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 GOBLUEWOLVERINE.COM, The best Michigan Sports site on the web! -- Exclusive daily team updates from GoBlueWolverine.com -- Exclusive U-M Fan Message Boards -- Unlimited Access to all Thelnsiders.com College recruiting sites and to all team sites in TheInsiders.com network - both college and pro sites. -- Unlimited Access to the ScoutTM Database GOBLUEWOLVERINE MAGAZINE -- 10 monthly issues per year, professionally printed in a glossy magazine format -- In-depth features on players, coaches and issues surrounding the Michigan athletic program -- Including our season preview and recruiting wrap-up issues REGULAR PRICE: $99 for a 'special rate' annual subscription U-M STUDENT PRICE BETWEEN NOW AND APRIL 25TH -- $9.95 (JUST THE PRICE OF POSTAGE AND HANDLING) FOR AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO BOTH WEBSITE AND MAGAZINE! 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 Frenzy 5 nGRADUATES! Wake up. Get coffee. Change the world. - Spend 10 months (Sept-June) in full-time community service in the metro Detroit area - Receive a $4,725 scholarship, weekly stipend & health benefits Tutor and mentor children - Lead after school programs and i :. I ............................................ ..................................... .............................