-distance runners boost Blue women By Chris Duprey Daily Sports Writer qThis weekend's Arizona State invitational provided the Michigan women's track team with many stories: solid winning performances, the dis- tance crew's first outdoor competition of the season and the not-so-illustrious return of a runner who has been injured since the start of the indoor campaign. Maybe the most refreshing aspect of the Wolverines is their variety of heroes from week to week. This week, it was the mid-distance squad's turn, as the Volverines owned the 800-meter dash. Five of the eight scoring places belonged to the Wolverines, who were led by Sarah Hamilton's 2:12.37 first-place finish. Distance standout Katie McGregor was just a step behind as the runner-up. It was another meet and another NCAA provisional qualifying height for high jumper Nicole Forrester. The junior cleared the 5-foot- 11 1/2 bar to win the event in her second outdoor competition. Although the performance was good enough to secure the victory, it was not Forrester's personal best, by any means. E ...... "It just wasn't a good performance at all," Forrester said. Tania Longe reinforced her reputation as Michigan's "Ms. Versatile" by scoring in three events. The all-Big Ten per- former took fourth in the 100-meter hur- dles, as well as a runner-up finish in the long jump with a leap of 19-9 3/4. Longe has displayed consistency all season in the hurdles and the long jump, but she added a new angle with a sev- enth-place finish in the javelin, even edging out Michigan's specialist in the event, Amy Johnson. McGregor showed no negative effects of competing in two events, as she took first in the 1,500- meter run with a time of 4:25. Buried deep in the standings was Julie Froud, who is recovering from Achilles tendini- tis. 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