2B - December 10, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Miller top in blocks

0

By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE - Game three.
Match point.
Penn State's Megan Hodge, the
top-ranked Nit-
tany Lions' best NOTEBOOK
attacker, was one
kill away from advancing her team
to its fourth NCAA regional finals
appearance in six seasons.
But senior Lyndsay Miller had
an answer.
Exploding off the floor, open
hands high above the net, Miller
rivaled Hodge's powerful swing
with a stuff that propelled the Ida
native to the top of the Michigan
record books.
The senior co-captain waited
until Michigan's last-minute run
of the match to begin her string
of blocks, but the result was well
worth the wait.
With her third block of the night,
Miller slid into first place on Mich-
igan's all-time career-blocking list
(473). She moved ahead of former
Wolverine Katrina Lehman's 472
career blocks set in 2002.
"It's really cool because there are
some really good players (on the
list)," Miller said. "It's an honor to
be associated with them and to be
in the same category."
Miller's defensive breakout came
late in the game as the Wolverines

struggled against the Penn State
attack for much of the match. The
Nittany Lions finished the night
with 48 kills and a .384 attack per-
centage.
SENIOR TRIFECTA: When
seniors Katie Bruzdzinski, Ste-
sha Selsky and Miller walked off
the court at Rec Hall Friday, they
wrote the final chapter of their sto-
ried Wolverine careers.
As far as numbers are concerned,
the trio is the best Michigan has
ever seen.
With Miller's record-setting
night, Bruzdzinski, Selsky and
Miller stand atop the Michigan
career kills, digs and blocks list,
respectively.
"Our senior class has been great,"
Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
"(Bruzdzinski and Miller) have had
great careers and also developed
into great leaders."
Even though it finished the 2007
campaign with its strongest fin-
ish in history, this senior class has
proven itself on the court every
season.
Selsky and Miller each leave tied
with the most career games played
(131) while donning the Maize and
Blue. Bruzdzinski falls one game
behind the duo with 130 career
appearances.
This season marks the highest
single-season win total (24) for
Rosen in his nine seasons at Michi-

gan, and much of that can be attrib-
uted to the consistent play of his
seniors.
"I've enjoyed every day with
this team," Rosen said. "Not being
able to go into the gym tomorrow is
the hardest thing for me. They're a
great group."
PASSING IN THE FAST LANE:
Freshman setter Lexi Zimmerman
has been passing well for the Wol-
verines all season.
The Barrington, Ill., native has
started every game this season and
established herself as a powerful
setter.
"Lexi has been progressing
throughout the year," Rosen said.
"I think she's playing her best vol-
leyball right now."
Zimmerman entered Rec Hall
as the Big Ten leader in assists
and fueled the Wolverines' attack
Friday with 22 helpers. She made
consistent passes throughout the
night and gave the Wolverines
hope against Penn State's powerful
defense.
With an assist on a Bruzdzinski
kill late in game two, Zimmerman
posted her 15th helper of the night,
making her Michigan's single-sea-
son assist leader.
Zimmerman has quickly risen to
the top as one of the best setters in
Michigan history - and with three
years left, the Wolverines are look-
ing good for the future.

4

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TAU ftETA P
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Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society, was founded to mark in
a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by
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We, the officers and faculty advisors of the Michigan Gamma Chapter of Tau
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Senior Lyndsay Miller set a Michigan record for career blocks with 473 against Penn State in her final game as a Wolverine.
Search a mess under Martin

4

week has passed since
Sailboatgate. Maybe it's
time to cut Athletic Direc-
tor Bill Martin some slack.
Yeah, and
maybe the
Lions won't
blow another,
game and rip
out the hearts
of their fans.
Needless
to say, people SCOTT
following the
Michigan foot- BELL
ball-coaching
search are pretty much rightwhere
they were last week. And the week
before that. And, yeah, the week
before that.
Frustrationville.
And Martin is still the guy who
anger-ridden fans should blame.
If the incompetence we all wit-
nessed two weekends ago wasn't
enough to show that, maybe, Mar-
tin isn't the right guy to be running
Michigan's first true head-coach-
ingsearch in four decades, ourlath-
letic director gave us a nice exhibit
B over the past week.
Martin headed east and,
depending on who you ask, either
offered or essentially said "the job
is yours if you want it" to Rutgers
coach Greg Schiano.
Judging by the lack of big pic-

tures and stories on the front page
of the paper, it's pretty obvious
what happened next. Schiano, the
coach of a team that has won more
than seven games a whopping one
time in his eight years of coaching,
turned down the Wolverines, opt-
ing to stay in New Jersey to coach
the Scarlet Knights.
Sure, it's disappointing to have
your program shrugged off by the
coach of a second-tier program.
But the real injustice from the
week was the rampant hypocrisy
of Martin's actions.
Our favorite sailing enthusiast,
who refused to talk to LSU coach
Les Miles the week before saying
he didn't have permission to do so,
went ahead and interviewed Schia-
no sans the nod from Rutgers' ath-
letic director.
Whether the job was official-
ly offered doesn't really matter
- Michigan got turned down by
someone who shouldn't have even
been offered the job.
As a matter of fact, there
shouldn't even be an available
job. Miles wanted (and likely still
wants) his dream job in Ann Arbor.
But it's hard to get a job if you aren't
offered it.
Even though Miles signed a
contract extension last weekend,
this saga likely isn't over. The same
buyout still exists in the contract

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that did earlier, so Miles could still
bolt if he wants to - Miles's asking
price might just be a little higher.
The problem is, it looks like
Martin doesn't want Miles.
And that's unfortunate, because
at this point, the list of people who
don't want Miles tocome to Mich-
igan is pretty short - Martin,
outgoing coach Lloyd Carr, Loui-
siana State Athletic Director Skip
Berman and a handful of stuffy
higher-ups within the Michigan
Athletic Department.
For everyone else, including
hundreds of ex-players who are
reportedly flooding Martin and
the coaching-search committee's
inboxes with e-mails, Miles is the
guy.
Normally I'd say ignoring the
masses might be a good idea. Mar-
tin is a successful businessman
who has done nearly everything
right as athletic director, too.
But maybe he isn't cut out to
handle the rigors of a high-pro-
file coaching search. Maybe he's
letting a few people's personal
issues with Miles blind him from
the obvious solution to this mess.
Quite a few people want another
push for Miles for a reason.
Maybe it's time to listen.
- Bell can be reached
at scotteb@umich.edu
VOLLEYBALL
From page1B
But in the final four points of
the match, Miller became Mich-
igan's all-time leading blocker
with 473 career blocks.
Rosen said a strong serving
game plays into great blocking.
The powerful serves of Penn
State pushed the Wolverines
back on the court, and Michi-
gan struggled to set up strategic
attacks.
"It started limitingour offense
and what we could do," Rosen
said.
So did the crowd.
The capacity crowd at Penn
State's Rec Hall was loud and
raucous throughout the match.
The fans caused a foot-fault ser-
vice error by a nervous Lexi Zim-
merman and multiple Michigan
timeouts called to calm down the
team.
The small Michigan pep band
played the"Rocky"theme songas
the team trailed late in the third
game, but it was soon drowned
out by "We are Penn State"
chants as the crowd felt the vic-
tory within grasp. With match
point, the entire gym erupted in
cheers, and the Wolverines sol-
emnly walked off the court.
The 2007 Michigan volleyball
campaign ended in a shutout loss,
but it tallied its highest win total
in 40 years.
"It's been a really fun team to
coachand it was one ofnthe fast
est seasons I can remember,"
Rosen said. "I really enjoyed
coaching this team and enjoyed
seeing what they can do."


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