6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 19, 2004
Jackson, ''
By Matt Singer
Daily Sports Writer
Goliath marched into the Varsity Tennis
Center yesterday, and even a slingshot-wield-
ing David was powerless against him. Despite
its most valiant efforts, the No. 53 Michigan
men's tennis team allowed No. 1 Illinois to
cruise to a 5-2 win for its NCAA-record 55th
straight victory. The match, which followed a
disappointing 5-2 loss to Purdue on Saturday,
was the last appearance at home for Michigan
senior Anthony Jackson.
Before the athletes took the courts for their
singles matches, Michigan coach Mark Mees
took a moment to reflect on the departure of his
lone senior.
"He has had a tremendous four years at
Michigan," Mees said. "He has been a tremen-
dous part of our team. He is a great young man,
and we are certainly going to miss him."
Jackson's parents, Leonard and Sharon, made
the six-hour drive from Milwaukee to Ann
Arbor one final time to see Anthony suit up for
the Maize and Blue.
"Every time I watch him, as a father, it's not
about a match," Leonard Jackson said. "It's
about watching someone you have raised per-
form. And I'm going to miss that."
Jackson's roommate, junior Vinny Gossain,
knows that Jackson will be successful,
can't overcome Illinois
whether he continues his tennis career or
enters law school.
"He should give tennis a shot, and see what
happens," Gossain said. "And if he doesn't want
to do that, he'll be a lawyer. He's always got
something to say, so he's got that going for him."
Unfortunately, the Fighting Illini (8-0 Big
Ten, 23-0 overall) spoiled Jackson's going-away
party. The Illini swept the doubles matches, but
Gossain and Jackson almost took out Michael
Calkins and Pramod Dabir, falling 9-7.
"Anthony and Vinny are very good friends,
and they clicked pretty well," Mees said. "They
played some good doubles right to the very end;
they just didn't quite finish it."
With junior Michael Rubin and freshman
Steve Peretz sitting out due to injury, many
Wolverines were forced to play above their nor-
mal positions - an extremely difficult task
against the nation's best.
At No. 1 singles, a screaming serve down the
line by No. 2 Brian Wilson ended Jackson's
home career, 6-1, 6-2. Freshman Ryan Heller
battled back at No. 3 singles after losing the
first set to No. 117 Ryler DeHeart, but couldn't
quite finish the job, losing 6-3, 7-5.
But two Wolverines managed to shock
higher-ranked opponents. Freshman Brian
Hung fell behind 4-1 in a final-set tiebreaker
at No. 2 singles, but rallied for five consecu-
tive points, storming past No. 30 Phil Stolt (3-
6, 6-3, 1-0(7)) to the delight of the Michigan
faithful. In No. 4 singles action, junior David
Anving dominated No. 104 Michael Calkins,
winning 6-1, 6-2.
"They were both good wins because they
were playing good players," Mees said. "It
helps, that you see that some of the hard work
pays off. I was happy for those guys."
Michigan may have been aided by Mother
Nature. While it was a spectacular day for
watching tennis, with high temperatures in the
upper 70s, winds in excess of 20 miles per hour
routinely affected the course of the ball. This
may have allowed the Wolverines to get a leg up
on the normally unflappable Illini.
"It kind of levels the playing field," Gossain
said. "You're not so sure of yourself."
No weather conditions could have helped
Michigan (2-6, 11-8) in Saturday's match
against No. 68 Purdue. After Jackson and
Anving were edged out in the decisive doubles
match, the Wolverines never really challenged.
Only Hung (6-2, 2-6, 6-1) and junior Josef Fis-
cher (6-2, 7-6(5)) came up with victories.
With just one weekend of conference play
left before the Big Ten Championships, time is
running out for the Wolverines.
"Hopefully we can get some people in the
training room, keep the trainers busy, and see if
we can get as healthy as possible," Mees said.
"We just want to get some Big Ten wins."
Michigan's lone senior Anthony Jackson dropped his final dual match at the Varsity Tennis Center
yesterday to No. 1 Illinois Brian Wilson, 6-1, 6-2.
Bruck relies on
lucky bathmat
By Melanie Kebler
Daily Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES - For some people, superstition
works. Michigan freshman Lindsey Bruck brought her
trusty, worn bathmat to the balance beam Saturday at the
NCAA event finals, and gave a performance that suited
her status as first-team All American on the event, a sixth
place finish.
"It's been with her since about 1997," her mother, Mary
Bruck, said. "We can't wash it, so we use a lot of Febreze."
The mat was used when Lindsey was learning the front
tuck mount onto the balance beam. In training, she would
place it on the beam to cushion her feet and help them grip
better. But now, Bruck just makes sure to stand on the mat
right before she starts her beam routine.
"The mat is very well-traveled," Mary Bruck said. "It's
been in California, Oregon, Oklahoma, lots of places."
She also noted that several times the Brucks have had to
drive back to a gym or hotel to retrieve the forgotten bathmat.
"(Assistant coach) Scott (Sherman) has even tried to
throw it out, or convince her to have a piece of it framed,"
Mary Bruck said with a laugh.
Bruck laughed as well when asked about the incident.
"When I first got to the gym, it was in the trash and I kind
of had to take it out," Bruck said.
The freshman's appearance in the event finals at the
National Championships capped a stellar year for the fresh-
man, who consistently competed in the all-around for
Michigan all season. She was named to the All-Big Ten sec-
Blue falters at Lady Boiler invite
By Katie Niemeyer
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's golf team
hopes that falling short will be
greater motivation than success.
With a chance to preview the Big
Ten competition this weekend at the
Lady Boilermaker Invitational, the
Wolverines hoped for a top-four fin-
ish, bul fell short, as they ended the
weekend sixth out of 12 teams.
Michigan coach Kathy Teichert
was pleased by the 303 and 313
team totals on day one, but she was
disappointed in Michigan's final
round total of 329.
"We didn't play very well yester-
day, but Saturday we played well,"
Teichert said.
Junior Laura Olin finished her
first round one under par, with a 71.
After scoring an 80 in the next
round, Olin finished the first day
tied for eighth with freshman team-
mate Brianna Broderick, who shot a
75 and 76. With two 84s in the final
round, both girls totaled 235 for the
tournament.
Following the duo's lead, Michigan
finished in fifth place after two
rounds, just two strokes out of fourth.
Teichert believed that they posi-
tioned themselves well after the first
day of play, but fell short in yester-
day's performance.
JASON COOPER/Daily
Bruck finished sixth on beam in her first NCAA appearance.
ond team after earning a career high 9.900 on floor and a
9.900 on beam at the Big Ten Tournament.
Bruck's sixth place finish tied her with her former train-
ing mate and role model, senior Lindsay Wing of Stanford.
Both earned a 9.850.
"She's a good friend," Bruck said. "I've known her since I
was 11 years old. I'm very happy to tie with her."
Of standing on the podium in front of 4,373 fans, Bruck
said it was "amazing."
"It was incredible. There's no words to describe it," she
said. "It's kind of nice to be at your first nationals and be on
the podium."
Michigan coach Bev Plocki agreed.
"Today was an exciting day for (junior) Elise (Ray) and
Lindsey and the whole team,"Plocki said.
And the freshman has three more years to better her
performance.
"Next year, we'll come back for more," Bruck said.
"This weekend I thought we prob-
ably needed to finish top four,"
Teichert said. "I think, realistically,
we're very capable of doing that.
We're very close to accomplishing
that, but we're a couple swings off,
a couple breaks going our way. But
golf's not always a game about
breaks. It's a lot about your confi-
dence and whether your swing is
going to hold up in extreme pres-
sures and conditions."
Unfortunately Michigan's swings
did not hold up in what Teichert
described as 40-to-50 mile-per-hour
winds on Sunday.
"We played with Northwestern
today, and they played very well
today," Teichert said. "We just didn't
keep up."
The lowest score among the first
six teams on Sunday was a 75, but
only sophomore Amy Schmucker
could even break the 80-stroke bar-
rier (79), giving her a tournament
total of 235 strokes.
Though Teichert was disappoint-
ed in yesterday's performance, she
is already thinking about the future.
She plans to use this week to
rebuild the team's confidence. She
saw this weekend that BigeTen
teams are beatable, but the Wolver-
ines will have to play their game
confidently and bring together four
solid rounds.
"We'll be looking forward to
going back and getting in some
good practices," Teichert said. "It's
just a matter of hitting balls and put-
ting, so that they can regain a lot of
their confidence going into next
week. I think we have so much tal-
ent on our team that when they can
put it all together and they feel like
they can do it and they know they
can do it and they have the confi-
dence to do it, nothing's going to
stop them."
4;
TAKE MICHIGAN HOME WITH YOU FOR THE
SUMMER - FREE!!
AND
Junior Laura Olin posted a first-round score of 71, but watched her score plummet
along with the rest of her team as the weekend progressed.
A
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M W O M ENS mrOWrN G
Spartans too much for Michigan
By Chastity Rolling
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 8 Michigan women's rowing team traveled to
Lake Ovid on Saturday to defend its superior ranking
over in-state rival, No. 10 Michigan State. But even
with all the motivation, the Wolverines still lost the
regatta 17-6.
"We just need to regroup," Michigan coach Mark Roth-
stein said. "There are areas where we can get faster."
Michigan needs to speed up the pace before the races
even start, making sure that all rowers are in the boat
and ready to race. Once in the boat, it would prepare the
Wolverines to take charge of their races.
"We need to be more offensive," Rothstein said.
This means that Michigan can improve by being more
aggressive. This is the only way to increase speed.
"We need to get our confidence back," Rothstein said.
"We aren't fast right now and we need to make
changes."
Losing back-to-back regattas to Ohio State and then
to Virginia may have knocked Michigan's confidence
down a notch, but it's still no excuse for their perform-
ance against Michigan State. Rothstein still has high
hopes for Michigan.
"We have a good team that is still capable of a great
season," Rothstein said.
Michigan's second varsity boat beat Michigan State,
with a time of 6:52. This single win denied the Spar-
tans from claiming an undefeated regatta against the
Wolverines.
"Our second varsity boat did well," Rothstein said.
"Those are the kind of races that the team can use to
build upon. It was the highlight of my day."
Building off of a single victory requires practice. The
ability to improve from week to week is the source of
the Wolverines' motivation.
"We have to come back strong in two weeks (for the
Big Ten Championship)," Rothstein said. "I was
impressed with Michigan State. Their first varsity eight
was fast and showed determination in its race, and we
were unable to counter that."
Michigan suffered a damaging loss this weekend, but
still is motivated to work hard and improve itself before
the competition gets fiercer.
"We need to find a way to get on par with the teams
beating us," Rothstein said. "The nice thing is that we're
going to see the teams that have beaten us - Michigan
State, Ohio State and Virginia - again. We have a lot of
work to do."
The Big Ten Championships will take place on May 1
in Iowa City.
Finals
Fitness
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