New season, same By Chris Meszaros For the Daily It was never in doubt that a Michigan women's tennis play- er would win the Wolverine Invitational. It was just a matter of who it would be. Sophomore Chisako Sugi- yama fought to defend her 2005 Wolverine Invitational title against upstart freshman Tania Mahtani, but Sugiyama came out on top for her second straight title. The duel was never close. Sugiyama dominated the match the same way she did the rest of the tournament, securing the championship with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-set victory. Sugiyama delivered a number of precise shots that often baffled her opponent in an intense outdoor atmosphere. "It's really hard to play a teammate," Sugiyama said. "But sometimes it has to be done" Sugiyama never lost a set in the entire tournament, putting together decisive victories as she disposed of Marquette's Shannon Brown, (6-2, 6-0) Kentucky's Christine Johnston (6-1, 6-2) and Mississippi's Nika Koukhartchouk (7-5, 6-4). She was also an impressive 2-1 in doubles play with wins in her Friday and Saturday matches. "Chisako worked hard over the summer," Michigan coach Amanda Augustus said. "She had a successful year last year, and I think she's excited and wants to have a good season." Both Sugiyama and Mahtani played doubles matches earlier in the day, but their fortunes were reversed. Mahtani and teammate Allie Shafner defeat- Monday, October 2, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3B Five generations offun n 2255, Jack Herman V - the sim is the fastest-selling game of al doormat UC-Riverside and after greatest college basketball all-time in the United Kingdom), I 19 seasons, he palayed his success coach of all-time - retired. don't know of too many people here into jobs at Oakland, Central Michi- A 1,163-484 career who have picked up the gan, Drake and finally, Seton Hall. record. Six NCAA text-based sports sim. At the time, the Pirates were a titles, including four Someone, somewhere low-level team ina big-time con- straight to close out has developed one for ference. Herman weathered a few his storied coaching just about every athletic bad years (the worst: 8-20, ouch), career. Thirty-five competition you desire. but eventually, his aggressive local Big Dance appear- Just a sampling of the recruiting and insistence on a tough ances. Numerous games I've played over schedule paid off. Seton Hall won Coach of the Year the years include Base- its first-ever NCAA title 43 years awards. ball Mogul, Out of the into his career and took another four No, I haven't Park Baseball, Cham- years later. In 2053, Herman retired invented a time pionship Manager (soc- after 50 years in the biz as one of machine. Nor did this JACK cer), Football Manager the greatest coaches of all time. occur in my dreams. HERMAN (soccer), Sick as a Parrot But a series of disappointments Rather, it happened (soccer), Total Pro Bas- came next. Jack Herman, Jr., began after hours of play of The Sports oday ketball, Total College his career at Florida A&M and Fast Break College Basketball, Front Office eventually landed at Seton Hall Basketball, a text- Football, Bowl Bound - now a national power. But after based computer simulation to which College Football, Total Pro Golf, four years of letdowns, the Pirates I have dedicated hours of play. Eastside Hockey Manager and Title fired Herman, Jr., who closed out Most of you are probably con- Bout Championship Boxing. his career at Big East rival Villa fused, so I'll clarify. But Fast Break College Basket- nova, retiring with no NCAA titles, Imagine a more realistic NCAA ball 2003 is my favorite game ever, just one Final Four appearance to Football dynasty mode without Its simple-yet-complex game his name and a barely over 500 actually playing the games. Or play is stunning. Every decision record. fantasy football without having to you make counts, and you can't just Jack Herman III made a name wait for Sunday. Or getting to ques- take over for your point guard in a for himself coaching, but he'll tion your favorite team's coach or game's waning minutes to joystick always be remembered in the fam- general manager without having to jockey your way to victory. ily like the whiz kid who decides say "what if." Tell your less-than-studious star to shun law or med school to teach Essentially, text sims offer the center to hit the gym rather than high school, much to the chagrin of sports fan the chance to fulfill his the books over the summer, and he his parents. ultimate dream - running his could get suspended come those At first he thought his job at Princ- favorite team. do-or-die games in March. Sure eton was just anothermrung in the In pro games, you sign, draft and you can recruit the five-star high coaching ladder (he got it after trade playersojust like in real life. In schooler from the state next door, years of solid coaching at Navy). college games, you can recruit, set but he might go pro - and you But once the Tigers used his version your schedule and even coax play- might have already missed out on of the motion offense to make an ers into transferring. the solidlocal kid who was dying improbable run in the tournament In most cases there's no graphics, to go to your school. to win the NCAA title,he could and in all, you can't actually pick up You can even see the fine-tuning never bring himself to leave the tiny a controller and play the games. But of your team's line-up and strategy Ivy League school. Princeton never through a series of complex calcula- in the results. Make small changes saw success like that again, but Her- tions thatI prefer not to think about, to the motion and pace, and it could man III consistently turned down these games can spit out results. have big effects in the game. I've job offers from bigger schools out And unlike many sports video started star freshman guards who of loyalty. games, you can expect them to be have put up huge numbers,just to Jack Herman IV led a life much realistic. You can sim years - even see my team lose games it should like Junior. He worked his way decades - in just hours and test win. Replace a newcomer with the to the Seton Hall job, but years of every sort of combination you want. less talented but more experienced work went down the drain when an Upset Isiah Thomas signed senior, however, and watch the under-.500 season led to his firing. Jerome James? Try to clean up his veteran elevate the rest of his team- He further disgraced the family by mess in Total Pro Basketball. mates to victory. taking the job at intrastate rival Rut- Wondering what would happen With the multitude of options, gers and eventually left coaching as if the Red Sox kept Babe Ruth? stats and histories at your disposal, the NCAA's all-time win leader, but Reverse the curse in PureSim Base- it's almost impossible not to become without a national title. ball. immersed. The reason Jack Her- And all that made Jack Herman Want to revive football at man V stands out so much in my V's accomplishments so special. He death-penalty stricken Southern mind is not how good he was, but ended his career with more wins, Methodist? Bring in your own Pony rather how he became the first in NCAA Titles, All-Americans and Express in Front Office Football: a long line of Hermans to really conference championships than The College Years. honor Jack Herman, his great-great anyone that preceded him. Sure Sounds fun, no? Yet, despite the grandfather. it's just a game, but beame more popularity of fantasy sports (one Jack Herman became a coaching invested in it than any fantasy team newspaper recently drafted fantasy legend after ascending the coaching I've ever coached (although not high school football teams) and ranks to bring his alma mater, Seton in the creepy "Universal Baseball games like this in Europe (a soccer Hall, to glory. He started at perenni- See HERMAN, page 6B ed Kelly Donovan and Elly Strother of Marquette while Sugiyama and Tanvi Dudhela lost to Lauren Little and Kylie Moore, also of Marquette. "From the way I played in the doubles, I knew I had to step it up and mix things up for the singles," Sugiyama said. And the team followed Sug- iyama's lead. Senior Elizabeth Exon finished 3-2 in singles play and freshman Tanvi Dud- hela finished 2-2. Overall, the team was an impressive 15-4 in singles play and 6-1 in doubles competition. The stats are even more impressive given that the Wolverines were without two top players. Seniors Kara Delicata and Jenny Kuehn will compete in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Los Ange- les. The duo will play in the 32 team doubles draw, which begins Tuesday, while Kuehn will also represent Michigan in the singles bracket beginning Thursday. The next team competition for the Wolverines is the ITA Midwest Regional Champion- ships in East Lansing. The event will take place from Oct. 19 to 24. The Wolverine Invitational was the first test of the sea- son for the women's team. The Wolverines hope to repeat last season's success, when they fin- ished with a 17-8 overall record and a second place finish in the Big Ten. New coach aids Blues NCAA aspirations By Michael Eisenstein For the Daily They weren't rushing for forehands or diving for volleys, they appeared to be floating from shot to shot and getting to everything that came across the net. At the Wolverine Invitational this past weekend, the differ- ence in the Michigan men's tennis team's footwork and fit- ness was clear. And everyone is pointing to new assistant coach Sean Maymi and his unorthodox commitment to fitness training as the reason. "We're taking a pretty strong fitness approach, especially with the player's footwork," said Maymi, who has coached on the ATP tour (working with pro Michael Russell) and at Fresno State University and Northwest- ern. Most of Maymi's impact has shown in drilling, because he brings a different angle to move- ment and speed drills that the team performs during practice, head coach Bruce Berque said. The new work style seemed to pay off this weekend, with sophomore Andrew Mazlin going undefeated for the tourna- ment, a four-team round-robin tournament that impacted only individual records and not the team's overall ranking. Senior co-captain Ryan Hell- er, No. 113 in the ITA singles preseason rankings, went 2-2 this past weekend. Heller's co- captain, senior Brian Hung, ranked No. 5 in the ITA doubles preseason rankings with junior Matko Maravic, went 3-1. Mara- vic didn't play due to a rule that limits the number of fall tour- naments players are allowed to enter. The Wolverines amassed a 21-15 record over the past three days, with Mazlin leading the team with six wins. "We definitely did a lot bet- ter than last year," Mazlin said. "He is definitely an asset to us." Berque said there were ups and downs in this weekend's play, but added that it was most- ly individual skills - in partic- ular getting back for overheads - that need work. It left the third-year coach feeling confi- dent about the team's prospects for the season ahead. For the new assistant, the only reference for the team's play was practice, which is completely different from match play. "It's a good chance to see the guys compete," Maymi said. Mazlin noted other ways in which he felt Maymi had con- tributed to the team so far this year, even though he's only been with the Wolverines for a short time. His influence is allover. He's joined drills in order to even out the 11 players on the team, worked out with the team every morning and become a fun guy for the team to learn from and hang out with. "My impression is the players are reacting in a very positive way," Berque said. "It says a lot about Sean, especially the way everyone loved having Michael Kosta as a coach last year." With the team returning all of its players from last year, Berque was looking for a boost when he brought Maymi in to help with the Michigan tennis program. "I'm optimistic for a big jump," Berque said. "I expect this team to be a top-10, top-20 team." After earning its first NCAA Championship bid since 2002 last season, Michigan will benefit from having Maymi on the coach- ing staff, particularly to help with fitness training and increasing the quickness of players, which Ber- que noted is an "area of need" for the team. "I am echoing a lot of what Bruce is doing and helping him develop the program he wants," Maymi said. What they want is a top-10 ranked Michigan tennis team, and with their new coach and solid performance this week, the Wolverines are primed to enter the national spotlight. If adding the halo "ruined" Michigan Stadium, how is surrounding Michigan Stadium with high-rise luxury boxes a good thing? www.savethebighouse.com I I G You are cordially invited to the Seventh Annual Lecture in memory of Tamara Williams (1976-1997), a University of Michigan senior killed by her boyfriend, September 23, 1997. Vithaims 1976-1997 0 Children and Domestic Violence Speaker: Leslie Starsoneck, M.A. Leslie Starsoneck, M.A., has been a leader in the Battered Women's Movement since 1989. She is currently serving as a consultant to both the Center for Child and Family Health, and the Z Smith Reynolds Foundation of North Carolina. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work, School of Law, and School of Public Health. She has authored multiple pieces on Domestic Violence awareness. Formally, she has served as Director of the Council for Women & Domestic Violence, Director, of the Domestic Violence Commission, and Director, of the Governor's Task Force on Domestic Violence in North Carolina. Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 - 8:30 PM East Hall Auditorium Room 1324 Entrance across from Church Street Parking Ramp spo Is-,"UniversityHousing - Schaal ofSocialWork - Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Center 0 Interdisciplinary Research Program on Violence Across the Life Span 0