16A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 6, 2000
:STATE
Continued from Page 13A
With the doubles point secure,
Michigan moved onto singles play
and proved that it was stronger than
Michigan State.
At No. 1 singles, senior Matt
Wright exhausted the Spartan's. Ken
Kigongo by hitting consistently to
the corners and executing successful
dropshots. On the final point of the
match, Kigongo fittingly was unable
to get a racket on Wright's short ball.
"I really match up well with Ken,"
Wright said. "My goal coming into
the match was to move him around
and break down his footspeed.".
The rest of the singles matches
went smoothly for the Wolverines,
with the exception of McCain's loss,
at No. 4 singles.
At the No. 3 spot, Beam used his
powerful serve and solid net game to
breeze past Lucia Primorac 6-3, 6-3.
Sophomore Ben Cox quickly
bounced back after dropping a close
first set and steamrolled through the
final two sets 6-2, 6-3 to win at No.
5.
Finally, senior Ron Nano rounded
out the Wolverines' scoring with an
impressive 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 6
singles.
Michigan head coach Mark Mees
was pleased that the team evened its
record in conference play.
"It's always nice to come up with a
victory, especially at home in front of
the fans," Mees said. "But we still
have a long way to go if we're going
to finish out the conference strong.
Regardless of styles, Blue
netters make noise in wins
By Jeff Phillips
lDaily Sports Writer
If.one were to stand in the Varsity
Tennis Center during a Michigan men's
tennis match, he would know where
John Long is playing. Louder than the
cheers is the voice of the senior co-cap-
tain Long, telling his team to "fire up"
In the same way, one would not know
where Ben Cox is playing. More of the
silent type, Cox plays quietly, with only
the occasional shout of disgust.
Both players were involved in epic
battles against their Michigan State
opponents Wednesday night. Each
Wolverine lost the first set in his match
and each showed his personality in com-
ing back.
Long, frustrated after losing four con-
secutive matches, did not want to lose to
a close rival.
"(My opponents) are going to fight
really hard - every Big Ten match is
going to be tough," Long said.
Behind a strong crowd and emphatic
shouts like, "Come on!" and "Let's go
Blue!" Long came back and won the
second set over his opponent, Robert
Topalo.
After two hours, Long, one of the
most fit Wolverines, expected Topalo to
slow down.
"He was very quick to the ball at the
end - I expected him to tire, but he just
didn't,' Long said.
In the end, Topalo was victorious, and
Long was left with a five-match losing
streak, with three of those losses coming
in three sets.
"I'm just glad the team came ready to
play and was able to bail me out," Long
said.
The quieter Cox had better luck in his
match, where he faced Topalo's younger
brother, Goran.
Like Long, Cox battled back to claim
the second set. Unlike Long, Cox did it
without much noise.
"I decided to switch up my game -
hit soft, hit deep, hit high - which gave
him a lot more errors," Cox said.
Once Cox made the switch, he took
advantage of the frustrated Topalo. The
turning point of the match came when
Cox broke Topalo's serve early in the
second set.
Up a break in the set, Cox again broke
Topalo's serve - this time without los-
ing a point.
"When you break someone at love, it
really takes them down going into the
third," Cox said.
When the entire match was finally *
over, three hours later, Cox was a three-
set winner.
With this victory, Michigan is quietly
climbing back into the Big Ten picture
(2-2 Big Ten, 9-3 overall), after making
so nuch noise at the start of the season.
PETER CORNUE/Daily
Michigan's John Long dishes out a groundstroke last night against Michigan
State. Long went 2-0 on the night in Michigan's 5-2 victory, winning matches
in singles and doubles.
JOSTENS RING DAYS
April 6 and 7 and April 26, 27, and 28
from 11:00AM to 4:00 PM
Ulrichs Bookstore
Jostens
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