12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 29, 2000
Individual meetings spark 'M'
By Joe Smith
Daily Sports Writer
Some coaches make their players
run laps until they throw up, while
others resort to verbally abusing
their athletes - hoping that their
ranting, raving and tearing away at
one's dignity will spark a flame in
the heart and serve as motivation to
improve.
But Michigan women's tennis
coach Bitsy Ritt prefers another
approach - one that is better
received by her players.
After another disappointing loss
against Minnnesota two weeks ago,
bringing her Wolverines' skid to five
losses in six matches; Ritt met indi-
vidually with each of her players in
an attempt to discuss how to turn
things around.
Instead of chastizing her players
and ripping into them about flaws in
their games, Ritt put a more democ-
ratic method into action.
"She sat me down and had me
write down seven things that I felt I
could improve in my game," fresh-
man Joanne Musgrove said.
After the players constructively
criticized their own play, Ritt used
her 16 years of coaching experience
to figure out where to go from there.
"She let us decide a lot what was
wrong with our games," senior co-
captain Brooke Hart said. "She then
agreed with our assessments, and we
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then worked together to set goals for
the week."
These short-term goals vary from
player to player, dealing with an
array of aspects, from confidence to
mechanics to physical fitness.
"My input comes in terms of how
they can achieve those goals," Ritt
said. "I tried to think of drills and
other methods we could use in prac-
tice to help each player work on their
weaknesses."
The joint effort paid off on
Saturday when the visiting
Wolverines (1-3 Big Ten, 6-5 overall)
dominated Michigan State, blanking
the Spartans, 7-0, and showing subtle
improvements throughout the lineup.
"The level of play was not as high
against Michigan State, but there was
significant progress made in terms of
the players' short-term goals," Ritt
said.
With red-hot No. 14 Notre Dame
(13-5) coming into the Varsity Tennis
Center today, further improvements
are needed because Michigan's mar-
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TODAY
VARSITY TENNIS CENTER
Who: MIchigan (65) v. Notre Dame (13-5)
When: 4p.m.
Latest: The Wolverines look to break the
Fighting Irish curse.
Notre L:ne has beaten Michigan the last
Sx tilmes they've fiet.,
gin for error will be slim to none.
The Fighting Irish have won six
out of their last seven, including a 9-
0 thrashing of Kansas on Monday
night. Victorious in eight of their
last nine against Michigan, Notre
Dame has also owned the rivalry for
the past decade.
"The past three years Notre Dame
has proven to be one of the strongest
teams in the Midwest," Ritt said.
"We've competed well against them
the past few years, but we cannot
look at the big picture in terms of the
whole match, rather focus on
matchup for matchup.
"We have to emphasize the impor-
tance of each person doing their own
job."
Things won't get any easier for the
Wolverines as they also host No. 28
Southern Florida and regional foe
Marquette this weekend.
"This is a very important homes-
tand for us," Ritt said. "We want to
play well and show everyone how
we've improved. With these noncon-
ference matches we can really help
ourselves and gain confidence in
preparing for our remaining Big Ten
schedule."
By Sam Duwe
Daily Sports Writer
Hail on the Victors.
Icy pellets, rain and wind blew
fiercely at Michigan softball practice
yesterday. Through the miserable,
dark cold, the team continued to run
drills to prepare
for the Big Ten SOFTBALL
opener this Friday
against Indiana in Notebook
Bloomington.
But brighter things have happened
to the Michigan squad lately, as well.
Freshman outfielder Melinda
Moulden received co-Big Ten Player
of the Week honors yesterday.
Moulden, who was named tourna-
ment MVP at this past weekend's
Boilermaker Invitational, is the sec-
ond Michigan player to receive
Player of the Week honors in as
many weeks. Marissa Young, also a
freshman, received the honor last
week.
At the Boilermaker Invitational,
Moulden went 6-for-12 with eight RBI.
Her shining moment was a three-run
homer against Notre Dame, spurring a
5-1 Michigan victory - a defining
moment in the Wolverines' tournament
championship.
THREE KINGS: In order to be a
great team, one must excel in three
facets of the game: pitching, defense
and offense.
"We're in the top three statistically
in every category," Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins said. "It's always our
goal to be the top team in each of the
areas. All are good, but without a
doubt, the one really bright spot
we've had is our pitching."
Marie Barda leads this corps with
a barely-visible 0.29 ERA. With
such solid pitching, Hutchins is
more concerned with what the team
can do to be better: putting the bat on
the ball.
"I think our offense has gotten a
lot better, but it still has a way to go,"
Hutchins said. "(Our team average)
has gone from a .240 to almost a
.300, but we want over a .300 to be
successful."
Hutchins says that the key is to get
some of the clutch hitters perform-
ing, and the others will follow.
"Good offense is contagious,"
Hutchins said.
KEEPING IT CLOSE: Michigan,
with its 22-6 record, could easily be
undefeated. All six games the
Wolverines lost were by just one run.
Still, the important part of the season
hasn't started.
"As I told the kids, we haven't
accomplished anything yet,"
Hutchins said.
Blue fights hail to
prepare for opener
Career !'tannin};. Placement
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Applications due Thursday April 6, 2000 in
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Build Community through
Programmatic Ideas and Action
Contact Robb Thibault
763-3202 or rthibaul@umich.edu
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