2B - The Michigan Daily - January 24, 2000 - SportsMonday = CLUB SPORTS CORNER 'M' SCHEDULE _ EDITED BY MICHAEt KERN AND RYAN C. MOLONEY Women's rugby seeks toughness There are only two pre-requisites for those interested in joining the Michigan women's rugby club - 1.) you must be a woman and 2.) you must be tough. "It can get pretty rough;' team cap- tain Jamie Johnson said. "We definitely want aggressive people" In the vast landscape of Michigan club sports, many clubs can afford to pick and choose their players on the basis of past experience. You'll find no such snobbery on the Michigan Women's rugby club. "Most of the people on this team, and all of our starters, had never played until they got here," Johnson said. In a sense, when the club begins its recruitment in the fall, everybody is in the same boat. "A lot of people are in the same situ- ation," Johnson said. "Everybody picks up the general idea of the sport at the same time." Women's rugby on the college club level is split into,two groups -division I and division 2. The best clubs stay in the top division based on the strength of their records in past years, instead of the size of their respective schools. "Based upon how you do, you can choose to challenge a team in division 1 if you are a top division 2 team," Johnson said. Michigan, though down this fall, is a perennial division I club. "We are a pretty young team," Johnson said. "But in the past we've been quite good." Rugby is played on a 100 meter-long by 69 meter-wide field. The games are an hour to an hour-and-a-half long with a five minute halftime. It is played with a larger variation of a football and points are scored when a try is convert- ed in an opponent's goal area. Additional points can be scored with a place kick marked perpendicularly from the spot on the field it was scored from. Practices are at 9:30 p.m. - 11:00 on Mondays at the Sports Coliseum and 10:30 p.m. - 12:00 on Tuesdays at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. If you are interested in or have more questions about the Michigan Women's rugby club, please contact head recruiter Erin Connolly at econnoll@umich.edu or captain Johnson at jljohnson@umich.edu. -Ryan C. Moloney Men's Volleyball to host top club teams at CCRB The Michigan Men's volleyball club will host the annual Michigan Classic this weekend at the CCRB. The tournament features club teams from all over the country, including the top three college teams in club volleyball - Arizona, Graceland College and Utah Valley State. The tournament runs all day Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. As a special bonus to club volley- ball fans, additional matches will be held on Friday night at the CCRB as well. Michigan will take on Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. while Michigan State will meet No.3 Utah Valley State on the neighboring court. Also, Ohio State will meet Florida. For more information, contact Oskar Nordstrom at onordst@iuinich.edu.hInformation submitted bC Ben Gerhold. -Ryan C. Moloney Tuesday, January 25 Men's basketball at Indiana 7 p.m. Thursday January 27 Women's basketball at Penn State 7:30 p.m. Friday January 28 Wrestling at Illinois, 7 p.m. Women's gymnastics vs. Kentucky 7 p.m. Women's swimming and diving vs. Northwestern, 6 p.m. Women's tennis vs. Western Michigan, 6 p.m. Saturday January 29 Hockey vs. Ohio State, 7:05 p.m. Men's swimming and diving at Indiana, 10 a.m. Women's swimming and diving at Notre Dame, 6 p.m. Men's tennis vs. DePaul, 1 p.m. Women's tennis vs. Yale, 11 a.m. Men's track at Lyons Invitational Women's track at Michigan Invitational Sunday January 30 Wrestling at Purdue, 1 p.m. COACHES' HOOPS POLL ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Top 25, Jan. 23 The Citadel 81 vs. Geo Southern 93 South Carolina 62 vs. Georgia 90 Mercer 51 vs. Georgia St 66 Sw Missouri St 61 vs. Illinois St 72 Drake 62 vs. Indiana St 67 Michigan 78 vs. Iowa 83 Fla Atlantic 63 vs. Jacksonville 82 Samford 65 vs. Jacksonville St 69 Nicholls St 63 vs. Lamar 70 Bucknell 67 vs. Lehigh 57 North Texas 63 vs. Long Beach St 100 Arkansas St 70 vs. Louisiana Tech 78 NC Charlotte 69 vs. Louisville 59 Illinois Chi 80 vs. Loyola Chi 86 Clemson 62 vs. Maryland 74 Rhode Island 50 vs. Massachusetts 89 Se Louisiana 66 vs. Mcneese St 67 Sacred Heart 69 vs. UMBC 77 No Carolina A&T 80 vs. Md Eastrn Shore 68 Houston 98 vs. Memphis 89 Boston College 54 vs. Miami Fla 62 Buffalo 54 vs. Miami Ohio 74 Tennessee St 73 vs. Middle Tenn St 80 Jackson St 61 vs. Miss Valley St 74 Oakland 64 vs. UMKC 62 Murray St 87 vs. Morehead St 86 Norfolk St 78 vs. Morgan St 70 Wagner 109 vs. Mt St Marys 99 CoIl Of Charltn 73 vs. NC Greensboro 59 Tex San Antonio 71 vs. UL Monroe 85 Baylor 55 vs. Nebraska 69 San Diego St 55 vs. UNLV 83 Air Force 72 vs. New Mexico 89 Georgia Tech 58 vs. No Carolina St 66 Marshall 74 vs. Northern 1I1192 Montana 67 vs. CS Northridge 79 Montana St 80 vs. Northrn Arizona 89 Pittsburgh 66 vs. Notre Dame 81 Western Mich 78 vs. Ohio 74 Youngstown St 63 vs. Oral Roberts 79 New Mexico St 48 vs. Pacific 47 St Francis Pa 63 vs. Quinnipiac 80 San Jose St 58 vs. Rice 56 American 63 vs. Richmond 78 Portland St 72 vs. CS Sacramento 70 Gonzaga 84 vs. San Diego 79 Pepperdine 76 vs. San Francisco 70 Nevada 65 vs. Santa Barbara 89 Loyola Marymnt 75 vs. Santa Clara 79 Eastern 1166 vs. Se Missouri St 77 Fresno St 78 vs. SMU 85 Chicago St 69 vs. Southem Utah 90 Southern Miss 51vs. South Florida 73 Alcorn St 77 vs. Southern 83 Bradley 59 vs. Southern 11 72 Monmouth Nj 67 vs. St Francis Ny 73 NBA STANDINGS Who: Stacey Thomas Hometown: Flint High School: Southwestern Academy ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 0 Sport: Basketbali Year: Senior Why: Thomas scored a career-high 32 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals in the Wolverines' 82-78 victory over Iowa. Thomas also had a game-high 23 points to go with 10 rebounds, five steals and two blocks in Michigan's loss to Wisconsin on Thursday. Background: Thomas is the career steals leader in the Big Ten with 338, setting the mark this year at home against Purdue. She is fourth all-time in career rebounds at Michigan and fifth all-time in points and blocked shots. 0 Wolvernes drop one match, best Western 0 (first place votes in Team 1. Cincinnati 2. Stanford 3. Duke 4. Arizona 5. Syracuse 6. Connecticut 7. Auburn 8. Michigan State 9. Florida 10. Ohio State 11. Kansas 12. Indiana 13. Tennessee 14. Texas 15. Tulsa 16. Oklahoma State 17. Oklahoma 18. Kentucky 19. Utah 20. UCLA 21. Maryland 22. Vanderbilt 23.St. John's 24. Temple 25. N.C. State parentheses) Record 17-1 15-1 15-2 16-3 15-0 13-3 16-2 13-5 14-3 13-3 15-3 14-3 16-2 12-5 18-1 14-2 15-3 13-5 14-3 11-5 13-5 12-3 12-4 12-4 13-3 Pts 775 736 688 674 652 605 555 492 467 446 445 417 415 358 351 312 286 277 192 131 126 119 102 86 81 Pvs 1 3 6 2 5 7 4 10 9 15 8 11 14 13 17 12 16 18 20 19 24 23 By Jeff Pullips Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's tennis team got off to a shaky start against Western Michigan, but dropped only one match in its first dual meet of the season, The single blemish in the meet came when senior John Long fell to Fernando Garcia in No. 2 singles. A distraught Long could not find a rhythm during the match. "I thought I played very poorly," said Long. "I moved like Shawn Bradley out there." Perhaps riding the high of defeating Michigan State's No. 1 player, Ken Kigongo, a much improved Garcia played like a backboard by returning everything that Long was able to give him. "I am very proud of the way the team played," Long said. "This loss won't faze me. Long teamed up with fellow co-cap- tain Brad McFarlane for a doubles victo- ry earlier in the day. The pair. defeated Ryan Maarchalk and Kyle Gernhofer at No. 2 doubles. "We just tried to go out and have fun," McFarlane said. "It was kind of an ugly match, but they all can't be pretty." Senior Matt Wright and sophomore Danny McCain provided the most drama of the day. At No. I doubles, McCain and Wright trailed Western Michigan's Ryan Tomlinson and Steve Pillon throughout, but were able to tie the match when they needed to. Down 8-7, the pair forced the match to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, McCain showed up in crunch time. McCain came up with two huge serves on match point to take the lead 9-8. Then on match point, McCain hit the return that set up the match winning shot. "We were expected to win," said McCain. "We had to take our game to another level to finish." This dual meet was the first doubles match in two months for much of the team. "I think that as a team, we did not have a good doubles day," Wright said. "It is .a weakness that we have to wor on." After a tough doubles match, McCain and Wright cruised in their singles matches. Wright defeated Tomlinson at No. I singles and McCain defeated Christian Brattstrom at No. 3 singles. "After the doubles match we were able to just relax and play," McCain said. On Saturday, Western defeated Michigan State, 4-3 But attempting to remain undefeated against Big Ten opponents, the Broncos were shut dowO "I think that Michigan State is clearly in the lower half of the Big Ten," Wright said. Michigan sophomore Ben Cox and senior Ron Nano showed no rust by win- ning easily at No. 3 doubles. In singles, Cox and Nano followed up their solid performances at the Big Ten Singles Championships by winning at No. 5 and No. 6 singles respectively. Michigan coach Mark Mees was gl* to begin his first season with a win. "I certainly had some butterflies and was nervous for my first match," Mees said. "We did some good things and overall I think we played pretty well." Members of the men's tennis team will be back in action tonight at the Michigan Theater - sans racquets. Long and McFarlane will team up with four other Michigan athletes to lip-synch to the Backstreet Boys for Mock Ro1 The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. SPORTS BRIEFS Titans pummel Jags, earn first Super Bowl birth in 40-year team history JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Tennessee Titans found another improbable way to win. This time it's taking them to their first Super Bowl in the franchise's 40 seasons - 37 of them as the Houston Oilers. The Titans upset Jacksonville 33- 14 on Sunday to win the AFC title, beating the Jaguars for the third time this season with a burst of 16 points in about 4 1/2 minutes in the third quarter. Steve McNair led the way, running for 91 yards on nine carries and scor- ing on two I1-yard quarterback sneaks, despite limping all week with a boot to protect an injured toe. Tennessee won as it has all season: a little offense, a lot of defense, and a big contribution from special teams. The defense forced six turnovers. The Titans trailed 14-10 at the half - but then came their third-quarter scoring binge. It began with a 76-yard drive on six plays for the go-ahead touch- down on a sneak by McNair. Forty-three of the yards came on penalties -- 15 on a roughing the passer call when McNair somehow ducked out of a 10-yard sack by Kevin Hardy, rolled left and com- pleted a 15-yard pass to Eddie George. Tennessee's trip to the Super Bowl follows three straight 8-8 seasons, one in Houston, one in Memphis and the third and Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville. This year, in their new home at Adelphia Coliseum, they went 13-3 and qualified as a wild card, a game behind Jacksonville in the AFC Central even though they beat the Jaguars twice. COLLEGE BASKETBALL Creighton 83 vs. Evansville 88 Niagara 78 vs. Fairfield 85 Northeastern 70 vs. Hartford 76 Navy 81 vs. Holy Cross 49 Drexel 83 vs. Maine 100 Rider 56 vs. Manhattan 78 St Peters 64 vs. Marist 79 Hofstra 83 vs. New Hampshire 45 West Virginia 82 vs. Providence 69 Villanova 60 vs. Rutgers 73 Portland 78 vs. St Marys Ca 80 UAB 62 vs. Tulane 73 Boston U 85 vs. Vermont 86 Oregon St 74 vs. Washington 57 Lasalle 80 vs. Xavier 49 Kent 64 vs. Akron 69 Prairie View 85 vs. Alabama A&M 103 Texas Southern 71 vs. Alabama St 51 Mississippi St 73 vs. Arkansas 83 Lafayette 77 vs. Army 55 Grambling 78 vs. Ark Pine Bluff 91 Central Mich 69 vs. Ball St 88 TBQ 81 vs. Belmont 96 Howard 70 vs. Bethune Cookman 95 Wisc Milwaukee 64 vs. Butler 72 Colorado St 47 vs. BYU 68 Boise St 53 vs. UC Irvine 52 Utah St 74 vs. Cal Poly 62 Troy St 73 vs. Campbell 59 Tx Pan American 86 vs. Centenary 89 Robert Morris 52 vs. Central Conn 73 Radford 82 vs. Charleston Sou 75 Uberty 71 vs. Coast Carolina 83 Dartmouth 53 vs.Colgate 60 Kansas St 70 vs. Colorado 78 Hampton 80 vs. Coppin St 81 Columbia 69 vs. Cornell 66 VMI 69 vs. Davidson 80 Geo Washington 76 vs. Dayton 83 Towson St 70 vs. Delaware 82 Florida Intl 69 vs. Denver 57 Cleveland St 68 vs. Detroit 71 St Josephs Pa 62 vs. Duquesne 59 NC Wilmington 57 vs. East Carolina 65 Tenn Martin 82 vs. Eastern Ky 74 LIU Brooklyn 61 vs. Fait Dickinson 62 Delaware St 61 vs. Florida A&M 55 St Bonaventure 60 vs. Fordham 66 Atlantic Miami New York Philadelphia Boston New Jersey Orlando Washington Central Indiana Charlotte Detroit Milwaukee Toronto Cleveland Atlanta Chicago Midwest Utah San Antonio Minnesota Denver Houston Dallas Vancouver Paciic LA Lakers Portland Seattle Sacramento Phoenix LA Clippers Golden State PCT .658 .615 .585 .475 .425 .415 .310 PCT .650 .564 .538 .537 .513 390 .359 .189 PCT .684 .634 .568 .447 .385 .333 .256 PCT .805 .750 .659 .658 .605 .256 .211 GB 1.5 2.5 7 9 9.5 14 GB 3.5 4.5 4.5 5.5 10.5 11.5 17.5 GB 1.5 4.5 9 11.5 13.5 16.5 GB 2.5 6 6.5 8.5 22 23.5 Dream season continues for Rams ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Midwest Express offense came alive just in time. Kurt Warner threw a 30-yard touch- down pass to Ricky Proehl with 4:44 to go Sunday, lifting the mistake-prone St. Louis Rams to an 11-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship. The Rams, who struggled all day on offense, rode their unheralded defense and Warner's late heroics to the Super Bowl. St. Louis opens as an 8-point favorite for next Sunday's game against Tennessee in the Super Bowl. Tampa's gallant defensive effort was- n't enough against the Rams because backup cornerback Brian Kelly couldn't stay with Proehl down the left sideline on the long third-down pass. Proehl, the Rams' No. 4 wide receiv- er, leaped to haul in his first touchdown of the season. He finished with six catches for 100 yards. "If you are every going to bet on someone coming up with a big play, bet on Ricky Proehl,"' Rams coach Dick Vermeil said. The winning score was set up when Bucs rookie quarterback Shaun King was picked off by another rookie, cor- nerback Dre' Bly, at midfield. TONIGHT Check out some athletes doing their best rock star impressions, as SAAC hosts mock- rock at the Michigan Theater, tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $6, planned athletes Include: Hayden Epstein, Marcus Knight, Sean Peach, Bill Trainor, Kevin Magnuson, Sarah Cain and Shannon Shakespeare. Scheduled judges for the competition include: Michigan Athletic Director Tom Goss, former Michigan and Olympic swimmer, Tom Malchow, Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara, and Washtenaw county DAVID KATZ/ i Danny McCain (rght) and Matt Wright celebrate their 9-8 doubles win over the Broncos' Fb Tomlinson and Steve Pillon, a match they were "expected to win," according to McCain. LECTURE NOTE BLOWOUT!! 10.DAYS ONLY I CENTER Bio 124 Bio Anthro 161 Bio Anthro 364 Comm Studies 101 Econ 101 Econ 102 Econ 402 Geo Sci 100 Geo Sci 104 Geo Sci 105 Geo Sci107 n., cm:4 an Geo Sci 114 Geo Sci115 Hist 160 Hist 218 Hist 389 Linguistics 210 Philosophy 232 Philosophy 356 Physics 125 Physics 140 Physics 240 Psych 111 Psych 330 Psych 340 Psych 350 Psych 360 Psych 370 Psych 380 Psych 390 Psych 400 Psych 436 Wom Studies 220 IAlnm _CfiAne A A 4 BOOKsTORE m I I i I