2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 10, 2006

CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY
Club tennis is for fun

Aelte ittega W
Athlete of the Week

6

By Jessica Asbili
Daily Sports Writer

When you think of an engineer, you usually
picture a diligent student who does nothing but
study night and day. However, this isn't the case
with the Michigan club tennis team, which has a
number of engineering students on the squad.
"Smart people can play sports, too," said senior
Roy Braid of his fellow teammates.
The team has had a great year, so great that it
is still going. The team sent two squads to com-
pete in the 2006 USTA Club Tennis Regional
Tournament in Madison.
Each team consisted of four women and four
men, who competed in five matches (men's and
women's single, a men's and women's double and
one mixed).
Braid was a member of the "B" team with fel-
low senior Matt McKeown, while the "A" team
consisted of seniors Julie van Helden, who is
also the president of the club, Dan Cohen, Mike
"Moom" Oom and Dave Scheltema. .

The seniors have an important leadership role.
They realize that without the underclassmen they
would not have been as successful this year.
"Our underclassmen bring new life to the
team," van Helden said. "Each year, we recruit
better and better players who wish to be more
involved than those before them. We really can't
ask for a better scenario than that."
The two squads finished first and second in
the tournament to advance to nationals in Aus-
tin, Texas on April 21 and 22. Michigan defeat-
ed some of its biggest rivals, including Miami
(Ohio), Ohio and Wisconsin. The prize was
$2,500, which will help cover team expenses for
nationals.
The team is not unfamiliar with nationals. It
finished third in 2003 and ninth last year. This is
a great start for a new program that is almost six
years old and still developing.
Michigan club tennis is open to anyone who
wants to try out, but there is a limited number of
spots. This year, the team had 18 women and 18
men try out.

nd games
"The more people we get the better," Braid
said. "Because that is how the team improves."
The focus of the program is not necessarily to
win, but to enjoy the camaraderie of the team and
the thrill of the sport.
"Club sports give people an outlet to bond with
other students," Braid said. "It is an important
outlet for stress because you know you can get
away from the academics, and it also makes peo-
ple healthier."
The team doesn't only develop chemistry
through practice and matches. It also goes on
social outings together and forms intramural
teams.
"The team's chemistry is very unique," van
Helden said. "We are competitive and push each
other at every practice, but we are also each
other's biggest fans when it comes to matches. It
really works nicely in developing a high-perfor-
mance yet friendly team."
As the team heads to the nationals, it plans to
use its teamwork to its advantage, and gain an
extra edge in the competition.

Name:

Hometown: Buffalo,N.Y.

Drew DiGiore

Why: After believing his college career was over on Thursday night,
DiGiore got a last-minute spot in the individual qualifiers for the vault
due to an injury to another competitor. Despite the late notice, the senior
stuck his signature vault to earn a score of 9.7, the highest score of the
night. In vault finals, he finished fifth, gaining All-American status.
'M' Schedule
Date Event Location Time
4/12 Baseball vs. Toledo Ann Arbor 3:05 p.m.
4/13 W Track and Field Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
@ Sea Ray Relays
4/13 Water Polo vs. Michigan State Ann Arbor 7 p.m.
4/14 W Track and Field Walnut, Calif. TBA
@ Mt. SAC Relays
4/14 Softball @ Iowa Iowa City 7 p.m.
4/14 Baseball vs. Ohio State Ann Arbor 6:35 p.m.
4/14 W Golf @ Illini Spring Classic Champaign
4/15 W Rowing @ Wisconsin, Iowa Madison TBA
4/15 W Tennis @ Ohio State Columbus 11 a.m.
4/15 Softball @ Iowa Iowa City 1 p.m.
4/15 Baseball vs. Ohio State Ann Arbor 4:05 p.m.
4/15 M Golf Columbus
@ Robert Kepler
4/15 M Track and Field Tempe, Ariz.
@ Sun Angel Classic
4/16 M Tennis vs. Ohio State Ann Arbor 12 p.m.
4/16 Softball @ Wisconsin Madison 1 p.m.

Team: Men's gymnastics
Class: Senior

Blue strong in eighth-place finish

By Dan Feldman
Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - In winning
the Masters yesterday, Phil Mickelson
took another step toward proving that
he's not just a lovable loser who can't
win when it counts.
But he wasn't the only one beefing
up his image on the links yesterday.
The Michigan men's golf team took
a similar step - albeit not as large as
Mickelson's. The Wolverines didn't
win a green jacket or even a seventh-
place trophy, but their eighth-place
finish in the 12-team Boilermaker Invi-
tational was their best performance of
the spring season.
Sophomore Tim Schaetzel notched
the top Michigan finish of the spring
season, placing 13th.
Michigan coach Andrew Sapp has
been waiting the entire spring for a
complete performance from one of his
players, and Schaetzel may have final-
ly granted his coach's wish.
"Tim was the only one who played
three good rounds for us," Sapp said of
the Schaetzel's play last weekend.
After posting two rounds of 72
in the cold and winds of Saturday,
Schaetzel failed to take advantage of
the improved course conditions yester-
day. But he still finished with a formi-
dable third-round 76.
The Atlanta native attributed his
strong play to his ability to stay on
the fairways. He used shots from the

smooth surface to hit a majority of his
greens in regulation yesterday.
But on the green, Schaetzel was
unable to convert like he did Saturday.
He narrowly missed several makable
birdie putts and had to settle for his
fair share of tap-ins for par.
But he offset the bad putting luck
by not allowing himself to have a sin-
gle hole with a big score. He had five
bogeys but did not let any hole get out
of control, which was something that
had haunted him in the past.
"You feel like you have such a
mountain to get over to get back (after
a large score, such as an eight) as
opposed to a bogey where you feel you
can get it back in one hole," Schaetzel
said.
Schaetzel also credited the team's
winter workouts to his successful
weekend. After his trio's 14th hole
of the day yesterday, the two players
he was playing with stopped to check
for drinks in a cooler provided for the
players. But to their despair, it was
empty. By the time they had done that,
though, Schaetzel had already strolled
past and was getting ready to tee off on
the next hole.
"The increased strength and stam-
ina (from the workouts) allows you to
be more focused on golf than the fact
that you're tired," Schaetzel said.
Senior Brandon Duff finished sec-
ond on the team with a score of 230
but was visibly frustrated with his
play yesterday. He mixed and matched

REGIONALS
Continued from page 1B
on the beam. The Utes' subpar per-
formance meant that all Michigan
needed was 48.610 points to win the
meet and clinch the No. 1 seed at the
NCAA Championships.
Led by junior Lindsey Bruck,
Michigan went on to place four Wol-
verines on the podium in floor exer-
cise. Deiley and sophomore Katie
Lieberman tied for second place on
the event with Deiley finishing fifth
in the all-around competition.
This was without a doubt an easy
task for the gymnasts, and with junior
Lindsey Bruck - who finished sec-
ond in the all-around competition
- leading the way, Michigan went
on to place four Wolverines on the
podium in the event. Deiley and
D NOTE
Seniors recognized at
Cager awards banquet
Seniors Daniel Horton and Graham
Brown dominated the 45th Annual U-M

sophomore Katie Lieberman tied for
second place, and Thuener-Rego's
sixth-place finish was good enough
to make it to the podium in the all-
around competition, tying for fifth-
place with Deiley.
"I'm actually really excited to go
out so strong at home," Deiley said.
"Big Tens was a huge bummer for
me. It was kind of like my senior
meet - I was just really proud of
my team. They made it a lot of fun
for me, and this is definitely a bitter
sweet ending at Crisler."
With the victory, Michigan
advances to the NCAA Champion-
ships on April 20. The Wolverines
defeated No. 2 Utah by .003 points-
the same margin of victor the Utes
had over Michigan when the two
teams faced off in Ann Arbor in
early February.
Basketball Awards Celebration. The duo
picked up 11 out of the 12 awards available
to players. Horton was given the Bill Bun-
tin Most Valuable Player Award, while
Brown's accolades included the Thad Gar-
ner Leadership Award and the Steve Grote
Hustle Award. The two also shared the
Iron Man Award.

Senior Brandon Duff's score of 230 was good for second on the team.

throwing his clubs, his ball, his bag
and the flagstick at each other.
Junior Matt McLaughlin and senior
Christian Vozza both lowered their
score each round of the tournament

and finished third with a score of 233
and fourth with a score of 237, respec-
tively.
Sophomore Brian Otweller rounded
out the scoring with a score of 240.


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