10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 21, 2006
{ F 7Test says that Spikers have
hops, trots; so does their record

By Dan Feldman
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan volleyball
team might only be 13-0 in the
official standings, but the play-
ers feel like they're 14-0.
For the first time in years,
every player on the team passed
her preseason fitness test.
"We joked about it or talked
about it, that test is like our first
match, and we won our first
match so we got off on a good
start," Michigan coach Mark
Rosen said. "You lose your first
match, it's tough. Now you're
already on your heels a little
bit. I think the girls answered
the first test of the year and the
first challenge, and then I think
it's easy to get some momentum
going off of that."
Prior to each season, Michi-
gan teams must pass a fitness
test. For the volleyball team it
consists of two elements.
The first is the ability to
jump and touch a point within a
half of an inch of the point they
were able to jump and touch at

the end of last season.
The second isto do five 300-yard
shuttles (50 yards and back three
times in a row) with a 90-second
break between each rep at splits tai-
lored to each individual player (typi-
cally a freshman must complete the
test in a total of 325 seconds - or
65 seconds per shuttle).
"It is a good, true test of
whether they're in shape, ready
to go," Rosen said. "If every-
body passed it like this year,
it now allows us to go OK,
we can get in the gym and go
a little harder and know that
everybody's in shape to do that.
If people don't pass it, then we
know, OK, we're going to have
to go a little slower because
people aren't in as good of
shape as they need to be in, and
we've got to get them there or
we're going to get somebody
hurt."
Said senior Megan Bowman:
"We came in, and everyone
passed their fitness test, which
is unheard of in Michigan his-
tory. Even for soccer, field
hockey, all of them - I don't

know any team where everyone
has passed the fitness test."
It's probably not a coinci-
dence that the preseason suc-
cess followed a rough season
for the Wolverines. After con-
secutive second-round NCAA
Tournament appearances, they
failed to qualify for the Tour-
nament for the first time since
2001.
"By the time that year was
over, we all just wanted to be
done and over it and start fresh,"
Bowman said. "And so as soon
as spring came, we all worked
extra hard. I mean that was
probably the toughest spring
I've been through and I've been
here forever."
A few position changes were
also made in the spring season.
Because the team was playing
without its departed seniors
and incoming freshman, sever-
al players had to play different
positions than normal for the
team to compete. Junior Lynd-
say Miller moved from middle
blocker to the left side, junior
Stesha Selsky became the set-

ter and sophomore Kerry Hance
took over the libero spot vacat-
ed by Selsky. Rosen liked the
new look and took the changes
into this season.
The players' physical condi-
tion only made making the posi-
tional adjustments in the fall
easier.
"I think you can tell we were
all pretty bummed about how
last season went," Selsky said.
"So in order to start to fix that
or to start to have a better sea-
son, we needed to come in very
strong and very in shape and
ready to go in order to get better
at volleyball - not having to get
in shape and, at the same time,
get better at volleyball. So I feel
that, because everyone made the
shuttle and made their fitness
test, that we sort of proved that
everyone was ready to roll."
And things have certainly been
rolling so far. The official 13-0
start is the best in team history.
The Wolverines willlook to extend
it this weekend against Indiana on
Friday and No. 11 Purdue on Sat-
urday in a Maize Out game.

Junior Lyndsay Miller, playing in her new position of outside hitter, has
helped the volleyball team to a 13-game win streak to start the year.

Laytos finds spot on team, field

By Colt Rosensweig
Daily Sports Writer
With so many schools recruiting Paige Laytos
for their field hockey programs, it wouldn't be
surprising if she got a swelled head. Even 2005
NCAA Champion Maryland wanted her.
But one of the first qualities teammates men-
tion when talking about the freshman is her
humility.
"With Paige, mostly I just try to keep her head
up, because I don't think she realizes how incred-
ibly talented she is," said senior tri-captain Mary
Fox, who Laytos considers her mentor and idol.
"(I remind) her every day that's she's a very good
field hockey player. She's very modest.I'mtrying
to keep her a little bit above modest."
Laytos has been everything Michigan coach
Nancy Cox expected and more. The freshman
has started all nine games this season - play-
ing different positions without complaint or dif-
ficulty - and notched three assists.
Although she is new to the program, Lay-
tos settled in with barely a hitch. Playing with
elite field hockey players this summer - some
from the national team - contributed to her

success, acclimating her to the speed of high-
er-level games. It also helped that she played
for a top team at Warwick High School in
Pennsylvania.
"(Laytos) came from a high school pro-
gram where (adaptability is) what it's all
about," Cox said. "Whatever the team needs,
that's what (she's) going to do. She's had a
good upbringing as a hockey player and as an
athlete. She will be a great Michigan player
because she's willing to make the sacrifices
to be a great Michigan player."
Laytos fits in well with the team's over-
all personality. She's one of the fastest play-
ers on a team known for its excellent speed,
and she constantly steals the ball away near
the opposing goal, creating scoring oppor-
tunities. Her unrelenting intensity is evident
both in practice and in games.
Laytos hasn't scored her first collegiate
goal, but that will undoubtedly come soon.
And though Laytos considers scoring one of
her weaknesses, she isn't feeling the pres-
sure that many freshmen do when given a
starting role.
"I don't think people look to depend on

me (because I am a freshman), so I guess
that's why I don't feel the pressure," Laytos
said. "I guess they don't really expect you to
start, so it's more like a bonus."
With Laytos, it's all about the team, a fact
that her fellow Wolverines appreciate.
"As a teammate, she's very kind, generous
and modest," senior tri-captain Kara Lentz
said. "She's a great all-around skilled player.
She's relentless on the field. She's one of the
hardest workers we have on the field. She
really goes out there and gives her full effort
every time."
Along with the rest of the program, Laytos
is eagerly awaiting the Big Ten season, which
begins this Friday.
On a steadily improving Michigan team,
Laytos's goal of making it to the field hockey
Final Four (after, of course, winning the Big
Ten regular-season and tournamentltitles) seems
within reach.
"I'm pumped because it's only up from
where we are right now," Laytos said. "We're
getting progressively better and better each
game, and it only gets better after this. It's
going to be exciting."

4

Freshman Paige Laytos has three assists in nine games this year.

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SINGER
Continued from page 9A
squad will tease us. And I, for one,
am ready to be teased.
I want to see how Ann Arbor
reacts when Michigan tops Michi-
gan State to go 6-0.I want to feel
the buzz when the Wolverines beat
Penn State in a Saturday night
game at Happy Valley. I want to
see Michigan students march up
from the Big House and celebrate
at Mary Sue Coleman's place
after a victory over Iowa. I want
to experience what campus is like
during Ohio State week if Michi-
gan goes into Columbus unbeaten.
Of course, running the table is
extremely difficult, no matter how
much of an off year this is in the
Big Ten. But even ifa national
title isn't in the cards, I beg you,
Michigan - don't wake Wolver-
ine nation from this sweet, sweet
dream any time soon.
- Michigan students would be
perfectly justied in stoning Singer
on the Diag if Michigan loses to
Wisconsin on Saturday. He can be
reached at mattsing@umich.edu.

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