The Michigan Daily - Thursday April 7, 2005 - 9A Gossain makes return to singles By Jamie Josephson Daily Sports Writer Senior co-captain Vinny Gossain would have liked to forget the last time he played in a dual singles match for the Michigan men's tennis team - until last Sunday, that is. Against Wisconsin in the first round of the 2003 Big Ten Tournament, the Wolver- ines' fate rested on the shoulders of the then- sophomore. Unfortunately for Michigan, the Okemos native fell short in a three-set heart- breaker and the Wolverines' season ended with his 4-3 loss. Prior to this weekend, that was Gossain's last memory of playing singles. But Michi- gan coach Bruce Berque called upon the vet- eran to make his singles comeback at the No. 6 position against Iowa. This time, Gossain redeemed himself. "(The Wisconsin match) didn't leave a good taste in my mouth as a way to end my singles career," Gossain said. "It's something I've been waiting to do for two years. ... I've been waiting for the opportunity, and it's nice to get the chance to play and gain some confidence." In his triumphant return to the singles court, Gossain dominated Iowa's Aaron Schaechterle in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Playing mostly doubles since his sopho- more year, Gossain has been one of the most consistent doubles partners on this year's squad. Gossain has played with several dif- ferent partners - including sophomore Steve Peretz and senior co-captain David Anving - and has compiled a team-leading doubles winning percentage with a current record of 13-8. Now making his return to singles, Gossain has tried to learn from some of the mistakes he made two years ago. "I struggled my sophomore year playing singles, worrying about the results," Gossain said. "Now, I have a much more narrow focus on competing and being aggressive. It's been easier because I've watched a lot of the guys in (their singles) matches to see what works for people. The one thing that sticks out is that the guys who are competing well are doing the best. Hopefully, I'll apply that." With senior Michael Rubin out with a frac- tured wrist, Michigan has had to adjust its singles lineup, giving Gossain the go-ahead on Sunday. The Wolverines will be down to just six players this upcoming weekend because sophomore Ryan Heller will be out of town. Gossain is scheduled to play No. 6 singles again in Saturday's match against Purdue. "This weekend will be more of a competi- tive match and more of a challenge," Gossain said. "I try to help the team as best I can. It's the end of the road for me, too, so getting to play singles is (exciting)." Playing in his last year for Michigan, Gos- sain has thrived in his leadership role as co- captain. But four years ago, Gossain said he wouldn't have believed he would be in this position today. After passing up tennis offers from other schools, including Michigan State, Gossain decided to attend Michigan but didn't know if he would be playing ten- nis or not. After showing impressive results in the junior circuit the summer before his freshman year, the walk-on secured a spot as a Wolverine. Now, as one of the team's leaders, Gossain hopes to impart much of the wisdom he -has gained in his four years at Michigan. "I think, above all, the stuff the coaches have stressed to me has been more about life than tennis," Gossain said. "(These things include) being professional, the way you present yourself and body language on the court, which is something I struggled with initially. "Hopefully, I'll leave a legacy that people will remember and earn the respect of my teammates as someone who came to practice each day and approached each match with the same outlook to hopefully help your team win. My objective is to leave the program better than when I came in four years ago." At noon on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Center, Gossain hopes to lead Michigan (4-1 Big Ten, 11-7 overall) to a win over Purdue - a victory that has remained elusive for the Wolverines since Gossain's freshman year. Michigan will also host Illinois - the school that both Berque coached for and assistant coach Michael Kosta played for prior to this year - at noon on Sunday. SHUBRA OHRI/Daily Senior Vinny Gossain dominated his match against Iowa's Aaron Schaechterle last Saturday in his first singles match since he lost a heartbreaker in the first round of the 2003 Big Ten Tournament. BURKE Continued from page 8A The 2005 baseball All-Star game will be held in Detroit. Same for the 2006 Super Bowl and 2009 NCAA basketball Final Four. Over the next five years, the city of Detroit will no doubt undergo some big improvements to cater to those events. You can already see some of them as the endless string of burned-out buildings have started to be bulldozed to the ground. The sports world has seen Detroit trying to bounce back and has offered its hand. Detroit will have the opportunity to show the world that it is not just a city of crime and devastation - not just the butt of jokes. From what I've seen, and from my expe- riences in the Motor City, I'm more than confident that Detroit will get the job done. All I can hope for is that the rest of the country - and especially everyone else in the state of Michi- gan - will give Detroit a chance again. Chris Burke can be reached at chrisbur@umich.edu. CHIPPEWAS Continued from page 8A control of the game, but Central Michi- gan did not back down. The Chippewas responded with the go-ahead run off of freshman Lorilyn Wilson in the bot- tom of the sixth. Central Michigan (12- S) sealed the win in the seventh when shortstop Stephanie Crews threw out Merchant on a close play at first. ' "I was disappointed that we came back, and we just tie the game, and our pitcher gives up a leadoff hit and then nother base hit (to score the winning run)," Hutchins said. "That's just unac- ceptable. We needed to dig in a little at That point of the game." While Central Michigan built its lead to four during the first five innings, Garvin continually forced the Wolver- ines to pull her curveballs and chan- geups, creating weak groundballs. Her defense consistently finished the plays with strong throws and nice stretches by first baseman Christian Dhondt. "We weren't having fun because I know we weren't playing well," Leutele said. "We weren't playing the way that we usually do." Despite winning the second game 7-3, the Wolverines' struggles contin- ued. Michigan jumped out early when Merchant hit two three-run home runs in the first two innings. But Michigan didn't build on the 6-0 lead and, once again, Central Michigan didn't stop playing hard. After Wilson only allowed two hits and three baserunners during five innings of pitching, Motycka relieved her in the sixth inning. Against Motycka who started the first game and sur- rendered four runs - Central Michigan made it a game. Motycka hit the first batter in the head, and the inning spi- raled out of control from there. Two hits, three runs and an error later, Central Michigan found itself down only 6-3. But the Wolverines countered the Chippewa attack with a Giampaolo homer in the top of the seventh and another clutch pitching performance from junior Jennie Ritter. Ritter struck out three of the four batters she faced Fand did not surrender a hit. Even though the Wolverines came out of the doubleheader with a split, they know that they did not play at the highest level. "(These eames) were disapointing"