*I

6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 3, 2003

Blue comes
up big with
road wins
By Michael Nisson
Daily Sports Writer
Road wins are hard to come by in collegiate
sports. But don't tell that to the Michigan women's
gymnastics team.
The Wolverines (9-4, 2-1 Big Ten) scored two
huge road victories in the last two weeks, both
against top-lI teams. First, the Wolverines knocked
off No. 11 Denver with a mile-high score of 197.025
on Feb. 22. Then last week, they traveled to Utah to
take on No. 5 Utah, winning the event 196.750-
195.875. To make things even more sunny on the
Wolverines horizon, they did not count a fall in
either event, an impressive feat considering that there
were a total of 24 individual routines performed in
the two meets.
"I think that the team feels like they're putting it
together," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "I think
their confidence has increased, and I think that they
have gotten a taste of the level of success that they're,
capable of."
Against Denver, the team opened with a 49.275 on
vault and never looked back, outscoring the Pioneers
in two of the final three rotations to take the victory.
"(The trip) started out on a high note at Denver,"
Plocki said. "(It was) our first time (this season)
breaking a 197."
Freshman Jenny Deiley continued her torrid pace
this year, tying for her third career all-around title
with a score of 39.5. Deiley also won the vault and
balance beam titles with scores of 9.9 and 9.25
respectively.
After the season high score against Denver, one
might have thought that the Wolverines would expe-
rience a letdown, but the team showed its toughness
by keeping up the intensity. Michigan posted a
49.125 on bars, its second highest score of the sea-
son, to open the meet. Utah faltered in the first rota-
tion on vault, posting a subpar 48.95. After a minor
hiccup on vault (a 49.050) caused Michigan to relin-
quish the lead, the Wolverines regained their compo-
sure with a magnificent 49.45 on beam and never
looked back.
Michigan also accomplished a milestone in beat-
ing the Utes. Up until this year, no Michigan team
had ever beaten Utah in Salt Lake City.
"It was really just icing on the cake to be able
to beat Utah at Utah," Plocki said. "That was
awesome."
The road trip gave Plocki and the Wolverines a


Trip west provides
true test for Michigan

By Melanie Kobler
Daily Sports Writer
California is a sunny Spring Break
destination for many Michigan stu-
dents, and more than a few were
probably there last week soaking up
the rays and relaxing by the pool.
For the Michigan women's water
polo team though, Spring Break was
all about getting time in, not beside,
the pool. The Wolverines faced
teams from all over the state and
hardly had any time to relax before
finally returning to Ann Arbor yes-
terday.
"That is the main reason we go
out there, to go where the better
competition is, and right now the
better competition overall is on the
West Coast," head coach Matt
Anderson said. "You're going to take
some losses when you go out there
but overall it's better in the long
run."
The team went 3-4 on the week
trip, gaining two of its three victo-
ries Saturday. LaVerne and the Uni-
versity of Redlands were no match
for the Wolverines, who jumped out
to an early lead in both matches and
downed their opponents 13-3 and 9-
3, respectively.
"We are a little banged up, but we
are happy to be coming home with
three wins," Anderson said.
Sophomore Jo Antonsen injured
her finger early in the trip in the
same way her teammate, Megan
Hausmann, did a few weeks ago.
Coincidentally, both players suffered
the same injury on the same hand
while playing against the same team,
California-Santa Barbara.
"It happened two minutes into the
game," Anderson said of Antonsen's
injury. "It was the same finger (as
Hausmann's), her ring finger on her
left hand. We really had to change
some things around after that hap-
pened, but the girls really stepped up
and gave a good effort."
Junior Abbi Rowe also sat out a
few games due to an injured jaw.
The loss of key starters may have
contributed to the team's four losses,
many of which were closely contest-
ed. The Wolverines nearly knocked
off No. 10 UC Santa Barbara last
Wednesday, losing a ,close 7-6
match. The day before the team was
downed by fourth ranked Long
Beach State,1J-5. While the final
margin of victory for Long Beach

was large, Anderson said his team
hung in there with one of the best in
the nation.
"Long Beach State is number 4 for
a reason and I believe they will be in
the Final Four and probably in the
championship game this year,"
Anderson said. "We really went toe-
to-toe with them and that is what I
am looking for. It was a very physi-
cal game this time, but we gave as
much as we took. I am very proud of
that."
The Wolverines split a double-
header on Feb. 22, when they easily
took care of Cal State-San Bernardi-
no in the morning, but lost to No. 18
California'Irvine later that night.
The Anteaters took a 5-2 lead into
halftime and put down Michigan's
comeback bid in the final quarter to
win, 8-5.
Anderson said that while they
started the day with a good defensive
effort, the team's defensive effort
was lacking against California-
Irvine.
"Defensively we were not there
tonight. We should not give up eight
goals to anybody," Anderson said.
"We have to make it hard for the
other team with our defense and not
get in a firestorm with the other
team."
In their match on Feb. 21, it was
the Wolverines' inability to score in
the final moments that was their
downfall. Against No. 6 Loyola
Marymount, Michigan cut the lead
to one in the fourth quarter with
3:45 left on the clock, but turned the
ball over four consecutive times and
could not notch the tying goal. Loy-
ola scored on a powerplay in the
final minutes to bring the final score
to 7-5.
Although the Wolverines did not
meet their goal of coming home with
a winning record, Anderson said the
team showed improvement and is
now more prepared for its tough
upcoming match against Indiana this
weekend.
"It's important to win at the end of
the trip so you can have a good
flight home and know what you did
right," he said, referring to Satur-
day's victories. "We did some good
things against good teams. I was sat-
isfied with our play in six out of the
seven games, and that's not bad."
Next weekend, Michigan hosts the
Southern Division tIurnament and
will open against Indi na on Saturday.

REBECCA SAHN/Daily
Freshman Becca Clauson shared the vault title with teammate Jenny Deiley, as the 10th-ranked women's
gymnastics team upset No. 5 Utah on the road.

idea of how they stack up against the nation's best.
But that was not all it brought into clear view. It also
showed the team that they are capable of performing
very well on bars, a problem area in the earlier part
of the season. Before the two-week venture into hos-
tile territory, Michigan struggled mightily on bars, at
one point having four falls in a single meet and hav-
ing to count two of those falls.
"We've been working really hard on that
event," Plocki said. Michigan assistant coach
Scott Sherman, who's in charge of bars "has been
working with the kids very hard over this whole
season, and I think that we're finally starting to
see some of the results of their hard work and

putting some things together," Sherman said.
The Wolverines proved that they have what it
takes to compete on the road, but their next con-
test will be just as hard, and this time it will be a
home meet when powerhouse UCLA, the No. 1
team in the country, invades Crisler Arena on Fri-
day. The Bruins are led by junior Jamie
Dantzscher, the NCAA vault, floor, and all-
around champion last year. In addition to those
honors, Dantzscher was also on the 2000 US
Olympic team, along with Wolverine Elise Ray.
Michigan proved over the last two weeks that it
can hang with the big dogs. The Wolverines just hope
the big dog doesn't eat on Friday.

Tech loss highlights southern trip

0

By Waldemar Centeno
Daily Sports Writer

Despite the Wolverines' (3-4) final-
day victories against Bethune-Cook-
man, they finished their spring break
trip with a sub-.500 record.
The trip was highlighted by a
Michigan's close game against No.3
Georgia Tech.
"We got out of (the game against
Georgia Tech) that we will be able to
compete," Michigan assistant coach
John Lowery said. "They're a very
experienced team. They pitched three
guys that won 29 combined games last
year and we actually out-hit them."
The matchup with the Yellow Jack-
ets was a furious one.
Tied in the bottom of the ninth,
Maloney's ball club continued to bat-
tle. Even though Georgia Tech (5-0)
remained undefeated by beating
Michigan (7-6) when its shortstop
Tyler Greene knocked in the winning
run on a one-out single, Lowery was

pleased with the Wolverines effort.
"Overall, we are really swinging the
bats well," Lowery said. "We need to
eliminate the walks that we allow.
That's going to help everybody. It will
give us some guys that will go late
into the game."
Michigan went to Georgia and
Florida to play six teams from Feb. 21
to March 1, including No. 3 Georgia
Tech. But, as rain and storms post-
poned the Wolverines' matchups with
the southern teams, Michigan began to
grow impatient.
"Early on in the year, we haven't
really played so the guys were pretty
anxious," Lowery said. "Actually
the doubleheader days we played
really well."
Michigan began the series of games
in Georgia with a loss against Arm-
strong Atlantic State (10-0). The
Wolverines lost by six runs in Rich
Maloney's debut as Michigan's head
coach. Despite the loss, the game was
highlighted by Michigan's senior cen-
terfielder Gino Lollio's three-hit
effort, which marked his 33rd career
multi-hit game.
Due to rain, the Wolverines' game
against Georgia Tech was postponed
to Feb. 23 and created the team's first
doubleheader of the year.
Facing off with Rider in the first
game of the doubleheader, junior
pitcher Bobby Ganza captured Michi-
gan's first victory, 15-1. Senior first
baseman Nate Wright contributed to
the team's effort by stroking his first
career grand slam and knocked in five

runs for the Wolverines.
On Feb. 25 and 26, Michigan lost to
both Saint Leo and Stetson. Senior
third baseman Brock Koman captured
his 200th career hit as a Wolverine in
the loss against Saint Leo and was the
lone Wolverine to hit in all seven
games during the trip.
"Brock is probably the best hitter in
our conference," Lowery said. "If he's
not, he is one of the top three. Even
though he is hitting close to .400, he
still hasn't found his groove yet. He
would probably tell you the same. He's
just an exceptional player and an
exceptional hitter. We're glad to have
him with us."
Former Michigan pitcher Bobby
Wood, currently in the New York
Yankees organization, met with the
Wolverines on Friday and provided
them with the insight needed to come
out and win the next day. With
Wood's words in the back of the
players heads, Michigan salvaged its
trip by winning both games against
Bethune-Cookman on its final day of
competition.
"It was a big day getting two wins,"
Maloney said. "The kids have played
well the entire trip, and they finally
had a day with some success, and that
is very important."
Beating Bethune-Cookman 7-3 in
the first game and 14-6 the second, the
Wolverines had something positive to
take away from the trip.
The Wolverines are scheduled to
play three games in Oklahoma next
weekend.

DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Michigan sophomore Matt Butler and
the baseball team went South for break.

Inaugural National Conference
Depression on College Campuses
"Best Practices and Innovative Strategies"

I

Michigan sophomore goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong and the rest of the Wolverines
went 34 on their trip to California.
'M' holds down thild *
at Stanford Invitational

By Julie Master
Daily Sports Writer

March 6-7, 2003
Michigan League

Keynote Speakers
Andrew Solomon
The Noonday Demon

After a hard week of training, the
Michigan men's gymnastics team
traveled to California to compete in
this weekend's Stanford Invitational.
Falling behind No. 4 California and
No. 12 Stanford, the Wolverines
notched a 211.825, grabbing a third-
place finish out of five.
"It was nice to get out of (Michi-
gan) and get a break from our same
old routine," Michigan coach Kurt
Golder said. "Getting in the Califor-
nia climate was also good."
Despite the warm temperature,
Michigan senior Scott Vetere was
feeling under the weather and was
unable to compete.

on the event. Scott Vetere's absence
was greatly missed on rings as well.
"We really kicked it out on the
rings," Golder said. "But Scott
would have put an exclamation
point on it."
The most pleasing event of the
night was the pommel horse. Sever-
al of the Wolverines added new ele-
ments to their routines and
fortunately they all worked out.
Seniors Jamie Hertza and Brian
Peterson finished in fourth and sev-
enth place, respectively.
"We've been struggling on the
pommel horse for years," Golder
said. "It was nice to come in second
out of five teams on the event."
The freshmen also stepped up this
weekend and finished in the top ten

Kathy Cronkite
On the Edge of Darkness: Conversations
About Conquering Depression
Mori Mana..Ama ann ah

I



: I