The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Stronger Lions
secure revenge
By CHRIS HERRING and realized we can't let (Michi-
Daily Sports Writer gan) push us around. We knew
- - that we were stronger than them,
STATE COLLEGE - Just in and we were the better team."
case the Penn State women's bas- The Lady Lions were clearly
ketball team hadn't heard the the better team from beginning on
message clearly already, the team Sunday, as they scored the game's
had a stern opening basket and never lost the
reminder PENN STATE 65 lead.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 3B
Indiana roster
error ties final
score with Blue
waitingfor MICHIGAN 51]
it in the tun- -----
nel leading
out to the court.
"Payback Time: You will NOT
LOSE," the poster read.
And just as the sign demanded,
the Lady Lions wouldn't.
Revenge onlybegins to describe
what the Lady Lions handed
Michigan, as they rolled past the
visitors 65-51 at the Bryce Jordan
Center on Sunday.
The loss gave the Wolverines
their second straight defeat just
one week afterbreaking a 28-game
conference losing streak against
the same Penn State squad in Ann
Arbor last weekend.
The Wolverines didn't execute
nearly as well as the first time they
played the Lions, evidenced by 22
turnovers - nine more than the
last meeting.
But it wasn't just Michigan's
miscues that made this game so
different than the one Penn State
coach Rene Portland called the
most physical she had ever been
part of.
"We got in a good lift on Mon-
day," said Penn State forward
Amanda Brown, who notched a
double-double with 12 points and
14 rebounds. "We came together
Michigan's defensive struggles
on the road continued - primar-
ily during the early portion of the
first frame. Before the Wolverines
could blink, Penn State jumped out
to a 22-7 run to open play.
"Definitely at home, we play
much harder defensively," she said.
"Defensively, there was a very big
difference between what we did at
home (last week) and today."
The early deficit marked the
fourth time in five games Michi-
gan has fallen behind by a double-
digit margin during the first half.
"I think as a team, we really need
to work on our killer instinct," said
junior Ta'Shia Walker, who scored
a team-high 10 points. "We can't
let other teams dig us into a hole
each time."
Michigan (1-4 Big Ten, 8-11
overall) started on the comeback
trail down by 15 with seven min-
utes left in the half. Freshman
LeQuisha Whitfield scored seven
points in the closing minutes of
the period, helping to cut Penn
State's (2-3, 9-10) lead to eight by
halftime, 28-20.
But in the second half, the Wol-
verines couldn't manage to cut the
deficit below seven points, partial-
ly due to foul trouble. As a result,
the Lady Lions got 23 free throw
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Writer
With two events remaining
Saturday at Canham Natatorium,
Michigan trailed defending Big
Ten champion Indiana, 145-119.
Then, freshman Andre Schultz,
junior Dane Grenda and junior
Alex Vanderkaay swept the 400-
yard individual medley. After the
Wolverines' first- and second-
place finishes in the final event,
the 800-yard freestyle relay, the
final score appeared to be 151-149
in favor of the Hoosiers.
But at the end of the meet,
Indiana coach Ray Looze noticed
that one of his junior swim-
mers had swam in more than
the maximum allowed number
of events. The swimmer's fifth
event, a fifth-place finish in the
100-yard butterfly, was convert-
ed to an exhibition time. The one
point earned from the finish was
credited to sixth-place finisher
and Michigan freshman Chris
Dukatz. The score adjustment
sealed the tie, 150-150, and the
completion of the Wolverines'
comeback.
"In my 10 years, I've never
seen a meet that close," Michigan
coach Bob Bowman said. "When
you consider that our team is so
young and that this is an Indiana
team that dominated us at the
Big Ten championships last year,
I feel like we are making prog-
ress."
The previous day, freshman
Chris Brady could hardly have
known that he was setting the
tone for the Wolverines' week-
end.
During Friday night's first
event, the freshman dove off the
block to begin the third leg of
the 400-yard medley relay. As he
swam the first 25 yards of butter-
fly, his cap and goggles began to
slip, prompting him to pause at
the wall and tear them off of his
head. Though at a disadvantage,
Brady managed to preserve a
slim lead and helped the Wolver-
ines (2-0-1 Big Ten, 5-4-1 overall)
earn early points.
"My goggles didn't completely
come off- they just filled up with
water - which was probably the
worst thing they could do," Brady
See HOOSIERS, Page 6B
Junior Ta'Shia Walker was the only Michigan player that scored in double digits.
opportunities during the frame, team wasn't ready for Michigan's
helping them seal the victory. physicality when the teams first
Many of Michigan's fouls came met a week ago.
from being too aggressive, Michi- Portland called the amount
gan coach Cheryl Burnett said. of contact in the first meeting
"We took some chances when between the teams "nonsense,"
we shouldn't have taken chances," and even said she made a call to Big
Burnett said. "Those kinds of deci- Ten Coordinator of Officials, Patty
sion-making things, we must get Broderick, following last week's
better as a team." matchup to review the game film.
The Lady Lions were clearly "I can't teach (my team) how
prepared for the physical style the to be bullies," Portland said. "But
Wolverines like to play this time I can teach them how to defend
around. Portland, Penn State's themselves, and they did that
coach of 26 years, admitted her today."
Wrestling drops two to Big XII
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Saturday, February 3, 2007
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By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
It took the No.11 Michigan wres-
tling team more than eight hours on
the bus to get to Cedar Falls, Iowa
for the National Duals this past
weekend.
Butthetripbackwasmuchlonger
for the dejected Wolverines. Michi-
gan was quickly eliminated, losing
to No. 6 Iowa State in the opening
round (25-15) and No. 20 Nebraska
in the consolation bracket (23-13).
Coming off a tie with No. 3 Hof-
stra in which Michigan almost
pulled off the upset, the Wolverines
put forth a discouraging perfor-
mance on Saturday.
"It's a pretty big disappointment
to go 0-2 at the duals," co-captain
Eric Tannenbaum said. "We got a
tough time because we didn't get
seeded. It's always tough to come
back as a team after a loss like that
(against Iowa State). ... But I felt
like we could've done a better job
against Nebraska."
Starting off the weekend
against the Cyclones, Michigan
was pushed around early, surren-
dering two major decisions and a
fall in the first three matches. But
after jumping out to a convincing
14-0 lead, Iowa State watched as
the Wolverines stormed back with
a pin by No. 3 Josh Churella (5:48)
in the fourth match, followed by
three consecutive decisions from
No. 4 Tannenbaum (a 3-2 upset
over No. 2 Travis Paulson in the
165-pound weight class), No. 8,
Steve Luke (174 pounds) and No. 4
Tyrel Todd (184 pounds).
With the score at 17-15, the Maize
and Blue were poised for a possible
comeback, just to fall short in the
final two matches.
"We didn't get off to a good start,
and they got a little momentum on
their side," Michigan coach Joe
McFarland said. "We beat some of
the top individuals, but we were
overmatched as a team."
Michigan's ranked wrestlers
were undefeated at the tournament
and carried the squad, but heavy-
weight Omar Maktabi was the lone
unranked Wolverine to win.
Whereas last weekend the Wol-
verines matched up well with Hofs-
tra, Michigan's lack of depth proved
to be its Achilles' heel against a
strong Iowa State lineup. The prob-
lem was magnified when the Wol-
verines lost Luke for a couple weeks
because of a sprained medial col-
lateral ligament he suffered in the
day's first match.
"We seem to struggle against
these well-balanced teams," McFar-
land said. "We're not as balanced as
we've been in the past."
Hoping to bounce back against
Nebraska in the afternoon, the Wol-
verines insteadstruggled mentally.
Posting two major decisions
and a fall, the Cornhuskers never
let Michigan within eight points,
though the national rankings would
have predicted a considerably dif-
ferent outcome.
"I think most of it was mental,"
Tannenbaum said. "It's just getting
over that mental hump of knowing
what you're capable of. ... People are
just a little hesitant and scared that
they're going to make a mistake."
The team, on the whole, is strug-
gling to translate what it's learning
on the practice mat to its meets,
Tannenbaum said.
The home setting of the Hofstra
meet camouflaged Michigan's focus
problems, but now the flaw mustbe
addressed.
With Big Ten competition
approaching, the Wolverines hope
McFarland can get them back on
track during the two-week break
before facing No. 2 Minnesota on
Jan. 26.
=re nT;M. M*e
Sugiyama shines at home
By CHRIS MESZAROS against very good teams, and we coming up, and this tournament
Daily Sparta Writer showed we can compete with the gives us a lot of confidence."
elite in the country," Dudhela said. The Wolverines finished with a
After reaching the semifinals in "We have a really tough schedule See SUGIYAMA, Page 6B
the ITA Midwest regional champi-
onships and winning.the Wolverine
Invitational earlier this season, few
questioned the ahility and drive of
Chisako Suglyama.
Any remaining douhters have
now heen silenced.
The frigid temperatures outside .' W'
could not cool a streaking Sugiya-
ma. She hreezed past much of her
opposition in the Michigan Invita-
tional, en route to a singles champi-
onship.
The sophomore consistently
pressured her opponents and
forced them into errors. On Sun-
day, her victim was Denver's Julia
Bauregger, whom she defeated
handily in straight sets (6-0, 6-4).
her atchroppng"a:hrea ontu a h a t a e r
hoc her resolute determination and
poise helped her regain her compo- the in er tO lar Or
sure and capture the tournament
title.
"I just want to go out and play
hard to help the team win," Sugi-
yaMichigan hosted the invitational M EREE N OTRDAEDPOA
at the Varsity Tennis Center thisCERTIFICATES
weekend, inviting three quality
teams (Louisiana State, Duke and ONE-SEMSTER AND STUDY ABROAD
Denver).PROGRAMMES
The 10th-ranked Blue Devils
were an early season test for Michi- SUMMER STUDY IN LONDON
gan. The Wolverines proved they
could play with the et y win- BA (ONS) IN ART DESIGN AND BUSINESS
ning 4-of-7 singles matches against
Duke.
"Duke is a really good team,"
Sugiyama said. "But the way that ONDONENQURIES +44 (0)20 7462 3232
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hela also finished the weekendENQUIRIES:+65 6340 9499
undefeated sgles play, con 0 GOODMAN ROAD. SiNGPORE 439053
cluding with a win over Denver'
Eatja Smohe on Sunday (6-0, 6-1).
Dudhela hopes her teammates can
carry this early season momentum a
into the winter.
"We had great singles wins -