6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 2, 2004 4 Grapplers take one fromrival By Alex Cummins For The Daily Friday night in Cliff Keen Arena, the No. 5 Michigan wrestling team dominated intrastate rival Michigan State 31- 6 on its way to a 3-0 start in Big Ten dual meet action. Michigan coach Joe McFarland, in his fifth season, is no stranger to the intrastate rivalry. "There is definitely no love lost between the programs," McFarland said. "There is respect for each other but there is a lot of pride on the line and a victory over Michigan State is always a little sweeter. Our guys really stepped up in this rivalry match." Michigan (3-0 Big Ten, 13-2 overall) took an early lead and never looked back while playing the overpowered and outmatched Spartans squad. Freshman Mark Moos and fifth-year senior captain Foley Dowd had the Wolver- ines out to a 10-0 start as they both won their matches convincingly by the scores of 6-0 and 4-0, respectively. Dowd - ranked third by Amateur Wrestling News at 133 lbs. - has been a tremendous contributor thus far in the season, continually giving the Wolverines early leads. One might be surprised at the success Dowd has experi- enced this season, considering he is coming back from neck surgery this past summer - an injury that almost left him paralyzed. McFarland has looked to Dowd not only for consistency, but leadership as well. "Foley is always there for us, winning big matches," McFarland said. "I'm real confident in his abilities and com- ing back to the lineup from his injuries this past summer has made him that much stronger." After a hard-fought loss by fifth-year senior Clark For- ward (141 lbs.), the Wolverines went on a tear, winning the next four matches. Junior Ryan Churella (149 lbs.), senior :Jeremiah Tobias (157 lbs.), fifth-year senior captain Pat Owen (165 lbs.) and freshman Nick Roy (174 lbs.) all thoroughly handled their opponents to extend Michigan's lead to 25-3. Sophomore heavyweight Greg Wagner built on his sparkling performance against Iowa last week that won the dual meet for the Wolverines. Wagner muscled his way to a 5-2 win over Michigan State heavyweight Mike Keenan, closing out the Spartans' night in Ann Arbor. After nine years, Blue gets lucky' By Jamie Josephson Daily Sports Writer At the end of Thursday's competi- tion, the Michigan women's tennis team gathered on the court, singing the school's fight song. The celebra- tion displayed an enthusiasm that the program hasn't had the opportu- nity to show, following a match with Notre Dame, in nearly a decade. The No. 34 Michigan women's tennis team defeated No. 21 Notre Dame, 4-3, for the first time since the 1993-94 season, bringing its overall dual-match record to 2-0. "It's a great win, especially at this point in the season when we are just getting started," coach Bitsy Ritt said. Michigan took the doubles point for winning two out of the three doubles matches early in the compe- tition. Despite that, the Wolverines certainly looked like the underdogs after dropping five out of six first sets in the singles matches. Junior Leanne Rutherford's win over Sarah Jane Connelly (4-6, 6-2, 7- 5) turned out to be the deciding match in Michigan's victory. Down 5-4 in the third set, all eyes were on the vet- eran to stop the Irish momentum. "I just didn't look up (in the stands)," Rutherford said, chuckling. "I just tried to take it one point at a time." With her overpowering ground strokes and great hustle, Rutherford sealed the deal for Michigan. She explained that she simply tried to stay competitive and force her opponent to hit more balls. "I don't think I played my best match today" Rutherford said. "But any time you beat a team ranked ahead of you, it's a huge positive for the program." Michigan senior Kavitha Tipireni defeated Catrina Thompson on straight sets (6-3, 6-3), and junior Michelle DaCosta held off Christian Thompson, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in key singles victories. "I know the seniors haven't beaten (Notre Dame) the whole time they were (at Michigan)," DaCosta said. "So this was kind of a gift to them." DaCosta rebounded after a tough first set loss with a more aggressive style at the net, and completely took control of the match in the last two sets. The junior star was the only Wolverine to have both a singles and doubles victory against Notre Dame. DeCosta played with fresh- man Kara Delicata for the first time, and the duo defeated the Thompson sisters (8-6). "Kara forces me to be more aggressive," DaCosta said. "We did- n't want to have any regrets, so we just went for it." Senior Kim Plaushines and soph- omore Debra Streifler also con- tributed to winning the doubles point for Michigan with their 8-5 victory over Notre Dame's Sarah Jane Connelly and Kristina Stastny. "The doubles point was critical to having that momentum going into the singles," Ritt said. "That's what you have to do - get the doubles point and win the big matches." Ritt explained that, though the girls knew they were the'underdogs head- ing into this heated rivalry, Michigan saw the pressure on Notre Dame. She also said that this team victory proved that Michigan can compete with the top programs in the country. The girls' competitiveness and aggressiveness on the court certain- ly contributed to this upset. "I felt a little lucky too," Ruther- ford said. 4 Fifth-year senior Clark Forward squares off in a meet against Eastern Michigan earlier this season. McFarland and the rest of the Wolverines have looked to Wagner the past few weeks to help anchor the team. "Our meets come down to having to have Greg win since he's a heavyweight," McFarland said. "That's just the naturef of dual meets. But Greg is going to keep getting better and better. It's nice having a big guy who you can have a lot of confidence in." The Wolverines look to continue their winning ways as they hit the road to face off with Ohio State on Friday in Columbus and Penn State on Sunday in State College. With the bulk of the Big Ten season coming up, the Wolverines are looking forward to staying healthy and fresh for this impor- tant stretch. "We want a strong finish. We want to perform well in the Big Ten Championships and the NCAAs," McFar- land said. "I'm not concerned about our national rank- ing, that's not important to us. We want to get better each and every day." Memories of defeat fuel Netters PATRIOTS Continued from Page 16 Reggie Howard intercepted in the end zone. Two plays later, Delhomme found Muhammad behind the New England defense for an 85-yard score, the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history, to give the Pan- thers a 22-21 lead with 6:53 left. Fox again went for the 2-point conversion and failed. Brady came back with the TD pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel with 2:51 remaining, and Kevin Faulk ran in for the 2-point conversion to give New England a 29-22 lead. About two minutes later, Delhomme and Proehl hooked up to tie the game, setting up Vinatieri's heroics. The game was scoreless longer than any previous Super Bowl - nearly 27 minutes. Then the teams got going - 24 points in the final 3:05 of the first half that left the Patriots with a 14- 10 lead. New England dominated that dor- mant period and finally took a 7-0 lead on the first of two 5-yard TD passes by Brady. The quarterback found Branch after Vrabel had sacked Delhomme, forcing a fumble and giv- ing New England the ball at the Car- olina 20. At that point, New England had out- gained Carolina 125 yards to minus-7, and Delhomme was 1-of-9 for 1 yard and had been sacked three times. But the Patriots' touchdown seemed to wake up the Panthers. Delhomme led Carolina on a 95-yard drive, tied for second longest in Super Bowl his- tory, capping it with a 39-yard TD pass to Steve Smith , who beat Tyrone Poole in single coverage. That tied it at 7-7 with 1:14 left in the half. Brady came right back, hitting Branch for 52 yards behind Ricky Manning Jr. to set up the second 5- yard TD pass, this time to Givens. Carolina wasn't finished, either. Vinatieri squibbed the kickoff and Kris Mangum returned it 12 yards to his own 47. With 12 seconds and a timeout left, the Panthers crossed up the Patriots by handing the ball to Stephen Davis , who rushed 21 yards to the New England 32. After a timeout, Kasay kicked a 50- yard field goal to close the half. By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer With last season's 7-0 loss to Wake Forest still fresh in their minds, the Michigan men's tennis players had plenty to prove. As this year's Wolverines prepared for a visit from the 33rd-ranked Demon Deacons on Saturday, they knew that every point would be hotly contested. "I think everybody was real excited going in," assistant coach Dan Goldberg said. "Everybody came out and had that inner-belief they were going to win their match and pull through." The Wolverines' surprising 6-1 win was fueled by an early doubles point. Doubles partners Anthony Jackson and Brian Hung stretched their undefeated streak to four. Junior Vinny Gossain and freshman Steve Peretz fought through an extremely tight match, showing great relief as they finished off their opponents from Wake Forest. The pair provided the second win necessary for the doubles point and the early lead. "We played a very good doubles match, it was very satis- fying," freshman Steve Peretz said. "(Vinny and I) are build- ing that chemistry, getting much more comfortable." The unranked Jackson didn't stop there. In the singles portion, the senior barely allowed No. 77 Andrew Hamer a chance to stay in the match, defeating him decisively. The 6-0, 6-3 win gives Jackson a 4-0 record on the dual season. Junior David Anving prevailed in just his second sin- gles appearance of the season, beating David Loewen- thal 6-1, 6-3. With three points on the board and four players still play- ing, it seemed like Michigan had the game wrapped up. And then Michigan's number one player, No. 34 Mike Rubin, fell in straight sets to Derrick Spice, 7-5, 7-5. "(Losses) really motivate me to keep pushing because I hate it' Rubin said. "I'm not going to (lose) again, at least not for a while." After Rubin lost his match, it was up to one of the three freshmen remaining on the court to provide the point needed to give Michigan its fourth win on the season. Peretz, Ryan Heller and Hung all found themselves locked in tiebreakers, trying to remain undefeated in their brief collegiate dual match careers. The pressure to remain perfect rose when Rubin lost, as their points became more critical, but the three freshmen stayed zeroed in on their opponents. "The coaches just tell us to take care of your court," Peretz said. "There was a little extra pressure, but I was just trying to take care of my court." Peretz did just that, pulling off the tie-break win 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Shortly before Peretz got his win, the crowd on the court behind him roared. The fans were cheering as Heller finished off another hard fought match in a 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 win. With the boost of excitement in the stands, Hung seemed to step up his own energy level en route to his sec- ond super-tie-breaker win in a 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-3 contest. "Right across the board, after losing the first set in a number of situations, the guys came back and really fought hard," Goldberg said. "That's been a trademark of our team all season." The Wolverines improved to 4-0 on the dual season. The team will spend the next two weeks practicing before taking on Toledo at home. Despite a loss from their number one player, Mike Rubin, the Wolverines managed a 7-1 upset over Wake Forest. U U The Naked Mile was the Best Campus Tradition. Is it sti I I You decide. You vote. You go first. m