12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 25, 1999 Non-conference foes mean more 'M' woes Pitching problems? Not" an issue yet this.season By Dan Williams For The Daily The non-conference woes contin- ued for the 3-8 Michigan women's tennis team yesterday as they fell to No. 14 Notre Dame, 9-0. The three top players for the Irish set the tone by defeating Michigan's three upperclassmen. Michigan junior Danielle Lund fell to No. I11 Michelle Dasso, 6-2, 6-4. Junior Brook Hart lost to two time All- American Jennifer Hall, 6-1, 6-4. Senior Jen Boylen fought hard, but was beaten by No. 47 Becky Varnum, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The sixth-ranked doubles team of Hall and Dasso also handled Michigan's top duo of Hart and Lund, 8-3. "They came through with the biggest points while we lost all the points we needed to get into the match," Michigan assistant coach Terry Zawacki said. The loss was the sixth straight for the Wolverines, including five against higher-ranked non-confer- ence foes. But the team's confidence is yet to wane. "Our confidence is still up because we've played a number of top 30 teams this season. Zawacki said. "We're just trying not to think too much about the actual record." The Wolverines are happy to catch a break from the non-conference schedule this weekend, as they retu to Ann Arbor to face No. 38 Io Saturday and No. 34 Wiscon Sunday at the Varsity Tennis Cent The team has compiled a 2-1 Big T record and is still in the hunt fo Big Ten title. "This weekend marks the re beginning of crunch time for u Zawacki said. Michigan's first task is to aven last year's tight 4-3 loss to Iowa Iowa City. Iowa's top player, jun Natalya Dawaf, beat Hart in the I match to secure the victory. Seni4 Erin Wolverton and Emily Bampt are also key for the Hawkeyes. Iowa has compiled an 8-4 reco losing 8-1 to Notre Dame in th last match. The Hawkeyes are 1-1 Big Ten play with a win over Illinc and a loss to Northwestern. Sunday's opponent, Wiscons features the two highest ranked s gles players in the Big Ten. Top pl er Barbara Urbanska is ranked N 46, and Andrea Nathan is No. 58. Wisconsin enters the weeke with a resume similar to Michigan Wisconsin has dropped eight straig dual matches to fall to 3-9, but ma of those have come against high ranked non-conference foes. T Badgers are I-I in the Big Ten witi win over Illinois and a loss Northwestern. urn wa sin ter. ten r a eal s," ige in ior ast ors on rd, eir in ois By Chris Grandstaff Daily Sports Writer KALAMAZOO - The biggest question fac- ing the Michigan baseball team heading into this season was the pitching. But now, 18 games into the 1999 season, Michigan coach Geoff Zahn and his Wolverines (8-10 overall) aren't too worried. "I was unsure of our pitching at the begin- ning of the season, Zahn said. "But I think our pitching has been pretty good so far." Yesterday afternoon Michigan starter Bryan Cranson threw six solid innings, giving up two runs while scattering eight hits. The effort was enough to allow the Michigan bats to take a commanding, 7-2 lead before Cranson's depar- ture. The win was Cranson's first of the season. The Wolverines also got a pitching boost Wednesday afternoon from two hurlers making their first appearance of the season. Freshman Nick Bellows threw two and two-thirds innings and allowed three runs on three hits to keep the Wolverines in a position to win the game. 9 Senior Robbie Reid, who was last seen try- ing to guard Scoonie Penn and his Final Four- bound Ohio State Buckeyes, saw his first . action of the season, closing out the game by throwing two-thirds of an inning of perfect baseball. "I was really happy with the way Cranson threw and we had two guys who hadn't pitched at all who did well," Zahn said. The early season success of his pitching has Zahn sold on this year's staff. "I think our pitching is going to be bette4 than it has been in the past," Zahn said. "The pitching we have here right now is the best we've had since I've been here." DANA LINNANE/Daiiy Scott Tousa turns a double play during the Michigan baseball team's 9-5 victory over Western Michigan yesterday. In Flight. 0 Graduates Summer Jobs' Do you-need to clean yourself out! We have cleansing your body products. Detoxify" + Hair Shampoo in,BRONCOS in- Continued from Page 9A ay- lo. "I struggled earlier in the season but I put everything together today," nd Cranson said. "My curveball and I's. my changeup were working. I got ght ahead with those pitches, and it ny made me more effective." her Cranson got in trouble in the sec- he ond and fifth innings but managed h a to work his way out of it with the to help of some timely fielding. "I was fortunate to get some dou- ble plays when I really needed them," Cranson said. "There were some ground balls, and the way our infielders are, they did a great job by turning two, a couple of different times. That helps a lot." Providing relief for the Wolverines were freshman right- hander Nick Bellows and senior Robbie Reid. In Bellows' first appearance for the Wolverines, he gave up three runs on three hits, striking out one and walking one in two and one third innings. Reid also made his first post-bas- S ketball season appearance for S Michigan, pitching the final two thirds of the ninth. He was perfect, ~. allowing no hits or runss. Next up for the Wolverines will be four games this weekend against Iowa to open the Big Ten season. "The Big Ten is a good confer- ence and they'll be tough games for us," Zahn said. "But we're ready for the Big Ten season." By Adam J. Falkauff For The Daily The Michigan men's tennis team opens up its Big Ten dual-match season this weekend with two road matches against Iowa and Wisconsin. Michigan will begin the conference season firing on all cylinders. The team is off to a scintillating start, finishing with a 7-1 record in its non-conference matches. "Everyone on the team, has been playing well, and I am looking forward to the Big Ten season," freshman Ben Cox said. On Saturday, Michigan and Iowa will meet on the court for the 41st time. Michigan has a commanding 36- 4 advantage in the all-time series record. Last year, the Wolverines dominated the Hawkeyes, 6-1. Michigan and Wisconsin have competed in 69 meets during their storied rivalry with the Wolverines notching Men's tennis enjoying fab start' an impressive 61-7-1 record. The Wolverines defeated the Badgers twice last sea- son. Michigan won 5-2 in a regular season matchup and more importantly was also victorious, 4-3, in the first x round of the Big Ten Championships. The Wolverine's current 7-1 start is their best since the 1979-80 season. That year, Michigan had an 18-1 record, and also captured the Big Ten title. In the team's last meet against Louisville, senior co- captain Will Farah won his 90th match. Farah became only the sixth Wolverine to win 90 matches. Currently, no one is hotter than Michigan freshman Ben Cox, who is rides an eight-match winning streak at No. 6 singles into this weekend.' Cox is tied for the team lead in victories with 15, and has a team-best .789 winning percentage. Cox will indeed be looking to extend his winning streak in this weekend's matches. Tanglewoo could be just what. the Dr. ordered for men's golf 11 By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer After a two-week hiatus, the Michigan men's golf team returns to action this weekend at the Dr. Pepper Tanglewood Intercollegiate in Pottsboro, Texas. This will be the first meet for the Wolverines since the Miami (Ohio) Invitational in Ocala, Fla. on Mar. 13-14. This tournament's field will include some of the nation's elite pro- grams and every Big Ten school but Ohio State. "We haven't had much of a chance to compete yet this sea- son, so we don't really know how we stack up," Michigan coach Jim Carras said. "We mixed up our team every week last fall, and we have a different team from fall to now. The other schools will probably be in a similar situation. "We saw some of these teams last fall, but it'll still be a good preview of what we're about this year. It's going to be interesting." Coming off of a 12th-place tie with Louisville in Florida, Carras felt that the Wolverines needed to show more consis- tency in order to continue improving. "In Florida, our biggest problem was that a player would shoot well in one round and then struggle in the other round," Carras said. "For example, Scott Hayes shot 75-81, and Andy Matthews shot 72-82. We need to balance our scoring properly." Despite the inconsistency, Carras said he feels that the team gained momentum and confidence from their experi- ence in the Sunshine State. He attributed this to a team meet- ing the Wolverines had during that meet. Captain Mike Harris implored his teammates to push themselves harder. "We cleared the air on some things that I felt the guys needed to focus on," Carras said. "The captain said some things that were very profound. We emphasized that the guys need to make a strong commitment to the team in order for us to keep moving up." Carras said that he expects the Tanglewood Invitational, with its field of teams from around the country, will be one of the tougher meets that the Wolverines will compete in during the spring season. Despite the tough competition, Carras expects a solid effort from his young team. "If as many Southwest Conference teams show up as they've been saying, then it'll be a very strong field," Carra said. "From here on in, we'll be playing mostly teams fron the Midwest, and we'll need to play well to make it to NCAA Regionals. "I'm very confident in this team. The best thing for u$ at this meet will be to improve individually and as a team. I've told our guys that if we keep improving, we'll be a competi- tive squad by the end of the year." While Patti Koperski had been accepted to almost every law school she applied to, she ultimately decided to attend the law school that offered her an Honors Scholarship for 50 percent of her tuition. Deserves a Reward The Thomas M. Cooley Law School has one of the most generous scholarship programs among law schools, offering awards ranging from 10 to 100 percent of tuition. Cooley is the fourth largest law school in the nation, and ranks well among Michigan's law schools for Michigan bar passage. Find out if you qualify for an Honors Scholar- ship by completing the following formula: x 15+ Your undergraduate grade point average as evaluated by Law School Data Assembly Services (LSDAS) Your highest LSAT score within the last five years Your Admission Index If your admission index is 195 or above you wilI receive an Honors Scholarshin.* Make the m i