The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 22, 2004 - 7B
Senior stickers remember team, not finish
PHOTOS BY:
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
Katy Moyneur
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
A quick glance at Michigan's field hockey
record book reveals the names of the current
team's five seniors over and over again.
Captain Katy Moyneur and Adrienne
Hortillosa played every game during their
four-year tenures; Hortillosa and Jessica
Blake appear on the top-10 point scor-
ers list and goalkeeper Molly Maloney
sits third all-time on Michigan's career
wins list. These four and captain Kate
Dillon finished their illustrious colle-
giate careers with a disappointing 3-2$
loss at the hands of Michigan State last
weekend, but the memories of Michigan
field hockey's finest years and a tight-knit
2004 team minimize the disappoint-
ment of closing with a loss.
"Ontheonehand,itwasawe-'
some being at home because we
had all of our friends and fam-
ilies here with us," Dillon said. "Itj
was kind of cool to be able to play our
last game on our home field. But of f
course it was State, and we really felt'
like we had a grasp on it, so that made
it tough."
The Wolverines opened up a 2-1
lead in the first half Nov. 14, giving t
them hopes of a trip to Wake Forest Adri
for the final four, but Michigan State stormed
back. The Spartans scored two unanswered
goals and ended Michigan's season. The sec-
ond half collapse was a disappointment to
Hortillosa, who had visions of
a national championship.
"It feels really bad because
I really felt like we
were hitting our
peak at that point
last weekend,"
y: Hortillosa said. "I
was so sure that
we were going to
go on and we were
going to take it all,
and it was going to
be a fun ride. It's hard
to just base things on
that one game that we
{ lost."
While the frustration
of losing such a close
game was at first over-
whelming, Moyneur
looks back with satisfac-
tion on the efforts of her
team.
"After losing to Michigan
State, it was so disap-
pointing, but it was so
nne Hortillosa hard to be disappoint-
ed," Moyneur said. "I'm proud that every-
one played so well. It was such an awesome
game, and we just didn't get more goals than
they did. I couldn't be more proud of how
we played.
"We peaked right there and didn't come
out on top. It was upsetting, but there is noth-
ing more that we could have done, except
score more goals."
The seniors' pride in their team's effort is
rooted in the beginning of the season. Michi-
gan struggled in the early going, compiling
a 3-3 record in its first six games. After the
rough start, the Wolverines pulled together,
knowing that, although their losses were to
worthy opponents, they needed to step up
their level of play if they had any chance of
competing for conference and national titles.
"We've been talking all season about try-
ing to have an upward slope of progress from
where we started," Dillon said. "If you plot
our season on graph paper, it was an upward
slope. We had some tough spots, like the Old
Dominion loss, but we bounced right back
from that with a big win. And we had a huge
win against State. Things just kept on build-
ing. You hear about being in the zone, and
our team was in the zone."
Michigan rallied to finish 17-6 overall,
sharing the Big Ten regular season crown
with Iowa and Michigan State and winning
the conference tournament. While it is a far
cry from the national championship that they
won in 2001, the seniors will forever cherish
this season for the relationships they devel-
oped with their teammates.
"I would, by far, rather lose with this
team than win with any other," Dillon said.
"I think that this year, it puts things into
perspective.
"The relationships and the dynamic on
your team are what is important. How much
you invest in your teammates and friends
will ultimately determine how you feel about
your year and your season. The fact that this
team couldn't go on - not that our careers
were over - was the hard part."
Though championships were won and records
were broken, Blake feels that seemingly
less significant moments and the les-
sons learned from them are what she
will take from her experience.
"It's sort of like a history book,"
Blake said. "You know, you have the bold
print - national championship, Big Ten
championship - those are the things that
people see. I think what they don't see are
the little side notes underneath that, and I
think that's what I take away from it. Yeah,
there are those big bold statements, but the
little writing is way more important."
As it moves on in five different paths, the
senior class's legacy includes a Big Ten Confer-
ence Tournament championship, two Big Ten
regular sea-
son titles
and the
2001 national
champion-
ship. While she
cherishes these
achievements,
Maloney
hopes that
the seniors
will be
remem-
bered for their
intangible contribu-
tions as well.
"I think that we were really good at lead-
ing," Maloney said. "I think that because we
had such a wide variety of people who led
us during our years, we were able to develop
our own style.
"I think that had a lot to do with our suc-
cess this season in terms of overcoming
adversity and working hard. We just grabbed
that bull by the horns and ran with it. And I
think we'll be remembered for that."
e
Optimistic
Msunk by
Hoosiers
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan women's swimming and diving coach Jim
Richardson places a clear emphasis on improvement
over results.
This weekend, he almost got both.
The 15th-ranked Wolverines finished second at the
Indiana Invitational, falling to the hosts in a hotly con-
tested battle at the top.
The twoBig Ten powers dominated the field through-
out the weekend, winning all but six of the 21 contested
events in the eight-team field. But No. 25 Indiana came
out on top, defeating Michigan by a margin of 870.5-
823.5. The next closest competitor was Utah, coming in
at third with 618.5 points.
Although some would expect Richardson to be upset
with losing to a lower-ranked team, he maintains that
results are what you make of them.
"Our main goal this weekend was to get different
girls swimming in different spots to get us prepared for
later in the season," Richard said. "While (Indiana) may
have gone with fewer girls in more events, we tried to
get as many girls in there as possible.
"A lot of our girls swam lifetime-best times."
Adding on to her already impressive season, soph-
omore Susan Gilliam put together arguably the best
weekend of her career. After an impressive Friday and
Saturday during which she won an event each day,
Gilliam opened yesterday's evening session with the
most dominating performance a Wolverine has had
this year.
Gilliam instigated an attempt at a Michigan come-
back with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle. She
defeated her nearest competitor by a huge 27-second
margin, qualifying her for the NCAA Championships
by more than six seconds. Her time of 16:17.43 was
just one second off of the pool record, and she finished
over two minutes ahead of other girls qualifying for
the evening session.
She also won the 200- and 500-freestyle titles on the
weekend, and finished second in two relay events.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Brady, who displayed her prow-
ess in winning short races, also enjoyed a solid weekend.
She won the 50-yard freestyle on Friday, and followed
that performance with a dominating win on Saturday
N MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Tankers not happy
with just winning
By Ben Voss
Daily Sports Writer
TOM MASO GOMEZ/Daily
Sophomore Susan Gilliam qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
in the 100-yard butterfly. She rounded out her weekend
by tying her teammate's feat of a win each day, win-
ning the 200-yard backstroke by a tenth of a second.
She posted an NCAA championship provisional time of
1:59.91, her second provisional time of the week. (She
posted a time of 55:10 the day before in her 100-yard
butterfly win.)
Richardson was impressed with the sophomores'
performances, pointing out that they have probably yet
to peak.
"Susan (Gilliam) and Kaitlyn (Brady) both were
obviously impressive to me," he said. "To post the times
that they did and to be un-rested and un-shaved, that's a
great accomplishment."
Richardson opted out of using them in other events,
claiming it was better for the team to get different bodies
in the pool at different times. Other Wolverines stepped
up to the plate, taking advantage of the opportunity to
get points for the team. Freshman Justine Mueller set
the tone Friday evening in the pool, winning her first
race of the weekend. She took the 200-yard' individual
medley title with a time of 2:02.58, besting her qualify-
ing time by more than three seconds.
Although those were the only three Wolverines to
win events during the weekend, Richardson was pleased
with several of his other swimmers' performances.
"A lot of our swimmers really stepped up," he said.
"(Junior) Carolina Sierra and (freshman) Valeria Silva
both put up really low times for us this weekend.
"(Freshman) Katie Smith swam her first time for
us this weekend and really looked impressive. She
looks like she could fit in for us in a few different
spots this year."
With the optimistic tone from Richardson, it's easy
to forget that Michigan fell short during the weekend.
The defending Big Ten champs have a good perspec-
tive on the season, and feel that long-term goals far
eclipse the results from one weekend invitational.
"The girls this year have shown me a lot already,"
Richardson said. "They've proven they could com-
pete in a three-session invitational at Purdue, and this
weekend, they showed they could compete in a six-
session one."
The Wolverines hope this six-session meet will help
them in the future, as they now begin preparing for the
U.S. Open in San Antonio, Texas on Dec. 2-4.
They beat their opponents, but lost to
the clock.
After winning Friday's meet at Mich-
igan State, 132-111, the members of the'
No. 9 Michigan men's swimming and
diving team were happy, but they didn't
celebrate.
They placed first, second and third in
the 1,650-yard freestyle, the 400-yard
individual medley and the 500-yard
freestyle, but the Wolverines weren't
very pleased with their times.
Coach Bob Bowman knows his
swimmers could have done better.
"I expected them to swim a little fast-
er than they did," Bowman said. "Right
now, they've been working extremely
hard, which is what I like to do, and
we're going to have to live with what the
times are."
Michigan - along with swimming
programs across the country - has
entered its toughest training session of
the year. The tired and fatigued Michi-
gan team didn't expect to post its best
times, but Bowman still hoped for a bet-
ter showing.
"Our overall times are masked just
because of the state of training we're
in," Bowman said.
Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 3-0 overall)
swam a "semi-off' lineup for the meet,
in which most of the swimmers com-
peted in their best events.
While a majority of the swimmers
didn't post their best times, there were
still some who performed well, despite
being tired from the week's rigorous
training schedule. Freshman Dane
Grenda won his first collegiate event in
the 100-yard backstroke, touching in at
51.88. Junior Davis Tarwater won the
50-yard freestyle in 21.21 and took the
100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.37.
"These times weren't particularly
fast, but I'm setting myself up for a
good season right now," said Tarwater.
"I'm right where I want to be in order
to improve."
Michigan lost the first event of the
night. Its 'A' relay team placed second
in the 200-yard medley relay, with a
time of 1:36.06. But in the next event,
the Wolverines quickly made up for
the loss, with senior Peter Vanderkaay
placing first in a sweep of the 1,650-
yard freestyle with a time of 15:55.51.
Senior Zayd Ma finished a close sec-
ond in 15:56.50, and junior Jorge Car-
ral completed the sweep, touching the
wall in 16:18.59.
Michigan continued to increase its
lead with another sweep iii the 400-yard
individual medley. Senior Chuck Sayao
placed first in the event in 3:59.03, while
freshman Alex Vanderkaay took second
in 4:03.05, and senior co-captain Nicho-
las Douville captured third in 4:06.41.
Alex Vanderkaay also led the Wol-
verines to their third sweep of the
night in the 500-yard freestyle, with a
time of 4:35.67.
Michigan State (1-1, 1-4) gained
back some ground, taking the top two
places in both diving events. Junior Jake
Boehm was the highest-placing Michi-
gan diver in the one-meter springboard,
taking third with a score of 270.30
points. In the three-meter diving event,
sophomore Jon Donadee also placed
third with 253.20 points.
Along with slower times, Michigan
also had to combat injuries on Friday.
Senior co-captain Mike Galindo com-
peted on the 'B' medley relay at the
beginning of the meet, but scratched
out of the 50-yard freestyle because
of pain from a recurring back injury.
Junior Chris DeJong and fifth-year
senior Christian Vanderkaay took a
precautionary meet off to nurse minor
injuries in preparation for the Texas
Invitational on Dec. 4.
" VOLLEYBALL
Michigan rewrites record
books during weekend split
'Bama downs Blue
in familiar fashion
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Writer
By Dan Ketchel
Daily Sports Writer
It was a record-setting weekend.
That's the only way to describe the Michigan vol-
leyball action over the weekend. Three individual m'ile-
stones were reached as the Wolverines split a pair of road
matches and some of their young players stepped up.
Michigan (9-9 Big Ten, 19-10 overall) went .500 on the
weekend with a tough loss at Wisconsin and an overpow-
ering victory at Northwestern.
It started on Friday in Madison, where the Wolverines
lost to the Badgers - a result that has become all too
familiar. Michigan has now lost 17 consecutive matches
to Wisconsin, leaving coach Mark Rosen winless against
the formidable Badgers squad.
"We don't really look at who we've beat and who we
haven't," Rosen said. "We didn't play very well against
Wisconsin. We had opportunities to win that match and
couldn't do it, but next time we play them, we'll give them
our best effort and hopefully come out on top."
I Although Michigan failed to overpower Wisconsin
(11-6, 17-8) yet again, the Wolverines left Madison with
some individual achievements.
Sophomore Megan Bowman's four blocks propelled
her into 1lth place all-time in blocks at Michigan with 272,
Sus while freshman Stesha Selkv recorded nine diws setting a
as they desperately fought to mount a comeback, but
couldn't do so in the final game.
On Saturday, the Wolverines ventured south to Evan-
ston for an easier opponent in Northwestern. The Wild-
cats (3-15, 8-20) compensated for the Wolverines' loss
the previous night, going down easily in three straight
games (30-21, 30-26, 30-20).
The match began slowly, with Northwestern going
step-for-step with Michigan, leading to an initial 6-6 tie.
Bruzdzinski then injected some life into her team with a
pair of quick kills to spark a 4-0 run. Bruzdzinski later
added three more kills to propel Michigan to the game
one victory.
The Wolverines held a steady attack and shut down
Northwestern throughout the final two games to even
their Big Ten record at 9-9.
Senior Lisa Gamalski collected nine digs for Michi-
gan, pushing ker career total to 931. This was enough to
move her into eighth place on the all-time digs list and
leaves her just eight shy of seventh place. Another one of
the Wolverines' accomplishments was freshman Lynd-
say Miller's seven blocks, which increased her season
total to 134. Miller moved into fourth place for single-
season blocks as a freshman.
Bruzdzinski led Michigan attackers with 15 kills and
increased her season total to 302, second place all-time
by a freshman. This milestone leaves her ready to pounce
Last November, the Michigan wom-
en's basketball team lost an overtime
thriller to Ala-
bama, 76-74. After
leading for most of AMA
the game, the Wol-
verines allowed the Crimson Tide to
fight back and claim the victory.
On Friday, it was d6ja vu.
Despite jumping out to a command-
ing 18-point lead in the first half, Mich-
igan dropped its season-opening game
to Alabama in overtime, 81-79.
With less than a minute left in the
second half and Michigan ahead 71-68,
forward Tabitha Pool drove to the bas-
ket and hit a layup that could have given
the Wolverines a five-point lead. But
the basket was disallowed when Pool
was given her fifth foul of the game on
a charging call.
More than losing points, the foul
meant the Wolverines would be without
their senior leader for the game's deci-
sive moments.
"It was really tough not to have
extra period, but in the end, it could
not contain Alabama guard Marverly
Nettles. With just three seconds left
on the clock, Nettles - who scored a
game-high 25 points -nailed a jump-
er to give Alabama the win.
Walker finished with 15 points and
four rebounds in just 19 minutes off the
bench. Freshmen Janelle Cooper and
Jessica Starling added 13 and 12 points,
respectively, to anchor a strong perfor-
mance by the Wolverine bench, which
scored 45 of the team's 79 points. The
bench's performance was necessary
because, six minutes into the first half,
point guard Becky Flippin and forward
Kelly Helvey had already picked up two
fouls apiece. Cooper and Starling came
in to replace them and sparked Michi-
gan to a 16-point lead with five minutes
left in the half.
"It was really nice to have players
come off the bench and contribute in
that way," McPhilamy said. "Whether
they start or come off the bench, we
know they're going to work hard for
the team."
But Michigan could not maintain
its lead. Alabama closed within nine
/a 13