4B - Monday, April 9, 2007
SPORT S
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
WOMEN'S TRACK
Small group uses time
to make large strides
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
For the members of the No. 5
Michigan women's track team
who won't make the trip to next
weekend's Sea Ray Relays, the
Duke Invitational this past week-
end provided a good opportunity
to compete.
"We couldn't fit the pole vault
poles in the plane for next week-
end," sophomore Jennifer Mehl
said. "So we wanted to come out
and perform this weekend as a
smaller group."
In a weekend marked by windy
conditions, the Wolverines used
the meet to prepare for the heart
of the season.
Mehl led the small group of
Wolverines, which included the
team's vaulters and throwers,
with a career-best performance
on the pole vault, finishing with
a height of 11-11 3/4. Despite her
record, the sophomore fell short
of making an NCAA regional
clearance mark by six inches.
"It felt pretty good to have
a career best," Mehl said. "But
I really wanted to qualify for
regionals, so that was a bit disap-
pointing."
Junior Bridgette Maynard
competed in the hammer throw,
discus and shot put. She finished
11th in the hammer throw and
eighth in discus, but fouled on
all three attempts in the shot put.
Maynard said her one poor event
didn't tarnish a solid weekend.
But Maynard noted there was
room for improvement as the
team moves forward.
"Our heights and distances
weren't what we wanted them to
be," Maynard said. "But the prac-
tice and travel helped us prepare
for later on."
The Duke Invitational was the
latest in three weeks of travel
south of the Mason-Dixon Line for
the Wolverines, this time in Dur-
ham, N.C. The cooler weather this
weekend gave Michigan an edge,
since the Wolverines are better
accustomed to chillier conditions.
In fact, the wind helped the team.
"We like to have the wind at
our backs which really helped,
and it wasn't that cold or that
warm down here which was also
good for us," Mehl said.
Though the team didn't cap-
ture any NCAA regional qualify-
ing marks, the Duke Invitational
offered the small group of Wol-
verines valuable experience.
Because the vaulters and throw-
ers will miss the Sea Ray Relays
in Tennessee next weekend, the
competition this weekend was
even more important.
The smaller setting also
allowed the Wolverines to bond,
something that is often difficult
to do in a regular meet.
"(The Duke Invitational) gave
these girls great experience," said
Michigan assistant coach Anne
Takacs-Grieb, who is in charge of
the team's throwers. "They were
focused and were able to support
each other in their events. It was
a good stepping stone for the rest
of the season."
MEN'S GOLF
Wind bats back Blue
Sophomore Chisako Sugiyama and doubles' partner Jenny Kuehn took care of business against Illinois, cruisingto a 8-1 win.
Netters extend streak
to nine after sweep
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's tennis
team has been all about streaks
this year.
Starting Jan. 27, the Wolver-
ines beat three straight opponents.
After a five dual-match losing
streak, No. 23 Michigan is riding
a nine dual-match winning streak
after beating Purdue and Illinois
6-1, 7-0 in two road matches Satur-
day and Sunday.
"It was a great weekend for us,"
Michigan coach Amanda Augustus
said. "It's the best as a team we have
played on the road in a long time."
Saturday's competition marked
a first for Michigan's No. 1 doubles
team of Jenny Kuehn and Chisako
Sugiyama. The top pair lost its first
match together this the year to
Purdue's Brooke Beier and Mallory
Voelker 8-4.
Kuehn and Sugiyama's loss may
explain their dominance yester-
day.
The two destroyed the Fighting
Illini's Megan Fudge and Emily
Wang 8-1.
"I think it's really been our
doubles play that has improved so
much," Augustus said. "We carry it
over to singles."
In singles against the Boiler-
makers (4-2 Big Ten, 11-5 overall),
Michigan went 5-1 and lost only
three sets. And against Illinois (5-
12, 1-5), the Wolverines went 6-0
and lost just one set.
But Michigan (6-1, 12-5) would
get more from its No. 1 singles
player.
Sugiyama defeated Purdue's
Mallory Voelker, 7-5, 7-6(5) to
remain undefeated in conference
play (6-0) and improve her dual
match record to (13-3).
For the 85th-ranked Parsip-
pany, N.J., native, her victory over
Voelker was her 25th singles win
this season.
However, the star of yesterday's
singles competition was Kuehn,
the reining Big Ten Athlete of the
Week.
The Leipzig, Germany, native,
defeated fellow German Fudge 6-3,
6-0, which clinched the team win.
"Both days at No. 1, they really
kind of set the tone," Augustus
said. "They just both played domi-
nating. Both of them won all their
matches, and both of them defi-
nitely did a good job for us."
In hindsight, this streak has
done more for the Wolverines than
merely increase their win total.
"I think we are more aware of
our strengths," Kuehn said. "We
can rely on those, and that helps to
win close matches."
Said Augustus: "We've really
been building our confidence for
quite a few weeks now. I think it's a
testamentto the girls working very
hard in practice and getting better
every day."
The confident Wolverines have
been so good that they have won
43 more matches than their oppo-
nents during their current winning
streak.
And with just Michigan State,
Ohio State and Indiana left to play,
the Big Ten Championships - a
place Michigan has finished in the
top four the past three seasons -
are looking promising.
"That's their big goal for the
season, to win the Big Ten champi-
onship," Augustus said.
By MATT JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
At the Masters this past week-
end, announcers and players
bemoanedthechillyweather.Tem-
peratures in the 40s and strong
winds made play difficult. But the
pros at Augusta had nothing on the
Michigan men's golf team.
At the Boilermaker Invitation-
al in West Lafayette, tempera-
tures hovered in the low 30s with
winds roaring at about 35 miles
per hour. The tournament was
scheduled to go for 54 holes but
was reduced to 36 after a weather
delay on Saturday.
The Wolverines struggled
out of the gate Saturday, ending
the day in ninth place. But they
bounced back on Sunday, finish-
ing in fifth place out of 15 teams.
Michigan recorded the second-
best team score on Sunday. Big
Ten rival Michigan State beat the
Wolverines 293 by one stroke in
the final round.
"We knew today we had to
come out and make moves,"
Michigan coach Andrew Sapp
said. "There were a lot of teams
that weren't too far in front of us.
I was proud of the guys."
Official scores weren't avail-
able yesterday, but Sapp said
junior Brian Ottenweller and
sophomore Nick Pumford tied for
ninth individually. Ottenweller
shot a 1-under par 71 on Sunday,
continuing a solid week for him.
During last Tuesday's qualifier
he shot a 60 on the University of
Michigan Golf Course.
"That really helped him gain
a tremendous amount of confi-
dence," Sapp said. "For him to be
able to do that on Tuesday helped
his mindset going into this tour-
nament. He was able to get it done
when it counted."
Billy McKay bounced back
with an even-par 72 after a rough
first round. Kevin Dore and Tim
Schaetzel both shot 75 on Sunday
and played soundly.
Even though Michigan State
won the tournament, the Wolver-
ines defeated fellow Big Ten rivals
Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois and
Indiana. Purdue and Northwest-
ern also finished ahead of Michi-
gan, but by slim margins, Sapp
said. The Wolverines will see most
of those teams again next weekend
in the Robert Kepler Intercolle-
giate at Ohio State.
"I think it was really good for
our guys to get some key Big Ten
wins and get some confidence,"
Sapp said.
Michigan also beat Baylor,
which was ranked No. 31 nation-
ally by Golfweek as of last week.
Michigan was ranked 83rd. But
the Wolverines have finished bet-
ter than fifth in four out of their
last five tournaments.
Still, Sapp was cautiously opti-
mistic about his team's chances of
moving up in the rankings.
"This late in the year it's hard
to make huge moves in the rank-
ings because of all the tourna-
ments you've already played,"
Sapp said. "Hopefully we'll play
well next week and keep moving
up. It's not really something we
can control so I don't necessarily
worry too much about that."
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