12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 13, 2003 Guevara, Blue hoping to salvage their season Tennis studies way to Hawaii By Daniel Bremmer Daily Sports Writer There was a time earlier this season when the Michigan women's basket- ball team could look at its schedule and mark off Northwestern and Wis- consin as two easy wins. Following Sunday's embarrassing loss to Northwestern, the Wolverines are hoping that other teams aren't looking at their own schedules and circling Michigan as an CRISLE easy 'W.' Who:Michig Following the 29-point Ten,11-10 drubbing at the hands of consin (4-7, the Big Ten cellar-dweller Whw: 7 p.n Northwestern, the Wolver- Latest: Mich ines (2-8 Big Ten, 11-10 its first wini overall) look to bounce back and snap their five-game losing streak tonight against Wisconsin, the eighth-ranked team in the conference. Luckily for Michigan, it will meet a Wisconsin team that hashad its own share of struggles this season. After reeling off three straight Big Ten wins - including a win over Michigan on Feb. 2 - Wisconsin has lost two straight. The Badgers (4-7, 6-16) have strug- gled against the zone this season, espe- cially against Ohio State and Penn State. Michigan should be able to exploit this weakness with the size of centers LeeAnn Bies and Jennifer Smith patrolling the middle of its 2-3 zone. Leading the way for Wisconsin is sophomore Stephanie Rich, who has averaged 11.5 points a game despite shooting only 33 percent this year. Junior Emily Ashbaugh and senior Lello Gebisa have also contributed 9.6 points each for the Badgers. Another factor in tonight's matchup will be Michigan's ability to stop Wis- consin's scoring runs. On Sunday, the Wolverines effectively lost the game in the first half by giving up 31-straight points to Northwestern before heading into the locker room down 40-12. While it's impossible to eliminate runs altogether, it is important to be By Jake Rosenwasser Daily Sports Writer Now that the Michigan women's tennis team has won the Leaders and Best Award, given annually to the Michigan team with the highest grade point aver- age, what are the Wolverines going to do next? No, they will not be going to Disneyland. But they will be heading to sunny Hawaii. Sandy beaches and tropical weather will be the reward for the Michigan athletes who work hard both on and off the court. After winning the scholarly award and the $20,000 that came with it, the team has conveniently scheduled a road match against Hawaii for next season. "It's not about the money," Michigan junior Kim Plaushines said. "We were excited because we won the award and everybody contributed." Many Wolverines did play a part in the honor. Five members of the team were named to the Academic All-Big Ten Conference team last year and a whop- ping seven out of the nine players secured their names on a list of Michigan Athletic Academic Achievement. Plaushines led the way with a notable 3.74 cumulative GPA. The sports management major says that playing tennis actually makes it easier to do well in school. "It helps me schedule my time," she says. "I defi- nitely get more done when I have practice to go to later." Plaushines doesn't plan on taking it easy and resting on her laurels when her Michigan playing days are up. "After I graduate I'd like to work in the field for a few years," she said. "Then I'd like to go back to school to get my MBA." Two other players who earned Academic All- Big Ten Conference honors last season were LSA junior Kavitha Tipirneni and Business junior Christine Nolan. Last year's team proved to be successful on the court as well as off. The Wolverines finished with a 14-11 record last season and a final ranking of No. 39 in the country. They also qualified for the NCAA team championship. In its third year, The Leaders and Best Award is given out by former football letterman Larry Johnson. The women's gymnastics team won the award the first two years it was presented. Even though the Hawaii trip is exciting, it is still almost a year away. Until then, Michigan has to focus on adding to its impressive 3-1 record. Will the team take time to enjoy the scenery when they get to the tropics? "It will be fun to go," Plaushines said. "But we will definitely work hard and get a lot of tennis in." ER ARENA gan (2-8 Big overall) vs. Wis- 6.16) M. higan looks for in six chances. patient, get open looks and put points on the board to end them. Fol- lowing three timeouts in a matter of six minutes on Sunday, Michigan coach Sue Guevara drew up some plays to try to get some high-percentage shots for her players. But the Wolverines couldn't manage to stick the ball in the bucket. "(Their run) kind of snowballed when (our) shots weren't falling;' Gue- vara said. "I think we just kind of lost our confidence, and then we lost it on the defensive end, because Northwest- ern had a lot of wide-open shots." Even though things have deteriorat- ed for Michigan, Guevara doesn't believe her job is in jeopardy. When asked if she is concerned about her job security, Guevara replied, "No. I am not at all." Wisconsin coach Jane Albright knows that the Wolverines are down, but isn't counting them out. "I think it's going to be a tough time to (play) them after that," said Albright, referring to Michigan's loss at Northwestern. "You know one of the only games Michigan State lost was at Northwestern, and you know what they did the next game? They came back and beat (No. 9) Purdue." " SETH LOWER/Daily Business junior Chrissle Nolan helped earn the women's tennis team a scholarship for $20,000. Suspended tournament leaves Blue in last place By Gabriela D'Jaen For the Daily After a disappointing last-place fin- ish in the Northrop Gurman Regional Challenge, the Michigan women's golf team returned from Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., to the frozen courses of Ann Arbor. The three-day tournament was cut short due to weather condi- tions. This turn of events crushed the Wolverines' hopes of narrowing the gap they created between themselves and the rest of the field. After the first day of play, the women found themselves 56 strokes behind first-place Pepperdine. Michi- gan senior Kim Benedict led the Wolverines on Monday with a 12- over-par 83. The second day wasn't any better. Laura Olin had the best round with a score of 81 - the teams lowest of the tournament. Michigan finished with 335 strokes for the day, still displeased with its overall performance. "All the girls were disappointed," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "They were hoping they would play a lot better, and it hurt to lose by such a significant margin. We had a very slow start and we made a few mistakes." Teichert cited several reasons for why she thought the Wolverines per- formed so poorly. "We were playing a very strong field and all the teams were basically the top 25 in the nation," she said. "We haven't had the opportunity to practice outside and we didn't get into the flow of this like we should have and could have." This competition was the Wolver- ines' first event of the spring season, and it had been three months since they had last competed. Their last tourna- ment was the Mercedes Benz Invita- tional in October, where they tied for 12th place out of 15 teams. Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue represented the top four teams in the Big Ten at the tourna- ment, none of which had stellar per- formances. Michigan State tied for 10th place with Georgia, while Ohio State and Purdue tied for 12th. Instead of dwelling too much on their opening performance, the Wolver- ines are looking confidently toward the season ahead. "It's the beginning of the season, so we have to be optimistic," Teichert said. "There is still a lot of golf to be played, and we are looking forward to the season ahead." The Wolverines will head off to Par- rish, Fla. over spring break to play in the Midwest Classic. O0 s 0 I' NY I