8b __ The Michigan Daily - SpoitsMonday - Monday, April 2, 2001
'M' tenni~s
sweeps
Spartans
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
While Flushing Meadows, which
plays host to the U.S. Open every
summer, is always bustling with
excited and overzealous fans, the
Varsity Tennis Center rarely fills
with the same type of excitement.
But this past Friday, a group of
school children from Clio made the
trip down to Ann Arbor to cheer on
the Wolverines.
For many it was an introduction to
organized tennis. It was clear they
were excited to be there, cheering
for every player and asking them for
autographs afterward.
"No, we don't exactly feel
famous," sophomore Jen Duprez
said. "It is great to see people come
out to watch us and especially to see
little kids getting interested in ten-
nis."
After the 7-0 victory over
intrastate rival Michigan State, the
Wolverines where more than happy
to oblige their young patrons. The
win boosted their record back to
.500 - a mark they have been flirt-
ing with for the past week.
Winning all of the possible points,
Michigan's only blemish came in
No. I doubles where Szandra Fuzesi
and Kim Plaushines fought back
from a four-game deficit only to fall
to Caroline Lay and Trine Lise
Juliussen in the tiebreaker 9-8 (4).
Both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles
made quick work of their opponents,
winning 8-2 and 8-1. T he freshman
combo of Kavitha Tipiineni and
Chrissi Nolan played flawlessly,
splitting opponents down the middle
while winning their close net volleys
and finishing points. Despite this
stellar performance, Nolan insists
the tandem have yet to play their
W'M' netters get first Big Ten win.
By Brian Druchniak
Daily Sports Writer
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Michigan's Jen Vaughn won her singles match 6-2, 6-3 en route to a sweep of
Michigan State this past weekend.
best tennis together.
After the doubles, the team pro-
ceeded to get off to strong starts in
their singles matches with Kavitha
and Fuzesi both winning their first
three games. Michigan went on to
win every singles match while win-
ning every set with only one
tiebreaker.
The victory was slightly marred
by the Wolverines' lapses of con-
centration at points in their match-
es. With significant leads, several
players seemed to become compla-
cent and lose focus, proceeding to
allow their opponent back into the
match.
"Some players were a little
streaky where they got ahead early,"
Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said.
"They let their lead slip away or got
down early. If anythirug (I think
there was) a little loss of concentra-
tion. (Some players) felt we were in
control. You miss some shots that
you should make givinig the oppo-
nent confidence, and then she is
back in it."
While Michigan was aible to make
up for its lapses of focus, such
behavior could prove dangerous
against higher quality opponents.
With half of the Big Ten schedule
remaining, there are still many top
opponents for the Woolverines to
play.
Michigan tennis player Anthony
Jackson started out strong in his singles
match against Wisconsin yesterday, tak-
ing the first set 6-4. Wisconsin's Scott
Rutherford didn't, look like he had the
answer for Jackson's athleticism and
strong:forehand, and Jackson looked
relaxed going into the second set.
He shouldn't have relaxed so early. In
the second set, Jackson's concentration
and confidence disappeared faster than
Britney.Spears' dignity, as Rutherford
jumped out to a 5-1 lead en route to
winning the set 6-3.
Come out firing. Then, lose focus and
start struggling.
Sounds more than a little like Michi-
gan's season so far.
After a 5-0 start, the Wolverines lost
7 of their next 8 games, taking them to
the 6-7 mark they brought to the Varsity
Tennis Center to face the Badgers.
Jackson's slide continued in the third
set, as he fell behind 3-1, to the noisy
cheers of Rutherford's teammates.
"Coach told me I looked like I was
out to lunch out there," Jackson said.
"I'm not in good condition, and I just
felt like I had no energy."
Fortunately for the Wolverines, Jack-
son somehow found a spark, which was
fanned into a blaze by the Wolverines'
shouts of enthusiasm as he broke
Water poko
By J. Brady McCollough
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - After the Indi-
ana water polo team's loss Saturday
night to Massachusetts, the Indiana pep
band declined to make an appearance
for Sunday's game against No. 13
Michigan.
The Hoosiers didn't need a pep band
on Sunday, however, as the Wolverines
provided them with music - singing
"The Victors" after their 8-6 victory
over No. 17 Indiana.
The Hoosiers have lost three straight
matches to the Wolverines.
"It's alvays a plus to win at our
rival's home pool," Michigan coach
Amber Druiy-Pinto said. "That's a huge
thing for us; but it didn't come easy.
The girls definitely earned it, and I liked
what I saw. They stepped up to the chal-
lenge."
In the three previous meetings
between the two rivals, Michigan (16-9-
1) tallied one tie and two overtime vic-
tories over the Hoosiers.
Sunday, Indiana needed two goals
late in the fourth quarter to make the
score respectable.
"We feel like we could have done this
all along, and it was nice to prove that,"
captain Melissa Karjala said. "We did-
n't need an overtime to beat them."
The Wolverines continue to find a
way to win their close matches, almost
as if they save up all of their energy for
Rutherford's serve and then tied the set
at three games apiece.
"The crowd started getting riled up,
and I knew the match was on the line, so
I just went out and did it," Jackson said.
Jackson began to look like he did in
the first set, and he clinched Michigan's
4-3 victory by finishing Rutherford off
with a final score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The Wolverines were in a hole after
losing all three doubles matches in an
uninspired effort. The top doubles
pairing of Henry Beam and Chris
Shaya lost 9-7 to Wisconsin's pair of
Rutherford and Scott Green, while
Michigan's other pairs suffered a sim-
ilar fate. Danny McCain and Jackson
lost 8-4, while Ben Cox and Greg
Novak went down 9-8.
After this dismal beginning, the
Wolverines came out for the singles
matches a determined bunch, with vic-
tories coming from juniors Ben Cox,
Danny McCain and Greg Novak.
Michigan's Brett Baudinet lost his
match in straight sets, so the Wolverines
needed a victory from either Henry
Beam or Jackson for the win.
Beam, playing next to Jackson, had
his hands full with Wisconsin's top
player, Danny Westerman. Aside from
providing a running commentary on the
match's progress, Westerman also kept
Beam busy with strong serving and
powerful baseline strokes.
Beam lost a hotly contested first set
idomia tes
the fourth quarter and then explode.
"We just had that edge - that slight
edge, and that edge is millimeters
wide," said Drury-Pinto of her team's
ability to come through in the final
moments.
Indiana jumped out to a 3-2 lead with
two powerplay goals. After a crucial
Hoosier penalty, Drury-Pinto called
timeout to get her team organized.
Michigan executed their powerplay
offense to perfection, as Karjala sent the
ball through the net to tie the game at
three. From then on, Indiana crumbled,
and the Wolverines never looked back.
"We were fairly timid offensively,
and didn't take advantage of some
opportunities that were created," Indi-
ana coach Barry King said of his team's
performance. "We had a stretch in there
where we lost a little focus defensively,
and gave up some goals that we proba-
bly shouldn't have - that allowed the
gap to widen too much."
In addition to their win over Indiana,
the Wolverines edged No. 18 Massa-
chusetts, 10-8 on Saturday in a close,
physical battle between two of the top
teams in the Eastern Conference.
A somewhat lackluster Michigan
team allowed Massachusetts to stay in
the game for three quarters. The
Wolverines even fell behind 6-5 in the
third period when the, Minutemen took
the lead despite Michigan goalie
Camille Clarendon blocking a penalty
shot. A Massachusetts player then out-
7-5, serving a double fault to give West-
erman the advantage. But Beam came
back convincingly to take the second
set, 6-2. Despite a number of powerful
aces, Beam couldn't quite finish the
match off, dropping the last set, 6-4.
By that time, though, Jackson's victo-
ry against Rutherford had already seale
the deal, bringing Michigan's recor
back up to .500 and giving the Wolver-
ines something to build on as they enter
the heart of their Big Ten schedule.
Although happy with the end result,
Mark Mees was not completely thrilled
with Michigan's overall performance.
"We looked pretty bad in doubles -
we came out and played some pretty
bad tennis," Mees said. "But, we did a
180 coming back for singles. We du
down, worked hard, and got it done." 01
When asked whether this win would
give his team the momentum needed to
shrug off their tailspin, he was skeptical.
"Momentum is an easy thing to talk
about, but you just have to go out and
do it," Mees said. "We need to practice
and play hard every day, and that's what
will build momentum."
Come out firing. Then, lose focus and
start struggling. What next? V
Mees isn't sure, but Anthony Jackson
and his teammates showed yesterday
with their 4-3 victory against Wisconsin
that they have it in them to pull another.
180 and turn their season back in the
right direction.
SHoosiers
hustled the Wolverine defenders to cas*
in on the rebound.
"It wasn't that they were better than
us," Clarendon said. "I don't really feel
like we were playing heads-up defense.
Our heads weren't in the game."
Michigan's Karjala put her head in
the game, scoring three straight goals to
spur the Michigan comeback.
"That's what we've expected out of
(Karjala) all season, and that's what sh@
delivered," Drury-Pinto said.
"She's a senior, she's one of our cap-
tains, and she's one of our leaders for
that reason. She doesn't talk about
doing things, she does them in the
water."
Karjala's second-half hat trick helped
her earn the'Indiana Invitational's offen-
sive MVP award.
After finishing the invitational with
an undefeated 3-0 record, the Wolve
ines have compiled a 11-0 record over
the past three tournaments.
Michigan will take its success at the
end of the season into next weekend's
Southern Division Championships in
Grove City, PA.
The Wolverines are in the Southern
Division of the Eastern Conference
along with Indiana, the only other Bi
Ten team.
"It's a huge boost," said Drury-Pinto
of her team's momentum entering the
postseason. "If we came in here and we
lost, we would have gone into South-
ems with a little doubt.
I
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Human Rights
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regime. Where are they
now, when Montagnard
lands are being seized,
their churches burnt and
culture destroyed by
communist Vietnam?
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www.garylillie.com
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