~wte £id iian &lg SPORTS Sports desk: 647-3336 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION B J ure domination: Rowers clean up at Buckeye Invite By Jim Weber Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - The Michigan women's crew had been looking forward to facing No. 2 Southern Cal. at the Buckeye Invitational all week. On Saturday, the Wolverines made the most of their opportunity to race against the Tro- ns - not to mention everyone else in the 'Meld - by winning all 12 races that their boats competed in. Host Ohio State, Michigan State, Clemson, Iowa and Kansas joined Michigan and South- ern Cal at the Invitational, although no Michi- Nothing but defense for Varsity By Jeff Phillips Daily Sports Writer At the annual spring game this Saturday, the Michigan defense made it clear that it was the team's dominant half for the upcoming season. The defense of both the home and the visiting teams pestered the opposing offenses, causing a combined eight turnovers - seven of which were intercep- tions. "I love turnovers, as long as it's our defense making them," Michi- gan coach Lloyd Carr said. "If there is any place where the improvement has been more noticeable than any other, it is in the secondary." The aggressive defensive play set-up two of the scoring drives in the 21-7 visiting team victory. Sophomores Julius Curry and Bran- don Williams each recorded two interceptions, while junior Tad Van pelt and sophomores Emmanuel Casseus and Jeremy LaSueur picked off the other three. "Our cornerbacks are much improved, and they should be because they all have experience," Carr said. "Overall this spring, the defense was around the ball much better." The secondary took advantage of starting quarterbacks John Navarre, who led the visiting team, and Jer- maine Gonzales, who led the home team, for two and four intercep- tions, respectively. "That was the most disappointing thing - the number of turnovers. When you have young quarter- backs, that is going to happen," Carr said.r Navarre - who started three games in the place of Drew Henson The Dre last season - is expected to take Navarre- Henson's place again as the starting quarterback for the 2001-02 season attendan and has learned from his experience ity and last season. punishm "Last year helped me tremen- option m dously in preparation," for this sea- Sopho son, Navarre said. "Last year you in check didn't know what to expect - and by t everything was new. You can pre- team, bu pare differently if you know what to early-ent expect." "That Gonzales gave the Michigan wait you offense a more mobile option, but and tha his lack of arm strength and experi- expected ence showed in the scrimmage. said. Gonzales wowed the 15,000 fans in The rw gan boats faced Clemson or Kansas. Michigan's first varsity eight boat won each of its races by almost four seconds over sec- ond-place Southern Cal. The boat used strong rowing between 1,000 and 1,500 meters in both of its 2,000-meter races to propel it to victory. In the first race, the Wolverines fell behind the Trojans and trailed at the halfway point. But Michigan passed Southern Cal. shortly thereafter and led the rest of the way. The Wolverines finished with a time of 6:35.92. "I knew that was going to be a tough race and both of the races were close and tough races," Michigan head coach Mark Rothstein said. After coming from behind to beat Southern Cal. in the morning, Michigan led the Tro- jans, Ohio State and Michigan State wire-to- wire in the afternoon race. Michigan rowed an almost identical time to its morning performance, finishing in 6:35.80. Southern Cal. again placed second but considerably closed the amount of open water between itself and Michigan by the end of the race. "We started out pretty solid the first 500," first varsity coxswain Helen Dalis said about the race. "Then the second 500 we just kept our lead - we didn't really make a big move or anything. "But, then in the third 500, we really made a big move and we opened up on them quite a bit. The last 500, we didn't have a very good sprint. We were really tired, you could tell." Or, as Christine Meyer explained it, "We pulled away a lot sooner but it didn't really open up as much in the second race." The second varsity eight won its morning race by almost nine seconds and its afternoon race by five. Michigan's second boat clocked a 6:32.10 in its afternoon race, three seconds faster than either of the times the first varsity eight rowed. See SWEEP, Page 9A Fresh faces Blue works on option in Gonzales' spring debut Petruziello sees shift in position for fall; Carr a fan of new hoops coach. By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Editor In Saturday's spring game, Michigan ran the option on a few occasions with backup quarterback Jermaine Gonzales. "You're always looking for ways to give defenses prob- lems," Carr said. "We'll try to do FOOTBALL things that enable us Notebook to move the foot-_ ball." The last time the Wolverines had a true option quarterback was in the 1988- 89 season, when Michael Taylor was calling the signals under the watchful eye of legendary coach Bo Schembech- ler. It is doubtful that Michigan will use the option as long as the slow-footed John Navarre is at the helm. Neverthe- less, Carr is preparing the offense for the possibility of an injury to Navarre. "If he were to become the quarterback, certainly there would be some things we would do differently and the option is certainly something we would consider," Carr said. TRADING PLACES: To replace four departed offensive linemen, fifth-year senior Kurt Anderson and fourth-year junior Dave Petruziello moved from defense to center and right guard, respec- tively. So far, the moves look appear to be successful. "I like the offensive line," Petruziello said. "I thought I've had my best spring so far. I'm looking forward to the chal- lenge. The transition has not been that hard physically, but the biggest thing for me is learning and understanding in a short period of time. "The speed of the game any time you make a switch is what catches your attention. Now that I feel more comfort- able, the game has slowed down a lot." Said running back Chris Perry: "This is Michigan, our line will be fine." CARR ON AMAKER: While Rick Pitino was still a candidate for Michigan's then- vacant basketball coaching position, Schembechler made public his opinion that the Michigan football coach should See OPTION, Page 3B JUTU L / Uaiy Kim Plaushines lost yesterday in a grueling three-set match. Increased intensity for Blue to no avail By Seth Klempner Daily Sports Writer If there was anyone on the Michigan women's tennis team who did not know the importance of yesterday's match against Iowa, they have not been listening late- ly. With a 7-9 overall record and a 2-5 record in the Big Ten, the team is fighting for a higher seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines charged out of the gates, seizing an early lead in two of the three doubles matches. They were playing with energy and emotion, two key elements which have been missing in previ- ous matches. Despite that unbridled fire, Iowa settled down, and gained the momentum in the match. The Hawkeyes won 5-2, dropping Michigan to 2-6 in the Big Ten. After a breakfast dedicated to the seniors, who played their last home match yesterday, the Wolverines played with reckless abandon. Early in the match, Kim Plaushines, emphatically slammed a volley at Iowa's Deni Alexan- drova, letting her know how badly Michigan wanted the match. "We were ready to play and well rested," Chrissi Nolan said. "That is why we came out so fired up and sustained it throughout the match." Freshmen Kavitha Tipirneni and Nolan, also played with unmatched intensity and got off to an early lead. The duo was rewarded for their recent success with a move up to the No. 2 spot in an effort to change up the lineup. But, that high energy could not be sustained once Iowa woke up and calmed down. Michigan's No. 1 and 2, which had been in control of their matches started to falter and Iowa was able to tie up both matches, 7-7. Iowa's No. 1 doubles broke the tie and won the match, 9-7. With that match, the doubles point had belonged to Iowa, but Nolan and Tipirneni continued to fight, eventually winning their match, 9- 7. Michigan continued to play with intensity through the singles matches See HAWKEYES, Page 88 MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily w Henson-Anthony Thomas connection eliminated, Michigan fans can expect to see a whole lot of John B.J. Askew on the field this season. ce with his scrambling abil- also showed he can take ent as Carr had him run the aultiple times. more Ron Bellamy was held by the Michigan secondary he more run-oriented home t expects to take the place of ry David Terrell. 's why we come here - to ur turn to step up and play t's what is going to be of me this year," Bellamy unning game was stuffed for the most part by the defense, but freshman Chris Perry had a long run, which was capped off by him knocking senior P.J. Cwayna over and out of bounds. Perry also had a three-yard touchdown run. Sophomore B.J. Askew played well as the running back for the vis- iting team and benefited from a well-executed fullback screen - a Michigan staple - that went for over 20 yards. "To be successful you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to pass it," Carr said. "When you're one dimensional, you get in trouble." The scrimmage gave Carr and the rest of the coaching staff an oppor- tunity to see what needs to'be improved before the season. Many of the Wolverines were also excited to get back on to the field briefly before they spend the rest of the summer conditioning in preparation for this fall. "(Being) in front of all of the fans is exciting - they get a chance to see what the 2001 team is going to look like," Bellamy said. Baseball knocks off Gophers I A By David Horn Daily Sports Writer After Friday, things were going well or the Michigan baseball team. Staff ace Bobby Korecky had pitched his sixth-straight complete game in a 5-3 win in Minneapolis against Minnesota. When the Wolver- ines (6-6 Big Ten, 18-16 overall) went to bed Friday night, they sat comfort- ably in fifth place in the Big Ten, just a half-ame hehind Pernn Site. in Saturday's doubleheader, and a 26-8 spanking yesterday. "All the games were battles," desig- nated hitter Mike Sokol said. "We could have come home with three wins and one loss, instead of one win and three losses." Sokol went 2-4 with an RBI in yes- terday's game, and 8-14 with two homeruns and five RBIs over the course of the series. Any other week- end, in any other game, that would have been enough. infielder Bill LaRosa was brought in to close the worst pitching day of the Wolverines' season. Even the versatile LaRosa was not the answer, as he allowed three runs before retiring Min- nesota for the last time. Rich Hill (2-3) started the game, but allowed eight runs - three earned - in 2.2 innings of work. Hill got the loss, but no one else on the Michigan staff fared much better. Minnesota pounded out 21 hits on Wolverine nitching, including three homeruns. Softball extends winning streak to 15, By Kristen FIdh Michigan's win streak has climbed Daily Sports Writer to 15. Ii r I In a game where Marie Barda hit the first Wisconsin batter she faced, the Michigan softball team still emerged victorious. After that inauspicious start, Barda calmed down and retired nine out of the next 10 batters, leading Yesterday, three was the lucky number as Stefanie Volpe, Melinda Moulden - who knocked in four runs - and Rebecca Tune all home- red in a four-run third inning, Michi- gan's best inning of this season. The Wolverines tacked on two more runs in the fourth when three fielder's I I I