The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 11, 2005 - 3B Berque's return to illinois marked by loss to fonner team By Randy Ip Daily Sports Writer A day after Michigan beat Purdue 6-1, it was in great position to knock off No. 2 Illinois (6-0 Big Ten, 16-3 overall) at the Varsity Tennis Center yesterday. There was a little more on the line for Michigan coach Bruce Ber- que. Berque spent five seasons as the Fighting Illini's associate head coach. Unfortunately, Michigan (5-2, 12-8) was unable to overcome Illinois in a 6-1 defeat. "It was strange seeing the school colors, the van and (head coach) Craig (Tiley) because I was there just a few years ago." Berque said. "When I was at Illinois, we loved going on the road and beating up on the opposing team. It's weird being on the losing side of things. But they have a great program, and I'm really glad that I was a part of it. I'm really excited that we have an opportunity here at Michigan to produce something similar." Riding a home win against Purdue a day earlier, the Wolverines faced stiff- er competition from Illinois and knew they had a tough challenge ahead. In doubles competition, Michigan sophomore Ryan Heller paired with senior Josef Fischer, but the duo came up just short against Illinois's No. 2 doubles team, 8-6. That match clinched the doubles point for the Illini; Michigan seniors David Anving and Vinny Gossain lost their match at No. 3 doubles earlier in the day. But that didn't stop freshman Matko Maravic and sophomore Brain Hung from topping the No. 1 doubles tandem of Illinois with an 8-6 victory. The Wolverines had an uphill battle after losing the doubles point. Michigan was faced with a strong singles lineup from Illinois, which fea- tures three players in the top-50, including fifth-ranked Ryler DeHeart, who sports a record of 21-1 in Big Ten singles competition. Illinois won the first two singles matches with No. 42 Kevin Anderson beating Heller and No. 33 G.D. Jones ousting Maravic in straight sets. Josef Fischer put Michigan on the board with the team's only point of the day, winning at No. 5 singles, but in the end Illinois was too much for Michigan. With Michael Rubin out with a wrist injury, Hung stepped up to face DeHeart in a No. 1 singles battle. Hung played well, but DeHeart gave Illinois the W,' winning 7-5, 6-3. Even though the overall matchup was already lost, the last two matches of the day were the most competitive ones. Playing at No. 6 singles, Anving dropped the first set to Illinois's Ryan Rowe 6-3 but battled back in the second set to win in a tiebreaker, 8-6. The match came down to a super-tiebreaker with Anving losing 10-6. At No. 4 singles, Steve Peretz was Michigan's last chance, and like Anving, Peretz split the first two sets, bringing the match to a super-tiebreaker. But, Peretz couldn't pull out the victory in the super- tiebreaker, losing 10-5. Despite losing the decision to Illinois, Michigan played hard throughout, which is all a coach could ever ask for. "I'm very proud of the way we competed," Berque said. "I'm proud of (our) consistency in terms of the way we compete in each match. This team has a lot of pride, and they showed that again today. The match was already decided, 4-1, and they decided not to roll over. They showed a lot of heart." Despite playing without two of its key players, Michigan pulled into sec- After four years, memories live on ALEXANUR uIAOS/uDauiy Michigan Senior Josef Fischer had the sole victory for Michigan against Illinois. ond place in the Big Ten standings a day earlier after denying lowly Purdue (3-11, 0-5) its first Big Ten dual match win. This match was important for the Wolverines since they have not beaten the Boilmakers since 2001. "It's a big win for us, especially since we were short-handed," Berque said. "We already lost Michael (Rubin) for the season, and we were without Ryan (Heller) today because he had a family commitment. We really stressed to the team that they were going to have to pull together since we only had six guys. There was little margin for error, and a couple of our guys really stepped up today." Michigan almost came away with a clean sweep against Purdue. Anving lost the only match for the Wolverines at No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-2. The key matchup of the day for Michigan was No. 119 Maravic going up against No. 77 Paul Rose. The match was close from start to finish but Maravic was able to pull away with the upset, winning 6-4, 7-6(7). That's it. After devoting a great chunk of my life over the past four years to covering Michigan sports, my journalism career has come to a close. I can no longer afford to mooch off my parents while receiving a salary that an Indonesian sweatshop BOB RUNT worker would The SportsMonday balk at. While Column some people in my position may attempt to continue writing professionally, I have decided not to. As much as I have loved work- ing at the Daily, I just don't have the passion for writing to make a career out of it. The funny thing is that I came to Michigan because I didn't want to do journalism. I had applied to a bunch of journalism schools my senior year of high school, but I later decided to come to Ann Arbor because I was unclear about what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to come to a place that had a vast array of oppor- tunities I could take advantage of. But then came my first Sunday in Ann Arbor. I had been invited to the Daily's first sports staff meeting of the year by Detroit Free Press base- ball writer John Lowe - who helps the Daily during his free time and who I had met about six months prior under sheer happenstance - and I figured I had nothing to lose. While I didn't want to make a career out of writing, I still liked it and wanted to get involved on campus. Eight weeks and three week- end road trips later, I had covered Michigan's first ever national cham- pionship in a women's sport. Four years later, I had covered events in 10 different states and in every Big Ten city except one. Oh yeah, and I also became a level-C campus celebrity by running pictures of myself perform- ing obscene stunts. Throughout my time here, I con- sistently asked myself whether the 30-plus-hour work weeks were worth it. After all, I was a college student. But there was one thing that rang in my mind: I just couldn't see myself working anywhere else. Now that it's over, I have no regrets - even as I sit here with three weeks until I graduate and absolutely no concrete post-gradua- tion plans. The experience of work- ing with great people (and providing five minutes of entertainment to students trying to stay awake during their statistics lecture) has been sec- ond to none. So while the most vivid memories of some students' careers may be headlined with random hook-ups at Rick's, mine consist of some of the following: " Standing on the field in Pasadena this year to see one of the greatest Rose Bowls ever finish in dramatic conclusion. e Writing a joke column about Texas playing in the Rose Bowl that led to 180 hate e-mails and an appearance on ESPN Radio in Aus- tin in the process. " Paying my own way to travel 15 hours in a car to Oklahoma City to cover the Women's College World Series. " Sitting in the press box at Yost Ice Arena as the Michigan ice hockey team used its home crowd advantage to will itself to the Fro- zen Four. " Capturing the excitement of a hoard of Brazilian soccer fans on the Diag after their home country had just taken home the World Cup. " Having a couple people recognize me from "On the Road with Bob Hunt" at nearly every party I've been to over the last four months, receiv- ing responses such as "Are you the guy who rode a bull?" "I thought you were taller" and "Are you the guy from the Daily? You're a douche!" - Riding my bike every day to hockey practice my sophomore year so I could chat with Red Berenson, even though he would never actually learn my name. " Heading down to the field at Notre Dame Stadium only to have Muhammad Ali pop into the elevator, start shadow boxing me and perform magic tricks. " Missing almost an entire week of school so that I could hang out in New York and watch the Michigan men's basketball team take home the NIT title at Madison Square Garden. - Walking out of a burrito place in West Lafayette at 3:30 a.m. to find a girl waiting outside to lick my face so that she could appear in the Daily that next Monday. " Pacing down High Street in Columbus in a Steve Breaston jersey by myself while bystanders mooned me and called out to throw me in the street. " Determining that asking Mary Sue Coleman to pick games based on point spreads was a ludicrous idea and yet choosing to go through with it anyway (not surprisingly, she said no). " Running out of an East Lansing apartment so I could partake in a riot only to find myself running from tear gas and falling into the Red Cedar River. - Seeing young freshmen enter the building for the first time, watching them develop the same love for a decrepit old building that I had done a couple years earlier and knowing that where they will be in just a short period of time will only make me smile. Wherever my life takes me five, 10, 20 years from now, I will always have these moments. So, to those who made these experiences possible (I'd love to mention you all, but I don't want to leave anyone out), and to those who found my work entertain- ing, I know that I'll never be able to repay you. Bob Hunt would like to apologize to Gennaro Filice, who let him take this column after hearing that he would not write a sappy piece. Bob was planning on doing so, but that was until he actu- ally started writing. He can be reached at bobhunt@umich.edu the tournament in 15th place. The Wolverines will host the 2005 Big Ten Tournament April 22-24. 0 WOMEN'S ROWING BlueNbattles back, beats Brown big By Sara Livingston Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - With just 750 meters to go, the first varisty eight of the No. 3 Michigan women's rowing team was three seats behind No. 4 Brown and at risk of ending its undefeated season. Yet, with the voice of senior coxswain Tara Medina resonating in the rowers' ears, the Wolverines pulled dead even with the Bears as they reached the final stretch of the race. With the yelling of "Let's Go Blue" from family and friends echoing off of the calm lake, Michigan grasped its second wind and pulled away from Brown, crossing the finish line 5.9 seconds before the Bears and keeping its winning streak intact. "Tara reminded us to put a lot of trust in our race plan and to remember that we have visual- ized this before," senior Sarah Trowbridge said. "We knew that these crews are going to push us though, and we have to bring everything we got. When we were behind she just told us to calm 'M' tops IllI By Chastity L. Rolling team abou Daily Sports Writer maintainin down, relax and make sure that we are techni- cally as good as we can be." The key for the Wolverines was to maintain their focus that had led the varisty eight boat to victory against No. 8 Michigan State earlier that day. No matter what the situation was, the row- ers knew they had to stick to their race plan and stay on pace. "We just stuck to the plan," Medina said. "I just talked to them about previous times when we were down and were able to come back. I made sure they stayed confident and; when we are behind, we just focus on ourselves and what we are going to do to come back and win." The second varsity eight boat bettered its per- formance from last weekend's race against Ohio State despite finished the weekend 1-1, losing to Brown after beating the Spartans by a full boats length and clocking in at 6:39.0. The Wolverines led Michigan State throughout the entire race, constantly increasing their lead. But against Brown, it was the exact opposite. The Bears led from the start, never giving the Wolverines an opportunity to catch up to their rigorous pace. "I think we had a really great day," Michigan coach Mark Rothstein said. "(The second varsity eight) was able to win in the race against Michi- gan State, and that was a great morning race for us. While we lost to Brown, I felt that we rowed well, and I think that our second varsity eight is improving and, by the end of the year, will be fast." The team's goal in between regattas is always to train harder and increase its speeds because it knows the other crews are doing the same thing. It is also important that they work hard to maintain a competitive edge. Next weekend, the Wolverines will face Iowa, Minnesota and Wis- consin, three crews that Michigan knows will only get faster as the season progresses. "I think, right now, we just need to keep train- ing," Rothstein said. "We have to keep increas- ing our volumes, and week to week we can make a lot of gains. We just need to keep training, and I think, if we do that, we will be in great shape for the rest of the season." I I ini to salvage weekend ' 1 JL. NOTES t believing in yourself, g confidence and being The No. 38 Michigan women's tennis team's two-match winning streak was upset by Purdue's 6-1 win on Saturday. Despite the loss at Purdue, Michigan came back strong with a close win against host Illinois. Yesterday, the Wolverines and the Fighting Illini were tied at three. The tie-breaking point was on the Wolverines' doubles partners soph- omore Elizabeth Exon and junior Debra Streifler. Both teams needed the point from the third doubles match, but the Wolverines (4-3 Big Ten, 9-9 overall) snatched it. The 8-6 victory over the Fighting Illini gave the team the win, 4-3. "It came down to the last wire," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "But (Saturday), after the loss to Purdue, I had a long talk with the tough at crunch time." This critical situation came soon- er than expected for Exon and Strei- fler, as their teammates counted on them for a win. Though the duo has won seven of their its games this season, the anticipation of this match was intense. "It was one of those moments that you live for," Exon said. "It was exciting and easy to be nervous, but Streifler and I stayed focused." Said Streifler: "We had to play for the moment, but, at the same time, we had to play for the team." Playing against the Fighting Illi- ni in her home state of Illinois was "nerve-wracking" for Streifler. "They are really in-your-face," Strifler said. "They are a very good team, and we lost to them last year. I didn't want it to happen again." During this critical time, Streifler reflected on the team meeting fol- lowing the Purdue match. "(The talk) really made me think about my confidence and how I need to play with more guts," Streifler said. "I knew I needed to put it all out there today, and I did." Exon said that they walked away encouraged after the team meeting, and the results showed immediately. Senior Leanne Rutherford and freshman Allie Shafner won their doubles match with a 6-1, 6-2 score. Streifler won with a score of 6-3, 6- 1, and junior Nina Yaftali contrib- uted with a 6-4, 6-3 win. Doubles partners Michelle DaCosta and sophomore Kara Delicata added an easy win in the first doubles match, but Illinois won the second one. Both teams depended on the point from the third doubles match, but the Wolverines got it. "Each athlete has an individual role to carry out," Ritt said. "(Yesterday), the match depended on doubles, but it doesn't always come down to that. The most important thing is that the teams uses their strength and stay confident in their game." Next week, Michigan will match- up against Ohio State, in Ann Arbor for its last home match of the sea- son. Though this will be a typical match-up, there will be something unusual about this weekend's match - it will be held outdoors. "I've been here for four years, and this will be my third time playing outdoors in my collegiate career," DaCosta said. Michigan will honor its seniors before the match begins. Freshman leads Blue Cagers name four to victory from behind captains for 2005-06 Freshman Isabelle Gendreau led the Michigan women's golf team to a stirring come-from-behind effort yes- terday at the Lady Boilermaker Invita- tional. Gendreau notched a career best two-under 70 to help the Wolverines to a first-place tie with TCU. Michi- gan was in fifth place before yester- day's final round and found itself nine shots behind the leader after 36 holes. But its brilliant collective play led to a final round 292. Gendreau finished l1th overall, the best of any of the Wolverines. Junior Amy Schmucker placed 13th, and sophomore Brianna Broderick ended Future seniors Graham Brown, Sherrod Harrell, Chris Hunter and Lester Abram were named captains for the 2005-06 season. Never before in the 89-year history of Michigan basketball has the team selected four captains for a single season. At the 44th annual U-M Basket- ball Awards Celebration last Sat- urday, Dion Harris was named the 2004-05 Bill Bunton Most Valu- able Player. Michigan senior Ryan Shinska was named the It's Great To Be A Michigan Wolverine Fan Award. Have unwanted stuff? Moving Y Out?