2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 28, 2005
CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY
High expectations motivate lacrosse
By Colt Rosensweig
Daily Sports Writer
At 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night, the streets of Ann
Arbor seem to be peaceful and quiet. But once a person
enters Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, the illusion is shattered.
Under bright-as-day lights, the women's lacrosse team is
in the midst of practice, racing all over the indoor field
- the air thick with happy voices and the crisp sounds
of its play.
'These girls are true student-athletes," third-year coach
Mary Ann Meltzer said. "They play because they love it.
They put in the time and the effort, and not because they're
here on a scholarship or are given anything."
Though the women's lacrosse program can't offer schol-
arships, it can offer one of the most competitive programs
in the country. The team achieved club varsity status two
years ago, resulting in a few important changes. The team
now has an athletic trainer, and donors to the program can
receive Victors Club points. It can also obtain academic
support from the Athletic Department on an individual
basis. Last season the team finished third at the national
championships, and goalie Jackie Fu was named the
defensive MVP of the tournament.
Netters can't o
In the tournament, Michigan defeated Santa Barbara in can win with individuals. You have to have a strong team
the quarterfinals before losing to eventual national cham- defense and offense. It's important to work as a unit"
pion Cal Poly by one goal. In the recent invitational held at Oosterbaan, the
Expectations and goals are high once again for this team bounced back from the tough three losses at the
promising team. One of the biggest obstacles the team Cal Poly Invitational and went 4-0. Michigan outscored
must overcome is that some important players are spend- opponents by a cumulative score of 75-3 and recorded
ing the year abroad. But, Fu, first-team All-American for- two shutouts.
ward Alyson Gilbride and captain and midfielder Karen "We got some wins under our belt, and the team really
Anderson will still be returning. connected," Meltzer said.
"I think everyone's goal is to make the national (tour- "The midfield transitions were fast, moving the ball
nament) and to go a step farther and play for the national from defense to attack," Anderson added.
championship," Meltzer said. Despite its tremendous success, there are still areas
To get there, the team will first have to succeed in the where the team wants to improve before their next match
regular season, as well as win in the league playoffs on on April 6 against Dennison University in Granville,
April 23 in Toledo, Ohio. Ohio.
Meltzer has prepared her team well for this "(We want to improve on) setting up our offense and our
year's run. In addition to having a new condition- settled attack," Meltzer said. "(Dennison) is a fairly decent
ing coach and a demanding practice schedule, the (Division III) team."
team has had matches with some of the top teams Another important upcoming game will be April 13
in the country. Through meeting these challenges against Michigan State.
together, the team has developed the important "This is the third year in a row we play them at Grosse
quality of cohesiveness. Pointe High School," Anderson said. "A lot of the high
"We get along really well and have a lot of fun together," school teams come and watch. It's nice to let the high
Anderson said. "(Lacrosse) is definitely not a sport you school girls come and see what college lacrosse is about."
vercome Rubin's freak injury
Athlete of the Week
Name: Davis Tarwater Team: Swimming
Hometown: Knoxville, Tenn. Class: Junior
Why: Tarwater won Michigan's first NCAA championship
in the 200-yard butterfly since 1967. Tarwater got off to
a slow start, sitting seventh overall after an opening split
of 23.25. But he closed strong and moved into second with
just 50 yards left. Tarwater took the lead in the final 30
yards and never lost it In winning his first NCAA individ-
ual championship, Tarwater set the Michigan and Big Ten
record in the 200-yard butterfly.
'M' SCHEDULE
Date Event
Location
3/30
3/30
4/1
4/1
4/1
Softball at Bowling Green
Baseball at Eastern Michigan
Softball vs. Iowa
Baseball at Minnesota
M Tennis at Minnesota
4/2 W Rowing vs. Ohio State
4/2 W Tennis vs. Iowa
4/2 Baseball at Minnesota
4/2 M Track/Field
Yellow Jacket Invitational
4/2-3 Water Polo at Indiana Invitationa.
Bowling Green, Ohio
Ypsilanti
Ann Arbor
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Belleville
Ann Arbor
Minneapolis
Atlanta
l Bloomington
Iowa City
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Minneapolis
Time
2 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
9 a.m.
11 a.m.
2 p.m.
TBA
TBA
10 a.m.
11 a.m.
12 p.m.
1 p.m.
11
By Jamie Josephson
Daily Sports Writer
Already down a man from a freak twist of fate the day
before, the No. 56 Michigan men's tennis team hoped to
turn its bad fortune around against No. 20 Notre Dame in
South Bend on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Wolver-
ines, the luck was with the Irish, who defeated Michigan
in a tight battle, 5-2.
"It was a strong competitive effort," Michigan coach
Bruce Berque said. "It was disappointing that we lost.
... We really are getting closer. I do feel, each time we
play a strong team, we are doing a better job of continu-
ing to compete well and also playing a little better. It was
especially significant considering we were without (senior
Michael) Rubin."
In the last five minutes of Friday's practice, Rubin fell
on his left wrist after jumping up for an overhead. The
initial diagnosis was a broken wrist, but Berque said that
Rubin is going to another doctor on today for a second
opinion.
To begin the contest, it looked as though Michigan
was going to be able to make up for Rubin's loss. In
the doubles competition, seniors David Anving and
Vinny Gossain improved their perfect doubles record
(5-0), defeating Notre Dame's Stephen Bass and She-
eva Parbhu, 8-5, at the No. 3 position. With Michigan
senior Josef Fischer and sophomore Ryan Heller drop-
ping their hotly contested match, 9-8(3), the pressure
was on the tandem of sophomore Brian Hung and
freshman Matko Maravic at No. 1 doubles. The duo
was able to pull through with a 9-8(5) victory in a
tiebreaker against Notre Dame's duo of Eric Langen-
kamp and Brent D'Amico, sealing the doubles point
for Michigan.
"We did have a great start in doubles," Berque said.
"Two courts were up by two breaks. We were basically
killing them in doubles. But then some of our guys made
the mistake of, once getting up in a lead ... they lost a little
bit of a focus. We ended up being fortunate and won the
doubles point. But we need to work on staying focused and
disciplined."
On the singles end, Michigan would not go down with-
out a fight. With five of the six singles matches going to
three sets, the difference came down to execution.
At the No. 2 spot, where Rubin had been previously
playing, Hung bounced back after dropping the second set
to D'Amico. Hung would not lose another game the rest of
the match, adding another tally to the Michigan scorecard
with his victory, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
"(Hung) did a great job at sticking to his game plan and
coming to the net," Berque said. "His strength is at the net.
He kept coming in (to the net) even when it wasn't work-
ing. He competed well again."
But Hung's win would end up being the lone Michigan
(3-0 Big Ten, 10-6 overall) singles point. Previously unde-
feated at his new No. 1 position, Maravic suffered his first
loss at this spot. After losing the first set, Maravic retali-
ated by taking the second set. But the freshman phenom
was unable to come back against Bass in the third and lost
the match, 6-2,4-6,6-4.
Notre Dame (14-5) would silence Michigan for the rest
of the day, winning three more three-set matches to com-
plete its 5-2 victory.
After playing its last nonconference match of the season,
Michigan looks to maintain its undefeated Big Ten record
in the remaining seven conference contests of the season.
But it now looks like the Wolverines will be down to
just seven players.
Even with this contracted lineup, Berque is pleased
with the progress the team is making.
"We are developing an identity of a very competi-
tive team," Berque said. "We also want to work a
little harder to further our skills. We are 3-0 in the
Big Ten, and we have a lot of good opportunities to
look forward to."
4/3
4/3
4/3
4/3
M Tennis at Iowa
W Tennis vs. Minnesota
Softball vs. Illinois
Baseball at Minnesota
6 m D
NOTES
Rain spoils Florida
weekend for Blue
The Michigan women's track and field
team went into the Florida Relays in
Gainesville, Fla., this weekend expecting
another weekend full of sun and beauti-
ful weather. What it got was heavy rain-
storms that forced the cancellation of the
majority of the events on Friday and all
but one event on Saturday.
After junior Ana Gjesdal recorded an
NCAA regional-qualifying time in the
3,000-meter steeplechase on Thursday,
the Wolverines were only able to com-
pete in the pole vault. Junior Kelly Catino
played through the elements and obsta-
cles to clear a height of 11-5 3/4, which
was good enough for a tie for 17th place.
After a week off, the track team hopes
to get some good weather and good com-
petition at the Duke Blue Devil Invita-
tional on April 8-9 in Durham, N.C.
.*0
- Daniel Bromwich
THERE'S NO o RAIOU FEK N
COMES TO ........UT......
STOP BY 420 MT.
AND JOI DIYSOTSB.
DIN'T FORG ' Ali BELA
0I
Sophomore Brian Hung won his single's match, but it was
not enough to lead Michigan tp victgry over Notre Dame.
.. . ........ .... ..........
0
0
*I