The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 2, 2000 - 7B
Spikers split
Ten roadaC S
Falling down
After starting the season 8-1, the
Michigan women's volleyball team
is just4/ 3 in Big Ten play and 10-4
overal Fortunately for the
Wolve ines, the bulk of the
conf nce schedule is still ahead
of them.i. Here's how the Big Ten
standings shape up after the first
U.S. basketball hangs on for gold
By Edrick Lopez
For the Daily
The Michigan volleyball team had
a bittersweet weekend. After defeat-
ing Illinois 3-0 (15-8, 15-10, 15-10)
on Friday to obtain its first Big Ten
conference win in three tries, the
25th-ranked Wolverines lost to
Purdue, 3-1 (15-7, 16-14, 10-15, 15-
10) on Saturday.
"It was a good news, bad news
weekend," Michigan coach. Mark
Rosen said.
Katrina Lehman led the way for
Michigan in both games. Against the
Fighting Illini she scorched the net
with a hitting percentage of .476
while also producing a match-best
four aces. On Saturday, she terror-
ized the Boilermakers with a .378
hitting percentage and a career-best
20 kills.
"She had a great weekend," Rosen
said. "She showed her competitive-
ness by stepping up big this week-
end."
Purdue snapped the Wolverines
two game winning streak with its vic-
tory on Saturday. Rosen gave credit
to the Boilermakers for their 3-1 vic-
tory, saying they played "very well'.
"We didn't execute as well as we
wanted to," Rosen said. Purdue "did
better defensively".
Junior outside hitter Nicole.Kacor
led the Wolverines with 21 kills.
"She did a good job on defense and
her attacking was solid." Rosen said.
The game on Friday was a different
story. Michigan (1-3 Big Ten, 10-4
overall) won at Illinois for the first
time since Oct. II 1997, when the
spikers won 3-0. The Wolverines
vicious attack proved to be too much
for the Fightin Illini (0-4, 9-6). Their
.336 (63-20-128) hitting average was
their fourth-best of the season and
WHY HAS THE
UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN
FAILED ITS
STUDENTS?
For some answers see:
www.universitysecrets.com
best against a Big Ten opponent.
Michigan registered 63 kills to just
39 for the Fighting Illini.
This game "showed how well we
can play in the road, against a Big
Ten opponent." Rosen said.
In game one the Wolverines
stormed out of the gate with a 3-0
lead. The Fighting Illini then
responded with a run of their own to
cut the lead to 3-2.
Thunderous kills from seniors
Sarah Behnke and Joanna Fielder.
incited a 7-2 Michigan run, that
pushed the lead to 10-4. Thanks in
large part to Lehman's serving, who
recorded to aces in the stretch, the
Wolverines went on a 4-1 run and
then proceeded to hold off an Illinois
run to win the first game.
Gamc two was a tight one in which
both teams refused to give up. After
five lead changes, Michigan finally
put the game away on two points off
Nicole Kacors serve followed by a
clutch kill by freshman Nicole
Poq luette.
Game three was neck and neck all
the way until a 7-0 Michigan run,
hichlicted by four conseeutive
points off the serve of senior outside
hitter Alija Pettinger. increased the
score to 10-4. Followinc a timeout.
the Fighting l1lini rallied to make a 4-
0 run, which forced a Michigan time-
out. The Wolverines then regrouped
and went on to win the set (15-10)
and the match (3-0).
Next. Michigan takes oi Indiana
on ckridv, at 7 pum. in the annual
-Dock the House" match at the Cliff
Keen Arena.
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the season.
BIG TEN
4-0
4-0
3-1
3-1
3-1
1-3
1-3
1-3
1-3
1-3
0-4
OVERALL
15-0
14-0
13-2
7-5
10-3
12-4
10-4
10-4
9-7
4-10
9-6
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - One by
one the U.S. basketball players bowed to
receive their gold medals, each of them
flashing a wide, genuine smile.
They were smiles that were a mixture
of joy and relief, smiles that had been
repressed throughout the Olympics.
"It was just a tremendous feeling, the
best moment I've ever had as a basket-
ball player," Vin Baker said, tears falling
from eves as he recalled the moment.
"This wasn't an easy journey for us"
No it wasn't, right up until the end.
The U.S. men let France creep within
four points with 4 minutes left, but after
that, there was no repeat of Lithuania's
near miracle in the semifinals. Vince
Carter had a double-pump dunk with
1:40 left and the U.S. team scored nine
of the game's final 12 points to defeat
France 85-75 yesterday.
It was the 12th gold medal .in 14
Olympic basketball competitions for the
United States, but this one will be
remembered as the Olympics when the
rest of the world caught up.
"We played together, and came up and
proved we're the best team in the world,"
Allan Houston said. "It was a little bit
tougher than I thought. Nobody can tell
us we didn't earn it. That's what makes it
even more special.
"We had to play every second for the
gold medal that we got."
The final victory margin of 10 points
was the lowest ever for the United States
in a gold-medal victory. It was the fifth
time in these Olympics that the
Americans won by 15 or fewer points.
quite a difference from 1996 and 1992
when the U.S. teams won every game by
at least 22 points and often had victory
margins of 40 points or more.
"What this Olympics demonstrated is
that the competitive level of internation-
al basketball has improved -- more so
than casual observers of the game under-
stood," NBA commissioner David Stern
said.
That competitiveness didn't manifest
itself in the gold medal to the same
degree it had in the semifinals.
France led only twice, 2-0 after scor-
ing the first basket of the game and 7-6
on two free throws by Stephane Risacher
following a technical foul on Garv
Payton for getting in the face of a French
player during a stoppage in play.
Still, the Americans found themselves
ahead just 76-72 after Antoine
Rigaudeau hit a 3-pointer with 4:26 left;
to complete a 16-4 run that tufhed a
slow-paced, foul-plagued game into an
interesting one.
Kevin Garnett followed with a put-
back after the U.S. team grabbed two
offensive rebounds, Alonzo Mourning
hit two foul shots and Garnett scored on
a bank shot to restore a I 0-point lead and
end any thoughts France might have had
of duplicating Lithuania's feat of two
days earlier.
"Just wanted to keep it going," Carter
said. "Didn't want to make it this'far to
quit. If we were going to lose, we were
going to go down fighting."
After Carter put an exclamation point
on the victory with his showtime dunk,
the U.S. coaching staff started hugging
each other on the sideline.
When the final buzzer sounded, the
American men walked over and
exchanged high-fives with the women's
team, who won their gold medal
Saturday night.
I
WHERE IN THE WORLD
WILL YOU GO?
i t
f r -
Discover the possibilities at the
Annual Study Abroad Fair
Thursday, October 5, 2000
Michigan Union Ballroom
4to 6pm
oflpe
For more information, please contact the
Office of International Programs
G51 3 Michigan Union
764.4311
www.umich.eddW-iinet/oip
:
Own Your Career in
withCa
Career Fair
October
3,
2000,
12-4 pm
Michigan Union
Company Presentation
October 4, 2000,4:30-6 pm
Wolverine Room, B-school
Casual attire preferred. For closed list
invitations, submit resumes to Helaine
Isaacs at isaacs@sibson.com.