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8 - Tuesday, October 23, 2007
v - TES
MEN'S TENNIS
Blue doubles team
reaches finals
One Michigan doubles team's
run at the Wilson/ITA Midwest
Regional Championship was
almost as long as the event's
name.
Sophomore Mike Sroczynski
and freshman Jason Jung fell in
yesterday's doubles final at the
University of Minnesota's Base-
line Tennis Center.
The Wolverine duo fell to the
No. 7 Ohio State doubles team
of Drew Eberly and Justin Kro-
nauge, 8-5, in the final.
Prior to that, Scrozynski and
Jung had run an impressive
streak of five straight victories
to reach the finals, including
a win over the nation's 25th-
ranked doubles team in they
country.
Jung and Scrozynski also
each made it to the third round
of the singles draw before fall-
ing to top-10 opponents.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Semifinal loss
similar to last year
In the second-to-last weekend
of fall play for the Michigan's
women's tennis team, sophomore
Tania Mahtani dropped just one
set en route
to the semi-
finals of the
Wilson/ITA
Midwest
Regional
Champion-
shps hosted
in Ann Arbor MAHTANI
Mahtani
defeated her
quarterfinal opponent in straight
sets yesterday morning, but fell
short in the semifinals, losing to
the tournament's second seed, 6-
2, 6-1.
Last year, then-sophomore
Chisako Sugiyama also reached
the semifinals of the tournament
before falling in consecutive sets.
The tournament counts just
for individual national rankings
and doesn't affect team scoring.
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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JEREMY CHO/Daily
Senior Chad Henne's status is "day-to-day," according to Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. The coach added that Henne's pain, doctors' judgements and his own assessment will determine if Henne plays against Minnesota.
Henne back soon? Carr unsure
By JACK HERMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Anyone expecting to learn quar-
terback Chad Henne's status for
Saturday's
game will have NOTEBOOK
to wait at least a
few more days. Although the senior
was listed in the starting spot atop
the depth chart, even his coach isn't
sure he'll play.
"I really have no idea," Michigan
coach Lloyd Carr said yesterday
when asked if Henne will play this
weekend against 1-7 Minnesota.
Later, Carr said he viewed Henne's
status as "day-to-day."
While remaining tight-lipped as
usual about the nature of Henne's
apparent shoulder injury, Carr did
offer some clues about how a deci-
sion will be made. Carr hinted it
will not be based on X-Rays or
MRIs, but rather by Henne's pain
and doctors' judgments.
And, of course, his own evalua-
tion.
"As a coach, what you have to do
is assess what you think they can do
and what gives you the best chance
to win," Carr said.
Although he may not have liked
discussingHenne's injury, Carr was
willing to reiterate how impressed
he was with Henne's ability to play
through it. Henne sat out the third
quarter of Saturday's 27-17 win
over Illinois, but he returned in the
fourth to help the Wolverines put
the game away. Henne completed
18-of-26 passes on the day for 201
yards, and, more important, stead-
ied a Michigan offense that nearly
threw (and fumbled)thegame away
under freshman Ryan Mallett.
"I know how much pain he was
in and somehow he found a way to
submerge his pain because of his
will to win," Carr said. "There's a
lot of different arenas, a lot of dif-
ferent types of courage, but on a
football field, certainly, what he did
was special, and none of us who are
part of this team will ever forget
what he did."
HOW'S THE HART?: Last week,
running back Mike Hart's team-
mates all seemed certain he would
play against Illinois. But as fans
found out Saturday, Carr - who
was much less optimistic in his
comments - might be the better
source for injury information.
And although the coach raised
his expectations for Hart's recovery
this week, he still wasn't going to
guarantee anything about his star
running back's playing chances.
"I'm sure Mike is going to be a
lot better than he was last week,
I think daily he'll improve," Carr
said. "But from the time he got
hurt, you just don't know. All you
do know is he's getting better. We'll
have a much better idea tomorrow
when he runs."
A BUSY MAN: On Saturday
night, third-string running back
Carlos Brown carried his share
of the offense when he ran for 116
yards, while filling in for Hart. But
Sunday, he had much more to do.
The sophomore said he received
about 20 text messages and 25
missed calls of congratulations
- and he returned nearly every one
of them.
"I spent a little time talking to
everybody," Brown said. "I talked
to everybody that called me back,
so not that long."
LOL LLOYD: When Carr retires,
he might not want another job. But
if he does, he might want to send
the tape of yesterday's press confer-
ence to a few comedy clubs.
Carr took the time during his
press conference to crack a number
of jokes, before telling his own ren-
dition of the-tale of the Brown Jug.
About Michigan's end-around
touchdown?
"Well, we love trick plays
because it maintains our reputation
as a very creative and exciting-type
offense."
Players say he likes to sing in
practice. What are his favorite
songs to singto loosen them up?
"Don't cry for me, Argentina. I
got that down pretty good. What
else did they tell you? I'm going to
shut them up."
On the jug?
"That's today now, 104 years
later, we're still playing for that
coveted jug, the oldest trophy in
college football. It has a great tradi-
tion, a great meaning here. So, you
know, when you lose it, it's a mis-
erable experience. When you win
it, you get to keep that jug where
it belongs. I mean, we bought that
jug."
'M' tough, but
can improve
I
Sophomore Kalyn McPherson broke the Traverse City points record in high school,
but has struggled to find success scoring at Michigan.
Sophomore tries to shed scoring slump
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Three-time NBA all-star Dan
Majerle, who excelled at Central
Michigan, doesn't even hold his
hometown Traverse City's scoring
record anymore.
That honor belongs to a Michi-
gan sophomore - on the women's
basketball team.
Kalyn McPherson, a superb
scorer at Traverse City West high
school, said she primarily used
drives to the basket and mid-range
jump shots on her way to totaling
2,012 career points (21.1 per game)
- including a record 48 points in a
state tournament game in 2005.
So when former Michigan
coach Cheryl Burnett described
each of the team's freshmen before
last season, calling McPherson the
scorer of the bunch made perfect
sense.
But the 5-foot-7 guard didn't
light it up offensively for the Wol-
verines last year. She averaged just
3.3 points per game, yet her play-,
ing time was fairly consistent.
She did almost everything else
well, seemingly doing all the little
things right.
McPherson was one of just four
players, and the lone freshman, to
test out of Burnett's summer con-
dition program before the season.
In the process, she set the all-time
team squat record with 361 pounds
and benched 145 pounds (fifth all-
time).
Beyond, she showed tremen-
dous leadership.
When fellow freshman Krista
Phillips teared up during the post-
game press conference after a
loss at Miami (Ohio) last season,
McPherson was at the center's side
to console her.
When freshman Sireece Bass
stood dejectedly on the outskirts of
Michigan's post-game mid-court
huddle after blowing a late lead
to Notre Dame in part because of
several Bass miscues, McPherson
pulled her in with the rest of the
team.
"Every now and then, we all
need someone to bring us togeth-
er," McPherson said. "My team-
mates will always bring use back in
when Ineed it, too."
McPherson's versatility helped
contribute on the court in areas
other than scoring.
"Everybody on her team can
go out and play hard, and hustle,
and dive, and rebound and play
defense," Bass said.
And McPherson definitely did
all of that.
Burnett and her staff kept sta-
tistics on categories like blocking
out, decision making with the bas-
ketball and defensive positioning.
McPherson was overwhelmingly
on the positive side of all those
statistics, Burnett said.
Still, McPherson couldn't seem
to find shots early in the season.
She attempted 16 - and made just
four - in her first seven games.
But something seemed to click
for McPherson once Big Ten play
began. She was getting to the hoop
off the dribble. In the first nine
conference games, McPherson
was second on the team in field-
goal attempts, many of them off
dribble drives.
But those shots still weren't
falling. She had a dismal .231 field-
goal percentage in that span, the
lowest on the team.
"Her next level, and she's been
working really hard, is hitting
shots," Phillips said.
"We all know she can drive to
the basket, but she's workingreally
hard to get her shot where it needs
to be."
Michigan's new coach, Kevin
Borseth, thinks if McPherson gets
more confident, the shooting prob-
lems will disappear.
"I sense watching her that she's
afraid to make a mistake," Borseth
said. "That's what I sense, she feels
like she's in prison right now, just
locked up."
Her Traverse City counterpart
Marjerle earned the nickname
"Thunder Dan" because of his
ability finish his dribble-penetra-
tions strongly.
If McPherson can invoke her
inner Majerle, she could live up to
Burnett's other label for her - one
of the most underrated recruits in
the country - and maybe take on a
third title: "Thunder Kalyn."
- Alex Prosperi
contributed to this report.
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Writer
With a team of hard-hit-
ting players, Michigan knew its
penalty-killing unit would get a
workout this past weekend.
And Saturday night, when the
Wolverines were a man down for
more than 13 minutes, Northern
Michigan scored two of its three
goals.
But even including Saturday's
slipups, the Wolverines' penalty-
killing unit is statistically stron-
ger than last season's. Through
four games last year, Michigan
allowed five power-play goals in
33 man-down situations. This
year, opponents are just 2-for-20.
Before allowing its first power-
play goal of the season during
Saturday's first period, Mich-
igan's penalty-killing unit had
held opponents scoreless in 14
straight attempts.
Whether it was because of the
team's youth or the intensity of
the CCHA opener, penalties con-
stantly disrupted the flow of this
weekend's contests.
Friday night, Northern Mich-
igan's penalty-killing unit was
the one at work, and senior Chad
Kolarik might as well have fore-
shadowed his own team's strug-
gle with penalties the following
night while describing the Wild-
cats' play.
"Not staying out of the box
(was) a tough sign for them,"
Kolarik said after Friday's game.
"When your best players have to
penalty kill, they're working so
hard and they're battling through
it....I think that gets to you later
in the game."
For a 6:41 stretch inthe middle
of Saturday's first period, the
Wolverines were shorthanded.
And late inthe period, Michigan's
power-play unit gave up its first
goal of the season on a slapshot
one-timer.
The Wolverines success-
fully killed three more penalties
before giving up their second
power-play goal, a shot that went
between two Michigan players'
legs before being redirected to tie
the game with 41 seconds left.
"I think our penalty killing
was disappointed to give up their
first goal against and then anoth-
er," Michigan coach Red Beren-
son said. "For parts of the game,
we were doing well, and then we
stumbled at the end."
Combined with Northern
Michigan penalties that gave
Michigan the man advantage, the
Wolverines found themselves on
the penalty kill or the power play
for almost 22 minutes of Satur-
day's game.
Berenson said the limited time
available to playa four-line game
got his team "out of sync" during
both games. Preshman MatRust
called playing a special-teams
game "choppy."
"A lot of guys on our team
had to stay focused with power
play and penalty kill playing for
probably 50 percent of the game
(Saturday)," junior defenseman
Mark Mitera said. "It definitely
changed the pace of the game up
a little bit, with the same guys
kind ofgetting out there or sitting
on the bench for awhile."
The Wolverines' constant
penalty killing helped North-
ern Michigan tally more than
twice as many shots as Michigan
through two periods and marked
the first time this seasonthe Wol-
verines have been outshot.
The two goals allowed Satur-
day likely mean that the =players
on the penalty-killing unit aren't
set - but after an otherwise
strong start to the season, their
strategy with a man down will
remain similar.
"It's mostly just hard work,"
senior captain Kevin Porter said.
"Our guys are just working hard
and puttingpressure ontheirguys
to cough up the puck so they don't
have time to make many plays. It's
been working well so far."