2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 17, 2006

" WOMEN'S TENNIS
Netters beat Buckeyes all over again

Athlete of the Week

41

Name: Kelly Catino
Hometown: Traverse City

Team: Women's track and field
Class: Redshirt junior

By Ian Robinson
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 33 Michigan women's tennis team
might be feeling a little bit of ddja vu after its 6-
1 triumph over No. 73 Ohio State on Saturday at
the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus.
It came almost one year to the day after Mich-
igan's 6-1 victory over the Buckeyes last year, on
April 16, 2005. M6
But the parallels don't stop there.
In both matches, Michigan
(6-2 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) took
five of six singles matches and the doubles point.
The feeling was especially familiar for juniors
Elizabeth Exon and Kara Delicata. They played
the exact same opponents they faced one year
ago and posted the same results.
On Saturday, Exon dispatched of her opponent,
Sonia Ruzimovsky, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Last
year, she accomplished nearly the same feat with
a 6-2, 6-1, win over Ruzimovsky.
For Delicata, the sense of deja vu was not as

enjoyable. In both matches with Ohio State, Deli-
cata's loss in singles play was the lone blemish on
Michigan's scorecard. And both defeats came in
three-set matches at the hands of Caitlin O'Keefe.
But there was some redemption for the LaSal-
le, Ont., native. In the last two meetings with
the Buckeyes (3-4, 13-9), it has been Delicata's
doubles match that clinched the doubles point to
give Michigan the early advantage.
Delicata's win with senior Debra Streifler on Sat-
urday marked the tandem's eighth straight. During
that streak, Michigan has taken the doubles point
in seven matches. The lone exception came against
No. 4 Northwestern, when Delicata and Streifler
upended the No. 7 doubles team in the country, but
the rest of the team was unable to give them the sup-
port needed to win the point.
"They are very tough because they come out with
a lot of energy and intensity," said Michigan assistant
coach Amanda Augustus of the Wolverines' formida-
ble duo. "Teams see that coming at them, combined
with their ability, and that's quite a challenge."
As pleased as the team was with its win on

Saturday, improving its performance on the road
is its top concern. The Wolverines lost their pre-
vious road match, 5-2, at Iowa on April 2, and
Augustus said the team's main focus before
the Ohio State match was to better its mental
approach away from Ann Arbor.
"When you can keep things as similar to as
we have them at the Varsity Tennis Center, it is
a mindset that all the girls need to have: to treat
an away game like we are playing at the Varsity
Tennis Center," Augustus said.
With Saturday's success, Michigan has won
three straight matches and 10 of its last 13.
Augustus also stressed the importance of the
one-game-at-a-time mentality as the team closes
out the Big Ten season this weekend.
The Wolverines will honor their seniors next week-
end before Sunday's home finale. In addition to mark-
ing the last home match for seniors Nina Yaftali and
Streifier, it will also serve as the regular-season curtain
call for head coach Bitsy Ritt, who will serve as associ-
ate athletic director after guiding the Wolverines for the
past 22 seasons.

Why: Catino registered a career-high 12-5 1/2 in the pole vault at the
Spartan Invitational at the Ralph Young Track and Field Facility in
East Lansing on Saturday. Catino's mark surpassed the NCAA regional
qualifying mark and earned her a first-place finish in the event. Two of
Catino's teammates, Lisa Sonntag and Kristin Pearson, tied for second.
'M' Schedule
Date Event Location Time
4/18 Softball Ann Arbor 4:00 p.m.
vs. Central Michigan (DH)
4/19 Baseball @ Eastern Michigan Ypsilanti 6:00 p.m.
4/20 W Gymnastics vs. Team Pre- Ann Arbor 7 p.m.
lims and All-Around
4/21 M Tennis @ Penn State State College 3:00 p.m.
4/21 Baseball @ Purdue West Lafayette 3:05 p.m.
4/21 Softball @ Ohio State Columbus 6:00 p.m.
4/21 W Gymnastics Corvallis, Ore. TBA
@ Super Six team Finals
4/22 W Tennis vs. Penn State Ann Arbor 11. a.m.
4/22 W Track/Field vs. EMU Twilight Ypsilanti 11 a.m.
4/22 Softball @ Ohio State Columbus 1 p.m.
4/22 Baseball @ Purdue (DH) West Lafayette 1:05 p.m.
4/22 M TracF/Field Ypsilanti TBA
@ EMU Invitational ________
4/22 W Gymnastics Corvallis, Ore. TBA
@ Individual Event Finals
4/22 Water Polo @ Western Division Bloomington TBA
Championship

a

0 MEN'S GOLF
Duff leads Blue with a 'Golden' round

By Dan Feldman
Daily Sports Writer
Jack Nicklaus once said, "My ability to con-
centrate and work toward that goal has been my
greatest asset."
For Michigan senior golfer Brandon Duff, a
lack of concentration may have kept him from
reaching his potential.
Duff has led the Wolverines in the spring season
despite allowing his temper to get the best of him fairly
frequently. But his emotions held him back from finish-
ing better than 18th this spring - until last weekend.
The Ohio State-hosted Kepler Intercollegiate
was played on the same course and with the holes
in the same spots as the PGA's Memorial Tour-
nament - a tournament played on a Nicklaus-
designed course.
A little bit of the "Golden Bear" must have
rubbed off on Duff, who stayed calm over the

weekend and paced Michigan en route to an
eighth-place finish in the 15-team field.
Duff used two strong rounds Saturday to fin-
ish tied for ninth overall in the individual stand-
ings.
"He's definitely matured over the last three
or four years," Michigan assistant coach Doug
Gross said. "That's helped him get to the point
where he's at."
Duff's rounds of 73 and 72 Saturday put him
in sixth place and would have been good enough
to make the cut at last year's Memorial Tourna-
ment. He would have finished ahead of the likes
of John Daly, Fred Funk, Vijay Singh, Davis
Love III and even Nicklaus.
Duff dropped off a little bit yesterday with a
third-round 77, a score due to approximately five
three-putts.
But a majority of the top-10 finishers' final-
round scores were their highest, probably due to

the wet and windy conditions on the course, so
Duff fell only to ninth.
For the Wolverines, this tournament was a
good measuring stick for the upcoming Big Ten
Championships. Nine Big Ten teams competed,
including Indiana, last year's conference tourna-
ment champion; Michigan finished sixth among
participating Big Ten squads.
Duff believes Michigan can make some noise
at Big Tens in two weeks, noting that the Wolver-
ines have practiced well of late and just need to
continue that success in tournaments.
"Hopefully, we can put something together
where we can compete for it," Duff said. "I know
we can. ... We shoot well in qualifying. Hopeful-
ly, we can get reorganized, focused and do that
(at Big Tens). We believe we can win the Big Ten
Championship."
The tournament will be held in Lake Forest,
Ill., on April 28 to 30.

HERMAN
Continued from page1B
reason to bench the junior for the rest of
the game. But Amaker sat Petway for just
a few minutes.
Go back to last year. It was absolutely
absurd that Amaker, who starred in a
SAPAC ad, wavered on whether or not
to suspend Daniel Horton, who had just
plead guilty to a misdemeanor domestic
violence charge.
And this begs an even more inter-
esting question:
Why did anyone believe Amaker was
really the answer to Michigan's basketball
woes in the first place?
Take the case of Eddie Griffin.
From the start, Amaker sacrificed prin-
ciple for the chance to land the top recruit
in the nation.
It was pretty apparent that if Griffin
didn't go pro right after high school, he
wasn't going to be spending too much
time in South Orange (the home of
Seton Hall).
Still, Amaker took him.
Just a few weeks before graduation,
Roman Catholic High School in Phila-
delphia kicked Griffin out after he fought
with a teammate in the cafeteria.

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Still,'Amaker took him.
Then, after a game midway through his
freshman season at Seton Hall, Griffin hit
teammate Ty Shine in the face, resulting
in three stitches under Shine's right eye.
Amaker handed down a hefty
punishment:
A one-game suspension.
Shine nearly quit. Fans complained.
Columnists criticized.
Griffin punches a teammate in the
face, and Amaker suspends him for
one game?
Doesn't exactly sound like a guy
who wants to build a great face for
his program.
So with a clean-cut image out the
window, one would assume Amaker
lowered his standards in return for a
few wins.
But, as is the trademark for an Amak-
er-coached team, the Pirates' season fell
apart in impressive fashion.
Ranked in the top 10 by every
major magazine to start the season,
things quickly went downhill. The
Pirates finished a 16-14 season with a
loss in the NIT.
And there you have it. In the end,
Seton Hall had no results, no prin-
ciples and a team in shambles.
What was the response?
Amaker left for Michigan. Griffin left
for the NBA. And Seton Hallplayers,
alumni and fans left their nice-guy per-
ceptions of Amaker behind them.
"We didn't think that he'd back out on
us like this," Seton Hall's Marcus Toney-
El told the Newark Star-Ledger."There's
a bit of betrayal."
And now, once again faced with a
lack of results, Michigan's coach has
resorted back to the old Amaker gam-
bit. This time, he's ready to sign certifi-
able head-case Alex Legion, who also
happens to be ranked as the 15th-best
player in the nation.
Some people, Bill Martin includ-
ed, just never learn.

0

II 1

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