6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - Monday, February 12, 2001
Blue netters catch
Ball State napping
Comeback victory sweet for 'M'.
By Albert Kim
Daily Sports Writer
.When the snow hit Ann Arbor over the
weekend once again, Ball State was hop-
ing that the Wolverines would go into
hibernation.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they
were the ones that were caught napping.
The Wolverines were very much
awake on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis
Center, sending Ball State out the door
with a 5-2 drubbing.
As with the previous four matches for
the undefeated Wolverines, they jumped
out to an early lead by winning the dou-
bles point, jumpstarted by the team of
junior co-captain Henry Beam and
sophomore Chris Shaya.
Michigan then posted four straight
singles victories to put the match
away.
"I think everyone was very intense and
focused throughout the match," sopho-
more Jeremy Edelson said.
Winning in singles was Beam, junior
Ben Cox, co-captain Greg Novak and
freshman Anthony Jackson. All four won
convincingly in straight sets.
Junior Danny McCain and Shaya suf-
fered the only two setbacks, but both
were close matches. McCain went to
three sets with two tiebreakers, and
Shaya dropped a close tiebreaker in the
second set.
"We definitely didn't play our best ten-
nis, and for me, I basically need to get my
head out of my butt," Shaya said.
Michigan opens conference play next
weekend at Northwestern, and although
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Co-captain Henry Beam won both sing-
les and doubles matches last weekend.
the Wolverines are 58-23-1 all-time
against the Wildcats, it's still the Big Ten.
"In the Big Ten, we can play well and
still lose;' Shaya said. "There are a lot of
good players coming back for a lot of
teams."
It will also be the first road test for the
Wolverines, who have played all five
dual-matches at home this season.
"It's really going to start to get rough,
and we all need to step it up," Shaya said.
M' tennis driven from DiXie
By Jeb Singer
Daily Sports Writer
Despite the aid of a loudspeaker, the
roar of 1,306 intense wrestling fans
almost drowned out his voice.
"Otto Olson shows you why he's your
captain;' announcer Matt Stout said.
The 174-pounder Olson's pin of 19th-
ranked Ryan Hieber brought the
Wolverines within two points of Ohio
State with only 184-pounder Andy
Hrovat left to wrestle. At this point,
Hrovat's biggest fan - his father -
knew No. 9 Ohio State had blown their
chance at an upset.
"That was a tremendous bout Otto
had," Bob Hrovat said. " All Andy had to
do was win the match (instead of need-
ing bonus points). It was over before his
match even started as far as that team
was concerned."
Hrovat's 13-5 major decision gave the
Wolverines a 20-18 victory. Coupled
with Friday night's 24-14 domination of
No. 22 Indiana, No. 3 Michigan (5-1 Big
Ten, 15-3-1 overall) continued its trek to
the top of college wrestling.
"They have a very nice young team
and we have a very nice young team,"
Ohio State coach Russ Helickson
said. "There will be close battles for
these kids. I think that a lot of these
guys will be multiple All-Americans
and probably multiple national
champions."
Coach Helickson possibly could have
had one more All-American on his roster
if he had recruited Hrovat, a product of
St. Edward's High School in Ohio.
"He's a heck of a wrestler - I proba-
bly should have recruited him harder"
Helickson said.
Helickson rejected the notion that his
recruiting efforts decided the outcome of
the match.
"That match was decided in a lot of
places" Helickson said. "Unfortunately
it wasn't always in the hands of the kids.
Three matches were decided by some-
body else"
Olson's match was at the foremost of
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, the Michigan women's
tennis team invaded Kentucky and
,Tennessee with the same trepidation that
the Union Army held back in 1861.
Unlike the Union Army, Michigan was
unable to escape the South with a victo-
ry, losing 7-0 to Kentucky and 4-0 to
Tennessee.
The Wolverines failed to win a singles
set and were spared Sunday, when the
match was ended because it became
mathematically impossible for the
Wolverines to defeat the No. 17
Volunteers.
Against the Wildcats on Friday, the
Wolverines snapped a three-match win
streak when they failed to win a set and
won only 22 singles games. The last time
Michigan failed to win a set was March
6, 1999 against No. 2 Duke.
"I felt that Kentucky played well at
every position,' Michigan coach Bitsy
Ritt said. "I thought they would be a bit
more erratic and give us a few more easy
points, but they committed few unforced
errors and they were able to hit winners
from the net. They were more aggressive
then us and we were caught on our heels."
Kentucky was coming off of consec-
utive losses to powerful Vanderbilt and
North Carolina teams. Coach Mark
Guilbeau was surprised at how well his
team played and felt this was the best
performance of the season.
Undoubtedly, Kentucky was favored
by the experience of facing top competi-
tion in recent weeks.
This was Michigan's first match
against a ranked opponent and it showed
throughout the match - Michigan's
inability to take control of many points
forced them into a defensive position.
"As you play better competition match
in and match out, you are going to
improve," Ritt said.
It was clear Michigan had improved
from the Kentucky match and applied its
newfound knowledge against Tennessee.
The team played longer points, allowing it
to take more control.
That lesson allowed Szandra Fuzesi
and Kim Plaushines to win their doubles
match, 8-3, over Kim Gates and Agnes
Wiski of Tennessee and allowed Kavitha
Tiperneni and Jennifer Vaughn to come
within two games of winning the lone
doubles point at the No. 3 doubles spot.
K"N" '""a" y
Michigan captain Otto Olson converts the pin against Ohio State's Ryan Hiebet.
The pin helped the Wolverines overcome an 18-7 deficit to win 20-18.
Helickson's officiating complaints.
"There was an illegal move going on
the entire time the pinning combination
was going on;' Helickson said. "Otto's a
tough kid. I have nothing whatsoever
against him"
Olson rejected Helickson's claim.
"It was a legal move," Olson said.
Some of Michigan's top wrestlers did
not win. The Wolverines were trailing
18-7 when the heart of the lineup -
165-pounder Charles Martelli, Olson
and Hrovat - stepped up and rescued
the victory.
Michigan coach Joe McFarland's
starting lineup includes three Ohio
natives - Hrovat, 141-pounder Clark-
Forward and 149-pounder Mike
Kulczycki - with a total of seven high-
school state titles. Hrovat is happy where
he is.
"I didn't really want to go to Ohio
State," Hrovat said. "The style that we
wrestle is what got everyone up here. It's
a great wrestling style because we.are
after it for seven minutes."
The team was unable to defeatthe
Buckeyes by a greater margin than they
had beat then-No. 3 Iowa the Week
before.
Although he was displeased with the
team's overall performance, McFarland
will take the win as it came. V
"It just shows you what kind of Kart
we have" he said. "It shows what kind of
guts we have on this team."
Hrovat was thrilled to wrestle last.
"I wanted to put an exclamation mark
on our victory," Hrovat said. "I knew if
something didn't go our way it was
going to come down to me. I have never
had a match come down to me."
Rivalry extends to wrestling as
fans vie for control of Cliff Keen
By Nathan Linsley
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry began on the gridiron and
has diffused to every other interscholastic sport.
The crowd was enveloped in a compelling game of tug of
war - whenever the Ohio State fans found something to be
excite about, a Wolverine would put a stop to the run. It took a
Wolverine from Washington to bring sanity to the dual meet
between the two wrestling teams.
Cliff Keen is the perfect setting for such a rivalry, magnify-
ing noise because of its small size and arched ceilings. Though
the Wolverines seemed to have more fans, the Buckeye faith-
ful were more vocal for the majority of the match.
Even the national anthem singer was wearing a red Ohio
State wrestling shirt.
Though the arena was only three-quarters full, the close
match between two heated rivals made it seem as imposing as
either the Big House or the Horseshoe.
While this was not the biggest match of the year for the
Michigan wrestling team, Ohio State and its fans nearly made
it the Wolverines' biggest disappointment.
The Buckeye fans and wrestlers were charged throughout
the afternoon, and the Michigan team, and faithful, struggled
to keep up.
With the Buckeyes leading 18-10, Washington native Otto
Olson pinned Ryan Hieber, injecting new life into the
Michigan fans in attendance. In such an emotional rivalry,
crowd noise can be crucial - sometimes even the deciding
factor in a meet.
"I think it took a little wind out of Ohio State, going into that
last match;' Michigan coach Joe McFarland said.
Besides the large contingent of red-clad Ohio State fans, a
group of around 200 people from tiny Archbold, the hometown
of Michigan 141-pounder Clark Forward made the 88-mile
drive to see their favorite Wolverine.
"Everybody in our area knows Clark, simply because of the
success he had in high school," said Chuck Forward, Clark's
father and high school coach.
Forward is one of three Michigan starters from Ohio - the
others are 149-pounder Mike Kulczycki and 184-pounder
Andy Hrovat.
"There are a lot of people in Ohio who don't like me, or
don't like Mike or don't like Clark because we came up here to
Michigan" Hrovat said.
At the beginning of Forward's match, the Maize and
had regained control of the bleachers after two Wolverine
tories, but three consecutive Ohio State victories brought the
tug-of-war rope a little closer to Columbus.
There was no compassion shown to the Wolverines, from
Ohio or not. Throughout the match, jeers could be heard from
the stands towards the Michigan team and the referee The
Ohio State fans had come in full force, and they fully expected
their grapplers to add another victory to their 15 match streak.
In all five matches after the intermission, the entire-Ohio
State team stood and cheered every move on the mat.
When Michigan finally won, the Ohio State fans had been
silenced and order in Cliff Keen seemed to have been restorkd.
"There were a lot of people here to watch some
wrestling," Olson said. "They weren't disappointed, I hope"
.' {{
Microsystems Symposium
Friday, February 16, 7:30 am-1:00 pm
Michigan League, University of M ichigan
The Symposium is free.
For Registration and Program Information, visit:
www.zli.bus.umiich.edu/news _events
"I3est in the Field" National Kevnote Speakers
Kurt Petersen, President & COO,
Cepheid, California
Roger Grace, President, Roger Grace Associates,
California & Special Guest
Bill Trimmer, CTO, Standard MEMS, Inc.,
New Jersey
Panel Topics
" Path to Commercialization
" Killer Apps
" Growing the Microsystems Industry in
Michigan
Presented b
Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute
for Entrepreneurial Studies,
Center for WIMS, College of Engineering,
Technology Management Office
Peace Corps
career opportunities await you!
Business Advisor
English Teacher
Health Educator
Agro-Forester
University of Michigan
Information Meeting & Video
oC pTuesday, February 13, 2001
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
International Center
Michigan Union, Room 9
www.peacecorps.gov * (800) 424-8580
Star of the
Week
Otto Olson
174 Pounds
Olson erased any
doubt that he is the
leader of the
Wolverines with a
much-needed pin
against Ohio StatW
Team Leaders
Total Victories:
30 - Mike Kulczycki, 149 pounds
Total Losses:
2 - Otto Olson, 174 pounds
Pins:
10 -Pat Owen, 157 pounds
Fastest Pin:
0:41- ClarkForward, 141 pounds
Technical Falls:
8 - Mike Kulczycki, 149 pounds
Major Decisions:
9 - Otto Olson, 174 pounds and Andy
Hrovat, 184 pounds
Dual Meet Victories:
17 - Matt Brink, Hwt and Otto Olson,
174 pounds
0
'9.
-w'1"'11' i ''1'* r1 ;-. . . '1ti 1 1 a _11
v
Break in the Butte
Ski, Board, & Party at 9,375 feet
A _ Crested Butte, Colorado V\A-,
4.,
_AA
$1 25 per person *
A
Nnth~cer cn roid vpiwih n dcaion utniuelv focused onnthe 2 1St century.A