10B - The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - October 20, 2004
0
Spikers' shaky
'D' leads to losses
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Writer
They knew it was going to be a tough weekend.
With matches at No. 5 Penn State and No. 8 Ohio
State, the Michigan volleyball M____GAN _
team had to play the top two I
teams in the Big Ten, consecu-
tively. But it was also a chanceMIHGN
for Michigan to stake its claim H
to the top of the conference.
Inconsistent passing and unsteady defense pre-
vented the Wolverines from taking advantage of the
opportunity.
Michigan (4-4 Big Ten, 14-5 overall) dropped both
of its matches last weekend, losing 3-0 to Penn State
on Friday and 3-1 to Ohio State on Saturday. After a
frustrating straight-game loss to Penn State, Michigan
was more aggressive against Ohio State. While the
Wolverines never led in game one, they kept the game
tight, closing within one point five times. But strong
serving by senior Stacey Gordon led Ohio State on a
late six-point run, and the Buckeyes won, 30-22.
"I'm really proud of the way we came out and
played after last night," senior Lisa Gamalski said.
"We were much more competitive and consistent. We
really improved our execution. It just stinks that we
weren't able to pull off a win."
With the second game tied at 20, sophomore Megan
Bowman started a 5-1 run for the Wolverines with a
decisive kill. Freshman Lyndsay Miller had a kill and
a block, while freshman Katie Bruzdzinski scored two
of the final three points of the second game. M ichigan
won, 30-28, and tied the match at one.
Ohio State (8-0, 18-0) started fast in game three and
led by as many as nine points. Bruzdzinski had two
kills, and Miller added two blocks to bring Michigan
within three. But Michigan could not stop Gordon,
and the Buckeyes won, 30-24, to take a 2-1 lead.
Michigan kept the fourth game close until a series
of Wolverine errors propelled Ohio State on an 8-1
run. Michigan committed 10 attack errors in game
four, just three fewer than it had in the first three
games combined. Gordon broke the all-time Big Ten
kills record on the final point of game, giving Ohio
State a 30-23 win.
Michigan has now dropped three straight matches.
While all three losses have come against ranked oppo-
nents, the Wolverines aren't making excuses for their
uneven play.
"A loss is a loss," Gamalski said. "The rankings
don't really mean much to me because they're based
on opinions. Penn State and Ohio State are both very
consistent teams, but they are also beatable teams. We
have to adjust our mindset to not just play with (ranked
teams), but to play to win."
Against Penn State (7-1, 16-1), Michigan struggled
on both offense and defense. The Wolverines commit-
ted 25 attack errors, their second-highest three-game
total of the season. Michigan also recorded its lowest
hitting percentage, hitting .024, and allowed Penn
State to hit .317. And, for the second straight match,
the Wolverines recorded their lowest point total of the
season, scoring just 14 points in game three.
"We have to stop giving so many points to our
opponents," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. "In the
last three matches - and even in a few before those
that we won - our hitting percentage has been too
low. We have to be more balanced on offense."
Michigan improved its hitting against Ohio
State, committing two fewer attack errors in one
more game and increasing its hitting percentage
to .260. But the Wolverines continued to struggle
on defense and in their passing game. Michigan
recorded just 7.5 total team blocks, more than three
below their season average.
"We have to focus less on winning and losing and
more on how we're playing," Rosen said. "We got
away from that for awhile when we were winning.
Our expectations got higher, so that all of a sud-
den, when we lost a game we shouldn't have lost,
we didn't know what to do. We're a young team,
and we need to focus on getting better. The rest will
take care of itself."
4
M IKE H ULSEBUS/Daily
The volleyball team had trouble keeping up with Penn State and Ohio State.
Late-weekend surge
saves face for Blue
By Daniel Levy
For the Daily
After a slow start, the Michigan
men's tennis team stormed back
to finish off the 2004 Wolverine
Invitational in impressive fashion.
Michigan took seven of its eight
matches from Michigan State on
Sunday after combining to go 7-
12 in singles and doubles matches
on Friday and Saturday. Led by
its three seniors - Josef Fischer,
Vinny Gossain and David Anving
- Michigan turned around what
was shaping up to be a disappoint-
ing weekend.
Fischer dispatched Adam Monich
with relative ease (6-2, 6-3), cap-
ping off a great weekend for the
senior, who won all three of his
singles matches and split his two
doubles matches.
Gossain also made it through his
Sunday match, quickly fending off
Anthony Stefani 6-2, 6-0. Gossain
looked good throughout the tourna-
ment as he won two of his three sin-
gles matches and his only doubles
match. Anving rolled past Michael,
Flowers 6-2, 6-1 for his only singles
win of the weekend.
"It's not just the seniors of this
team that lead," Anving said. "It's
everyone's job to step up and lead
for this team."
There was no better example of
that leadership than the last match
of the day between freshman Joe
Cariello of Michigan and Mike
Brown of Michigan State. Cariello
battled through a back injury that
required the attention of the Michi-
gan trainer mid-match. He was able
to pull out a gritty victory in a third
set tie-breaker.
Wolverine sophomores Brian
Hung, Ryan Heller and Steve Peretz
also notched victories for Michigan.
Hung fought back from a one-set
deficit to defeat Cameron Marshall
2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Heller and Peretz had an easi-
er time, as Heller ousted Joseph
McWilliams 6-3, 6-3, and Peretz
took care of Brian Compton 6-1, 6-
0.
The only casualty of the day was
freshman Matko Maravic, who fell
to Nick Rinks 6-2, 6-3. However,
Maravic's play for the entire week-
end was encouraging - he split his
other two singles matches and his
two doubles matches.
"So far I am impressed with how
hard they work and how much they
listen," first year coach Bruce Ber-
que said. "I expect this team to
work hard and do things the right
way. If we do that, we should take a
big jump from last year."
The 2004 Wolverine Invitational
used a round-robin style format that
included Michigan, Michigan State,
Gators take f
By Dan Ketchel
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, the Michigan women's swimming and div-
ing team opened its dual-meet season with a belly-smacker1
as it lost to a deep Florida squad. The Gators - regarded as
one of the top-10 teams in the nation - left the Wolverines in
their wake as they swam to a 164-131 victory.1
Michigan coach Jim Richardson did not seem too disap-1
pointed about losing to the Gators. The Wolverines have
now dropped all five meets to Florida in the past six years.
"i know that we're going to be a better team in January,"I
Richardson said. "Sometimes I get a little impatient for
that to happen, but I liked what I saw today."
Richardson - in his 20th year with the Wolverines1
- saw things in the first meet that he did not think hea
would see until November or December. He was particu-;
larly impressed with Michigan's ability to go head-to-head
with a top-10 team.I
Despite the Wolverine's failure to capitalize on their
first meet of the season, some individual performances
did light up the pool. Michigan gained the upper hand
right away by taking first place in the opening two races
of the afternoon. The Wolverines led off with the 400-
yard medley relay, which was won through an extraor-
dinary effort by the anchor, sophomore Lindsey Smith,
and her teammates.
Sophomore Susan Gilliam caught everyone's attention
by powering to first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle, blow-
ing away the second-place Florida finisher, Katie Bell, by
almost three seconds.
"I know some of the girls on their team are really
accomplished swimmers," Gilliam said. "So that's extra
motivation for me to swim better and it's more of an
accomplishment when I swim well against them."
Florida received top honors in 11 of the final 14 events,
including a clean sweep of the top three spots in 200-yard
butterfly and the 200-yard backstroke.
Other notable performances for the Wolverines
included freshmen Ashley McLaughlin and Valeria
Silva in the 100-yard breaststroke - each of their first
individual collegiate races. The duo finished second
and third, respectively.
In addition to winning the 400-yard medley relay, Smith
was also the top Michigan finisher in her two individual
races, placing second overall in both the 100- and 200-
yard freestyle.
The Wolverines also found success in the 50-yard
't
'ifth straight
freestyle with a second place finish by Kaitlyn Brady.
Brady, who participated in four events on the after-
noon, also took second place and held the top slot for
Michigan in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard
butterfly.
"It's hard; you just have to try to push yourself," Brady
said. "You can't worry about who's ahead of you and who's
behind you. I just try to swim as fast as I can and give it all
that I've got in the last lap."
The diving combination of sophomore Ellen Van Cleve
and senior captain Alexis Goolik finished up the scoring
for Michigan. Van Cleve couldn't quite match the first-place
finisher for Florida, experienced senior Nicole Bolt - in the
one-meter springboard - finished second. Goolik was right
behind them in third. On the three-meter springboard, Bolt
ran away with first once again, while Goolik and Van Cleve
switched spots, taking second and third, respectively.
The Wolverines (0-1) will begin their conference dual
meet season on Oct.27, when they'll take on Michigan
State.
4
z'
- L-ANJtJ U L-tIAUJ5O LJ
Josef Fischer and the Wolverines
went 7-12 on the weekend.
Western Michigan, Ohio State, Wis-
consin and Notre Dame.
Sunday's 7-1 performance against
Michigan State pulled the Wolver-
ines to 12-10 in singles matches
and 2-3 in doubles matches for the
tournament. The weekend does not
reflect on the team records, but the
matches do count for individual
records and rankings.
Next up for the Wolverines is
the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional
Championships held in Ann Arbor.
Qualifying starts tomorrow with
the main draw running from Satur-
day to Tuesday.
Ii
Football Officials
Needed!
TONY DING/Daily
Alexis Goolik was second on the three-meter springboard.
Why officiate Flag Football???
/ Very flexible scheduling
/ Officiate tournaments at universities nation wide
/ Learn great new plays for your team
/ We provide all training - first time officials welcome
/ Uniforms provided and yours to keep!
/ Earn $8.00 an hour
a
4
/ Meet new friends
Training clinics
begin on
Wednesday,
October 201h,
at 7:00 PM at
the Intramural
Sports Building.
) dia
Please contact
David Siegle at
763-3562 for
further
information.
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I