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April 2, 2003
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SPORTS

12


Senior co-captains
enjoy differences

By Eric Ambinder
Daily Sports Writer

It wasn't surprising that Michigan
women's tennis team members Joanne
Musgrove and Jen Duprez would
become co-captains as seniors. But best
friends?
"When I first visited Michigan my
senior year of high school, I would have
never guessed that Jen and Joanne
would become best friends, teammate
Chrissie Nolan said. Musgrove is a qui-
eter and more reserved teammate, yet is
as much of a leader on the court as any

member of the team. Teammates
describe Duprez as out-
going, always positive
and rarely ever stressed Stm
about anything - even Sh
on the court. #M
Duprez's nerve-rack- Ind
ing win over Iowa's Jen- Tle: tO
nifer Hodgman last IUami
Sunday proved to be the Courts B
difference-maker in
Michigan's (3-2 Big Ten,
10-5 overall) 4-3 victory.
Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said
Duprez's confidence on Sunday
reminded her of an incident when
Duprez was a freshman playing in the
Big Ten Championships.
"Jen wanted to know the team score,
and she realized it was going to come
down to her match. She told me, 'I'm
gonna make this girl's life hell.' "
And she did.
Duprez not only defeated her at the
Big Ten Championships, but also had
played her years earlier when she was
in middle school.
"I had previously played her way

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back in the seventh grade. I beat her
then, so she hated me," Duprez said.
"This time, it was the last match of her
career, and she was winning 3-2 in the
final set. I ended up winning 6-4. It was
pretty exciting because so many people
were cheering, and my mom was
there."
Duprez is from West Hampton, N.Y,
where she compiled a 95-5 record in
high school, winning her conference
championship all four years. Not only
excelling on the tennis court during
high school, Duprez was the MVP of
her track team during her senior year.
Coming to Michigan in 1999,
Duprez made an immedi-
ate impact at the No. 4
and No. 5 singles posi-
tions, compiling an
impressive 15-12 record
as a freshman.
m CST After the season is over,
Tennis Duprez wants to teach ten-
ningtom nis during the summer and
go to law school after tak-
ing some time off from
academics.
Her roommate and co-captain of the
team, Joanne Musgrove, has somewhat
different plans after college.
"In June, I'm moving to Switzerland
to teach English and hopefully some
tennis, too," said Musgrove.
Being so far away from her team-
mates will be difficult.
"This year's team is probably my
favorite out of all the ones I have been
on' Musgrove said. "We all get along
so well, and we are all really close. It's
been a lot of fun."
She attributes her most exciting vic-
tory of her collegiate career to this

'M NOTES
Freshmen lead Blue
in Bronco sweep
It was the Michigan softball
team's freshmen who were the
stars in yesterday's doubleheader
at Western Michigan (14-4).
Freshman Grace Leutele ham-
mered out three of the Wolverines'
four homeruns against the Bron-
cos, while fellow classmate Jennie
Ritter tossed her first complete
game shutout in the second game
of the day.
Scoring early seems to be a pat-
tern for Michigan (21-8), as once
again the Wolverines pounced on
Western Michigan, 3-0, in the first
inning of game one. The route con-
tinued into the second inning,
when the Wolverines scored seven
more runs, putting the game out of
reach. In her first action of the
season, Ritter closed out the game
in the fifth inning, and Michigan
took the win, 11-2. Leutele
became just the sixth Wolverine in
program history to hit two home-
runs in.a game, and her six RBIs
were the highest total for a
Wolverine this season.
But Western Michigan was not
going to let up so early in game
two. The Broncos' star, Laura
Stewart, stepped to the mound in
this game to compete against the
freshman,-Ritter. And it was the
fellow youngster, Leutele, who hit
a solo homer late in the game to
close out the scoring and extend
the Michigan lead to 2-0, helping
the Wolverines squeeze out a close
victory.
Ritter played brilliantly, striking
out nine and allowing just two
base runners on a walk and an
error.
- Steve Shears

.0

SETH LOWER (LEFT) AND BRETT MOUNTAIN (RIGHT)/Daily
Senior co-captains Jen Duprez, left, and Joanne Musgrove, right, have led Michigan to a 10-5 record overall this season.

year's team.
Trailing 4-1 in the third set against
rival Michigan State, Musgrove said it
was the inspiration she received from
her teammates that motivated her
comeback.
"All of my teammates were hanging
over the railing and cheering me on,
and just knowing they were behind me
really helped," Musgrove said.
Ritt said that Musgrove's confidence
on and off the court has improved
throughout her career by sharing co-
captain honors with Duprez for the past
two seasons.
"Joanne (Musgrove) is naturally a
more quiet leader who leads by exam-
ple. She has made a change in her lead-
ership style, and she's been more vocal

this year. That comes from her confi-
dence as a co-captain with Jen. Jen is
more outspoken and is able to express
herself a little better."
While their personal lives will take
them in opposite directions after gradu-
ation, they must face an unenviable
truth together - that their Michigan
tennis careers will be coming to an end.
"I'm so sad," Musgrove said. "It's
only started to hit me recently. I'm
going to miss the game for sure."
It's a game both ladies have been
playing since childhood.
"This season went by pretty quick,"
Duprez echoed. "I am going to miss
competing, and most of all, I'm going
to miss all of the girls."
The Wolverines will honor Musgrove

and Duprez on Senior Day - their
final home match on April 13 against
Purdue.
But Musgrove and Duprez still have
plenty of tennis to play.
They have a 1-4 combined career
singles record against Michigan's next
Big Ten opponent, Indiana (0-4, 8-10).
"Indiana has a remarkable tradition,
and we respect what they have accom-
plished in the past years," Rift said. "I
think they are much stronger than their
record indicates. Now, more than ever,
there is parity in the Big Ten."
And with only five matches remain-
ing, plus the postseason, Musgrove and
Duprez will surely embrace the parity
that exists between them, mainly the
bond of friendship.

Icers enter NCAA Frozen Four as low seed

By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Editor

His response drew laughs from the rest of the
coaches, but Michigan coach Red Berenson was
dead on when he stated that this year's Frozen

Four was "Don's to lose." The
Don he was referring to was
Minnesota head coach Don
Lucia.
While Cornell coach Mike
Schafer, New Hampshire coach
Dick Umile and Lucia all stated

.
o

Going into the Frozen Four, the Wolverines will
be the only non-No. 1 seed to emerge from the
Elite Eight. Michigan defeated the Midwest's top
team in Colorado College three days ago.
So, unlike the defending national champs, Cor-
nell (which is currently the No. 1 team in the
nation) and New Hampshire (which was ranked
the top team for some of the season), Michigan
will enter Buffalo's HSBC Arena with nothing to
lose.
"We feel good just about being (in the Frozen
Four)," Berenson said. "I think there's more of a
respect rivalry between Michigan and Minnesota,
rather than a heated rivalry. Michigan has a great
tradition against Minnesota and vice-versa. We've
had great games with them, whether in the tourna-
ment or our Thanksgiving series (the College
Hockey Showcase)."
No DIFFERENT: Put all your Rocky Balboa versus
Ivan Drago analogies away, because this year's
championship - while it will pit the East (Cor-
nell/New Hampshire winner) against the West
(Minnesota/Michigan winner) - will most likely
see two similar styles of play, despite the geo-
graphical differences.

"We just played Maine from the East and Col-
orado (College) from the West, and I thought their
styles were similar," Berenson said. "I didn't see a
big difference. It depends on the team. Mike
Schafer plays maybe a different style than (Boston
College's) Jerry York, and they're both Eastern
teams."
Lucia, who played a conglomerate of Eastern
and Western teams, concurred with Berenson.
"I think it has more to do with the program than
it has to do with East versus West," Lucia said.
SHOWING SOME EFFORT: Before Minnesota fresh-
man Thomas Vanek became his team's highest
scorer, before he scored 29 goals this year and
before he was named the WCHA's Freshman of
the Year, he had to learn one thing: How to work.
"We knew he was gifted offensively - 29 goals
on the year for a freshman is phenomenal - but
before he got here, he didn't like to work very
hard," Lucia said. "But when he came in the sum-
mer time and started working out in our weight
room, I was very impressed with him. The one
thing he has had to learn this year is the work
ethic Monday through Thursday that's required in
the college game to improve."

in yesterday's teleconference that there was no
favorite in next Thursday's Frozen Four, it was
Berenson who said that until proven otherwise, the
defending-champion Golden Gophers are still the
team to beat.
"The target's always on the defending national
champion," said Berenson, who has been unsuc-
cessful twice in trying to defend national titles. "I
think we've seen that year in and year out ... it's
Don's tournament to lose."
On the other hand, it's Michigan's tournament to
win.

0

DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Sophomore shortstop Nick Rudden earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors for
his efforts last weekend when he hit .571and scored six runs.
Rudden knockite bs
nine around the bnaes

Brown, Knudtsen head Michigan dominance

By Elen McGarity
Daily Sports Writer

Last time Michigan women's water
polo coach Matt Anderson checked, five
high-scoring Wolverines were better than
two. But it didn't add up that way this
weekend, when Erin Brown and Meg
Knudtsen blew him out of the water with

their massive tallies for the team.
After the loss of top players Megan
Hausmann, Jo Antonsen and Abbi
Rowe early in the season, the team
picked itself up with spirit and confi-
dence to continue winning games. As if
that wasn't tough enough, the Wolver-
ines made the trip to Washington, Pa.
without high-scorers Julie Nisbet and

Casey Kerney, leaving the team's atten-
dance sheet with five absences.
During this weekend's four games,
sophomore drivers Brown and Knudtsen
picked up the slack - scoring 10 and
eight goals, respectively - and guided
the Wolverines to a clean

__

sweep.
"Erin Brown's perform-
ance was nothing surpris-
ing," Anderson said. "This
weekend, not having a few
people that she normally
looks to pass to, she was
smart enough to take the
(attitude), 'I'm gonna
score the ball, too' - she's
very capable."

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important one.
"This year with Megan (Hausmann)
coming in, and Sheetal (Narsai) stepping
up, I've kind of had to take a backseat
from the limelight offensively," Brown
said. "My job is to set up the plays and
be the person on the
counter to get the release. I
EEKEND can see the game really
well and read (into) it -
at Arizon~ my job is to set up other
Challenge people to score."
SSa~tua rEven though Brown's
darole is less glamorous and
ier Aquatic less noticed on the score-
mpe, An board this season, she has
been the team's secret
weapon, especially now
that so many players have had to sit out.
And what makes Brown's 10-goal
tally even more impressive is that she
See POLO, Page 13

The Michigan baseball team's suc-
cess against Iowa last weekend vaulted
it to second place, tied
with Penn State and just*----
one game behind unde-
feated Minnesota in the
Big Ten'standings. Mkb
"Well, I think whenev-
er you go on the road and Tu :3
win a few games, then itU
is a successful weekend," Th
Michigan assistant coach
John Lowery said. "Our
pitchers did good all weekend, and we
were definitely swinging the bats
well."
Trying to duplicate its success in
Iowa City, Michigan will host Eastern

By Waldemar Centeno
Daily Sports Writer

In the 2002 season, Brown was one
of the top scorers and played a big role
offensively. But this year, her role on
the team has changed to perhaps a more

Michigan this afternoon at the Fish.
Eastern Michigan holds an overall
record of 7-11 coming into-Ann Arbor.
However, the Eagles have won four
out of their last five games entering
the matchup against
Michigan.
',4 r . . } "(E a ste rn M ich ig a n )
.:.:.'' .;..:.,.has always been a compet-
v itive team," Lowery said.
n=. "They are a great offen-
sive club with two presea-
son All-Americans in their
shortstop (Brian Bixler)
and right fielder (Ryan
Goleski). They'll be ready
to play us, so we better be ready to play
them."
.Goleski is Eastern Michigan's all-
time leader in homeruns, and he is one
of four players in the Mid-American
Conference chasing the league's career
mark for homeruns. At this moment,
Bixler is the Eagles' team leader in
homeruns by hitting his third and
fourth homerun in consecutive at-bats
against Bowling Green.
But, the Eagles have a tough task
before them with the recent offensive
explosion from the Wolverines.
Sophomore shortstop Nick Rudden
was the first Wolverine this year to be
named the Big Ten Player of the Week
with his performance against the
Hawkeyes.
"(Rudden) has been a big spark plug
for our team," Lowery said. "He's a guy
.t,.at h..c.tlPan1 . t.ntly Tt'c an.nt

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