10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 4, 1998
Big Ten volleyball
standings
Team BigTen Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Penn State 120 1.000 220 1.00
Wisconsin 102 .83 203 .870
Migan State 3 .750 174 .810
Ilinois 9 3 .750 166 .727
Minnesota 5 7 .417 158 .652
Indiana 5 7 .417 12 9 .571
Purdue 5 7 .417 11 10 .524
Michigan 4 8 .333 12 10.545
Ohio State 4 8 .333 1110.524
Northwestem 3 9 .250 1311.542
Iowa 0 12.000 6 15.286
Through games of Oct. 31
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Volleyball looks to upset State, earn back bragging rights
By Michael Shafrir her perform ance Saturday nightg
Daily Spors Writer Giovanazzi said. "We're looking7 7
With s patepride on the line, the to split their playing time the rest
l Ylli~ 11.Ul YV3LJ'l~l tiUii t1~i~ii W tl~l %IiJV1.
to East Lansing tonight to take on
the Michigan State in the season's
second match of the "State Pride"
series.
After dropping the first match
of the series in three games, the
Wolverines seek redemption this
time around.
"We had an emotional letdown
after the last match," Michigan
coach Greg Giovanazzi said..
"Down the stretch we need to
focus harder than we did last
match."
The two matches against the
Spartans are the only matches this
season that the Wolverines play
during the week instead of on the
weekend. Giovanazzi said that his
team has responded well to a short
practice week.
"The first time it was abnor-
mal, but the second time it's easy"
Giovanazzi said. "We've been
tapering in practice as it is, so we
just move a normal Thursday prac-
tice to Tuesday, and go from
there."
Sophomore setter Alija
Pittenger will return to the starting
role against the Spartans, after see-
ing action in the win against
Northwestern.
There has been a rotation all
season with Pittenger and fresh-
man Shannon Melka at the posi-
tion.
"Playing Pittenger is based on
Many Big Ten rivalries play
series similar to the State Pride
series that the Spartans and the
Wolverines play. For that reason,
Giovanazzi isn't worried about the
emphasis placed on these matches
by the special series.
"There is obviously a good
rivalry and this only adds to it,"
Giovanazzi said. "It makes it a lot
of fun."
The 16th-ranked Spartans (10-
3 Big Ten, 16-4 overall) are led by
senior outside hitter Jenna Wrobel.
Giovanazzi said that although
Wrobel is Michigan State's prima-
ry threat, the Wolverines are more
worried about other players.
"Wrobel is their horse,"
Giovanazzi said. "She will get her
kills no matter what. We need to
focus on containing the other play-
ers and attacking their younger
players."
Michigan (4-8, 12-10) is only
one game out of fifth place in the
conference, and is looking for an
NCAA tournament birth.
Giovanazzi said he feels that
the Big Ten will land six teams in
the tournament, and with the
Wolverines standing at eighth
place in the conference, there is a
sense of urgency among the
seniors.
Though there is a need to win
games, Giovanazzi isn't putting
the team through any special
LONUON_ sbb
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preparations.
"We've been watching a lot of
film and charting the tendencies
of the Michigan State players,"
Giovanazzi said. "If anything,
we're getting ready for a big team,
so we've been putting our taller
players on the other side and hit-
ting against them."
Giovanazzi said he feels that
the team has begun playing more
consistent volleyball. He charac-
terized the Indiana match, a 3-0
loss last Friday, night as an "aber-
ration."
With a state flag on the line,
the Wolverines need to play some
of their best volleyball of the sea-
son if they don't want to ride back
to Ann Arbor empty-handed.
nough of all this Bowl Championship Stupidity. To
even pretend that there is some statistical method of
determining the best team in the country is a ludi-
crous concept. Are we really supposed to believe that-
because some computer-obsessed number-cruncher can
calculate the combined records of Michigan's opponents'
opponents' opponents' opponents, that Scott Frost's team
was better than Charles Woodson's? Puh-lease.
Are we really supposed to believe that Ohio State is a bet-
ter team than UCLA - or Tennessee, or Kansas State, or
whoever - because 3.71 is a smaller figure than 5.70? Give
me a break.
There is exactly one thing I want to happen with this #
brand-new, infallible Bowl Credibility System.
I want it to fail.
If there's one thing I'd love to see, it
would be the absolute, unequivocal,
indisputable, flat-on-its-face failure of
the overhyped BCS. I'd like nothing bet-
ter than to see Kansas State, Tennessee,
Ohio Ste and UCLA finish their
respective regular seasons undefeated.
What could the statistical experts possi- JIM
bly say then? ROSE
Let's face it. No poll will ever be Rose
able to tell us which team is the best. Beef
No equation will ever determine the dif-
ference between Joe Germaine and
Cade McNown's leadership abilities. No amount of analysis
will ever defuse the ticking time bomb that the college l
system. There is no Best-team Certification Scenario.
Not everyone agrees. Some people think the BCS is tht
answer. Penn State coach Joe Paterno - who has both won
and been robbed of national titles thanks to the traditional
bowl system - is not one of them.
"I don't even know how that thing works" Patemo said.
"I'm a computer moron. And the power ratings, and other<
teams ... I have no idea. And I don't really care right nowI
have absolutely no interest in it.
Plain and simple, there isone single, solitary way of deter-
mining which team really deserves to be No. 1. Everyone:
knows what it is. It's a playoff system.
And having said all that, I'll also say this: I hope it neer
happens.
I hope we never see a playoff system. College football il
still unique, because the season actually determines the cham-
pion. The best team is determined not from the postseascT,
but from the actual season.:w
Maybe, with the bowl system, there isn't always a clear-cut
winner on Jan. 2. Maybe it means there's no way to tell
whether Michigan or Nebraska or Ohio State or UCLA is the
better team. But as frustrating as that can be, I still think it's
better than the alternative. I still think it's better to keep cal-
lege football the way it was and has been.
If there were a playoff system, would September's Notre
Dame-Michigan mean as much? Would November's Flddr
Florida State be as much fun?
Would it be as much fun when, after 50 years of disap-
pointtment - after 50 years of coming oh-so-close - your
team finally did make it all the way through the season with-
outa single sullying loss?
I don't think it would. I don't think it would be the same if
everything depended on a few games in December or January.
We've already got the NFL for that.
-Jim Rose can be reached at wrosea umichedu.
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'M' plagued with pregame problems
Continued from Page 9
the week but still suited up andstarted
in yesterday's game.
"You wouldn't know that she had a
- broken nose, because the girl didn't
want to wear the mask tonight,;
Guevara said. "She had it on in prac-
tice yesterday and she was 7-for-14
today. So we are going to keep her in
that mask, and then when it comes
game time, we will let her take it off.:
Thomas wasn't the only one who
was shaken up before the game. Miller
got into a car accident prior to the
game, which may have rattled her play.
Sophomore Mandy Stowe entered
the game with a bad back and scored
one field goal.
The only senior on the team, Ann
WARREN ZINN/Daily Lemire, wasn't even suited up for the
Suffering from back problems, sophomore Mandy Stowe (24) game. She was suspended for three
scored six points and contributed 18 minutes in Michigan's games for breaking a team rule.
8447 obliteration of the Swiss National Team.
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