6B - The Michigan Daily- SportsMonday - January 28, 2002
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finish his moves with take-downs. Still,
he led 2-1 late in the match and the
enthusiastic crowd was beginning to
roar at the prospect of the upset. But
then, Lewis turned his game up a notch,
scoring a take-down with less than a
minute left to send the match into over-
tune.
With Dowd tiring and Lewis staying
strong, overtime belonged to the Min-
nesota wrestler. He finished Dowd with
a take-down, quieting the crowd in the
process of winning 5-3.
Perhaps deflated by Dowd's loss, For-
ward, Kulcycki and Bertin each lost.
Kulcycki's match against Minnesota's
No. 2 Jared Lawrence was especially
hurtful because he gave up a major
decision, losing four points to the
Gophers.
At intermission, the team and the
home crowd were flat, down 16-0, with
just five matches left.
Seventh-ranked 165-pounder Charles
Martelli showed some determination by
reversing the tide and posting an
impressive 7-4 win over Nate Baker.
With the Wolverines down 16-3 in
the meet, Olson took on Volkmann in
the 174-pound match. Knowing his
team needed bonus points, Olson
launched a late flurry of take-downs,
willing his way to a 15-7 major deci-
sion.
"Otto looked fantastic," McFarland
said. "He was dominating out there."
Andy Hrovat exacted some revenge
in the 184-pound match against his
nemesis, No. 5 Damion Hahn, winning
9-3. Hrovat's two early take-downs
allowed him to methodically break
down his opponent instead of trying to
score out of desperation.
"Getting the first takedown was cru-
cial," Hrovat said. As a result, "I could
open up my offense more."
Hrovat did more than just take
revenge against Hahn - he gave
Michigan a glimmer of hope. Down 16-
10 with Kyle Smith and Brink due to
wrestle, the Wolverines had a chance.
Smith started strong against No. 3
Owen Elzen, leading 4-3 with two early
takedowns. But Elzen grew stronger as
Smith weakened. In the third period,
Elzen finished off the worn-down
Smith, winning 9-5 with two late take-
downs. With Minnesota winning 19-10
at this point, the meet was essentially
over.
In the anticlimactic final match,
Brink fell 5-2 to Lowney.
Although the results of the meet were
disappointing, the fan attendance was
not. A record 3,392 wrestling fans sup-
ported the Wolverines' bid to upset the
Golden Gophers in Crisler Arena.
"It was great to see that many people
come out to watch Michigan wrestling,"
said Hrovat. "It shows that our style of
aggressive wrestling attracts people."
Perfect homecoming
for Michigan's Ryals
By Josh Holman
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - There's no place
like home for sophomore Calli
Ryals. The Ohio native won her
third straight all-around competition
in No. 11 Michigan's 196.175-
193.575 victory over No. 23 Ohio
State on Saturday. Her performance
included three finishes in the top
three, as well as a perfect 10 on the
floor exercise.
"I had a lot of hometown people
here." Ryals said. "That put a lot of
pressure on me, and I do well under
pressure."
As her floor routine concluded,
there was already a showering of
requests for a "10" coming from her
own section of hometown Ohio
fans.
Her perfect score was the first of
her career and was Michigan's 15th
in its program's history. Her scores
on vault (9.85) and balance beam
(9.9) were also career highs.
"So far this season, I always felt
that (scoring a 10) was within my
reach," Ryals said. "I've been work-
ing hard on really trying to hit my
landings."
Ryals' floor performance capped
a string of strong Michigan floor
routines. Senior co-captain Jodie
Rosenberg's 9.850 paced a pair of
9.800's from freshman Kallie
Steffes and junior co-captain Janes-
sa Grieco.
The team started the meet with an
unimpressive uneven bars perform-
ance, posting a 48.925 in the event,
its lowest of the meet.
When Michigan's rotation brought
it around to the vault, the Wolver-
ines received a boost from senior
Melissa Peterson's first-place post-
ing of 9.9. The score was a career
high for Peterson:
Overall, Michigan gymnasts
broke four career highs in the event.
Rosenberg (9.725) and Ryals broke
theirs, while Steffes (9.8) tied her
career best.
Peterson had fallen on the beam
in warm-ups and smacked her shin-
bone against the beam. Her shin was
iced until the beginning of the meet,
preventing her from warming up for
the vault. Peterson persevered and
pulled out the win, along with solid
scores of 9.75 and 9.85 on the floor
and beam, respectively.
"I've learned over 13 years that
when a kid can look you in the eye
and tell you she believes she can do
something, you need to trust her
instinct," Michigan coach Bev Ploc-
ki said.
The vault helped pave the way for
the team's high scores of 49.200 and
49.075 on the floor and beam. It was
the second week in a row that the
Wolverines ended the meet on beam
with a very strong performance,
seemingly shedding the troubles the
team was experiencing at the begin-
ning of the season.
Sophomore Elise Ray rounded out
the event sweep for the Wolverines,
earning victories on the uneven bars
and beam with scores of 9.875 and
9.95. But she was still held out of
the all-around competition due to a
bruised heel.
"We didn't warm up all that well,"
Plocki said. "But I'm really' proud
of these kids because when it comes
down to meet time, it really seems
like they are able to focus in and do
their job."
Michigan's victory over the Buck-
eyes was its second in a row on the
road over a nationally-ranked Big
Ten team. The Wolverines will host
No. 16 Florida on Friday before
competing in the State of Michigan
Classic on Sunday.
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland yells emphatically at his team in
Saturday's loss to Minnesota at Crisler Arena.
Conditioning key to wrestlers' success
By Rohit Bhave
Daily Sports Vriter
As much as wrestling dep
coordinated maneuvers, b
strength and quickness, a wi
endurance ultimately determi
proficiencies in each departme
Said Michigan captain
Hrovat: "As long as you a
technique means nothing."
The No. 4 Michigan wrestli
was not far behind No. 1 Minn
terms of skill, strength and
cism. Judging from the begin
most of the matches, they app
be superior in some of them.
the majority of their matc
Golden Gophers had a clear
conditioning - the determin
tor in Minnesota's 22-10 victo
Down three points after an
aging outing by Michigan's A
against Minnesota's No. 2 Ler
the Wolverines needed a win1
sustain some momentum in th
It appeared that Michig
going to register a momentum
ing upset when Foley Dow
ahead 2-1 late in his match w
Ryan Lewis. But Dowd tired 1
ing up a takedown in the fina
then a second one in overtime to lose
the match. Just like that, Michigan's
best hope to notch a win in the first
ends on five matches was gone.
)alance, "I knew we needed to win (Dowd's)
restler's match," Michigan coach Joe McFar-
ines his land said. "We had to win one or two
ent. matches of the first five."
n Andy Fatigue also killed the Wolverines
re tired, when they were trying to a prevent a
major decision (a victory margin of
ing team eight or more, which results in a
nesota in bonus point for the winning team).
athleti- In the 149-pound weight class,
nings of Minnesota's Jared Lawrence had a
)eared to slight lead over Michigan's Mike Kul-
But for cycki. Late in the match, Lawrence
hes, the became the aggressor and scored three
edge in take-downs in the final period for a
zing fac- major decision victory, 12-4.
ry. Ironically, Michigan's most impres-
encour- sive victory of the evening came as a
.J. Grant result of superior endurance. Michi-
oy Vega, gan's Otto Olson, ranked No. 1 in the
badly to 174-pound weight class, was stuck in
e meet. a tight duel with Jacob Volkmann.
:an was Knowing that his team needed a major
-chang- decision from him, Olson had to
vd went attack late in the match, ahead just 7-4
ith No.1 with a minute left. Olson surged into a
late, giv- furious sequence of takedowns with a
1 period, minute left, scoring six points in the
final minute to win, 15-7. It was an
example of how Olson's warrior-like
resolve could take over a tight match.
"I heard his coach say that I was
tired, and I wanted to prove him
wrong," Olson said.
Through two periods of each
match, the teams were incredibly
close. The difference was that when
Minnesota had to score in the end, it
could shift up to another energy level.
With many of the Michigan wrestlers,
the tank was too empty to finish the
match.
"Some of my guys broke down in
the third period," McFarland said. "To
beat a team like Minnesota, you have
to gut it out in the end."
Fighting through the pain
There are few gymnasts left for the Wolverines who aren't battling some sort
of injury, yet the Wolverines have still garnered a great amount of success
from their walking wounded.
Elise Ray (heel)
Winner of four event titles on the season while
only competing in two events. (Beam, Bars)
Janessa Grieco (shoulder)
Won both floor exercise and vault in meet
against Northern Illinois.
Shannon MacKenzie (ankle)
Senior beam specialist (one event title) began
competing in all-around competition.
'}
;I
14
DAVID KAIZ/Daily
Captain Andy Hrovat knows that his technique means nothing if he's fatigued.
Hrovat easily defeated his opponent on Saturday.
Melissa Peterson (shoulder, shin)
Won vault title after injuring shin in warm-ups.
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Elise Ray
i
14
Broncos tamed by Blue blowout
By Brian Steers
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's tennis team
entered its match against Western
Michigan on Saturday looking for its
25th consecutive victory against the
Broncos. Midway through the con-
test, the question wasn't whether the
Wolverines would win, but by how
much.
In front of an unusually large
[SPRING BREAKI
crowd at the Varsity Tennis Center,
Michigan (3-0) ended the match
without dropping a set, as it posted a
commanding 7-0 victory.
The Wolverines began their
onslaught right off the bat, as they
swept all three doubles matches to
claim the point. Despite suffering an
early service break, Michigan's No.
1 team of Chris Shaya and Chris Rolf
rebounded to beat Dan Grupp and
Ryan Maarschalk 8-4.
"Chris and I play many different
forms out there, and I think we were
trying too many new things in the
beginning," Shaya said. "You have to
change it up when you face strong
doubles teams. But in a match like
today, we just needed to play solid
tennis. Once we settled down, we
were fine."
As solely doubles players, Shaya
and Rolf have the advantage of put-
ting all their energy into one match.
"It's nice not having to worry
about singles," Shaya said. "We can
focus on winning our doubles match
and getting the point, hopefully set-
ting the tone for the rest of the team."
Against the Broncos, the doubles
point certainly provided the impetus
for Michigan's singles players, as
they routed their opponents in
impressive fashion.
Nowhere was a match more one-
sided than at No. 2 singles, where
Ben Cox looked like a juggernaut
against Maarschalk, winning easily
6-1, 6-1.
"My game. is being aggressive,"
Cox said. "I'm not the type of player
who's going to hit tons of balls out
there. I like to serve well to set up
my forehand, which I did well today."
In contrast to Cox's baseline
game, No. 1 Henry Beam won most
of his points at the net to emerge
with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Ravi
Pathanjali.
Playing only his third collegiate
match, recent transfer David Anving
completed the shutout at the No. 6
slot, rallying in the second set to
defeat Justin Kates 6-4, 6-4.
Michigan will see much stiffer
competition this Saturday, when
Tulsa visits the Varsity Tennis Cen-
ter.
"Tulsa is a very good team," coach
Mark Mees said. "We had a chance
to see them this fall down in Florida,
and they have a very deep squad.
They'll be the best team we've
played this year by far."
uJ/
I
Meet representative Brad Lauman
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Information Tables
11:00'a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Michigan Union, Downstairs Lobby
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
International Center
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