The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
M~arch 31, 2008 - 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom March 31, 2008 - 38
* Blue blanks Big
Ten competition
Junior tandem teams Up
for key doubles victory
e
The
team
with a
But
rolling
Mic
overal
with 7
day an
pair of
verine
eight s
The
igan's
legiate
reache
tivene.
"W
becaus
Michigan wins weren't adjusted to college tennis
yet, and we had a brutal schedule,"
ighth-straight Michigan Coach Ronni Bernstein
said.
match The Wolverines were led this
weekend by strong playfromjunior
By RYAN KNAPP Chisako Sugiyama, who's riding an
Daily Sports Writer eight-match winning streak in
singles.
Michigan women's tennis Bernstein also lauded freshmen
started this season slowly, Denise Muresan, who has also
2-4 record. won eight straight singles matches,
the Wolverines have been and Whitney Taney fortheir domi-
lately. nating play over the weekend.
higan (3-1 Big Ten, 10-4 "Whitney also has been playing
) continued its momentum really well lately, and she's been
-O wins over Iowa on Satur- anchoring our number two posi-
d Minnesota on Sunday. The tion all year," Bernstein said.
shutout wins gave the Wol- Michigan has won by relying
s four straight sweeps and on its fundamentals, but Bernstein
traight victories. insists the team will continue to
younger players on Mich- work on the little things.
roster have adjusted to col- "This week we plan on working
play, and the team has on doubles, because I think we've
rd a higher level of competi- been a little flat," Bernstein said.
ss. "We're goingto try and mix things
e struggled in the beginning up a little bit and focus on one
se the girls were young and match at a time."
Sroczynski and
Aarts provide crucial
win over Gophers
By MICHAEL BERTENTHAL
Daily Sports Writer
As chants of "Lets Go Blue"
echoed through the Varsity Tennis
Center during the final points of a
doubles match Sunday that spanned
almost 90 minutes, all the pressure
fell on Michigan juniors Mike Sroc-
zynski and Peter Aarts.
The other courts were empty.
And with their teammates looking
on from a platform above the court,
Aarts and Sroczynski, a duo that
had played together in a match just
once before, found themselves in
the limelight.
Inthis role,Aarts proved himself
a more-than-capable replacement
for Sroczynski's usual partner,
Jason Jung.
With a 7-2 tiebreaker victory,
Sroczynski and Aarts gave the Wol-
verines the doubles point, the first
point in what would end up a 5-2
win against the Golden Gophers,
keeping Michigan undefeated in
the Big Ten.
"There were some problems,
execution-wise," Michigan coach
Bruce Berque said. "But what I was
really happy with was that (Sroc-
zynski and Aarts) didn't hang their
heads. They stayed positive and
kept their composure even when
they weren't playing well."
At a towering six-foot-six,
Sroczynski's monster serve was a
catalyst to the success of the inex-
perienced tandem. Sroczynski had
three straight aces when the match
was tied, 6-6.
"His serve is big," Aarts said.
"When he hits his spots, there's
really nothing anybody can do."
But oddly enough, the duo that
stole the show in doubles couldn't
muster the same results individu-
ally. Sroczynski and Aarts were the
only singles losers of the day for the
Wolverines.
The remaining Wolverines, how-
ever, were on top of their game.
Junior Andrew Mazlin, fresh-
man Chris Madden and sophomore
George Navas all won their singles
matches in straight sets.
Senior captain Matko Maravic
won a marathon match at No. 1 sin-
gles, 7-6, 2-6,1-0 (8), that ended in a
super-tiebreaker in which the first
player to 10 points wins.
"(Maravic) competes like an
absolute animal," Berque said.
"He's always playingthe best player
on every team, and that's not easy
to do. Today, he played smart and
very competitively."
Aarts only saw doubles compe-
tition because Jung was sidelined
with a minor wrist injury. Sroczyn-
ski and Jung are the 21st-ranked
doubles team in the nation.
Berque said the trainers cleared
Jung to play against Minnesota (0-
4 Big Ten; 2-15 overall), but after
the Wolverines secured the doubles
point, he had confidence in his
team's depth to finish out the match
without the standout freshman.
As the team beamed for a picture
after the game with a diminutive
Little Brown Jug replica - reflect-
ing the football tradition - the
14th-ranked Wolverines seemed
proud of their success thus far this
season, including another 5-2 win
over Iowa Friday.
Michigan has won nine straight
matches. At 15-2 (6-0 Big Ten),
Berque's squad is off to its best start
since 1999.
But they aren't satisfied yet.
"One of our goals was to be one
of the better teams in the Big Ten
and be in the hunt for the champi-
onship," Berque said. "We've also
wanted f' be a more significant
player on the national level. And I
think we've'done that. But we still
have a fair amount of tennis to play
this year."
WOMEN'S GOLF
Tan a surprise early in
her career at Michigan
Pruit smashes school record
F
ca
t(
Mic
* Kathy
Yean
fast in
The
verine
Challe
weeke
scores
round
back-t
lied a
appoi
figure
my sc
I beg;
well."
Tan
the th
tourno
Sop
teame
Wolve
seasor
her ho
"An
reshman posts sistent this weekend for us as she
continued to shoot well," Teichert
reer-low stroke said. "She has been playing really
well as of late."
)tal in Arizona Ratigan has had weekend totals
under 230 for the past three tour-
By MARK BURNS naments.
For the Daily Sophomore Ashley Bauer con-
tributed a key score as she carded
higan women's golf coach a two-day total of 226, tying for
Teichert had no idea Min 38th.
tan would get this good this Despite having solid perfor-
her collegiate career. mances from both Tan and Rati-
freshman led the Wol- gan, Michigan finished in loth
s at the Mountain View place out of 17 teams. Even while
enge in Tucson, Ariz., this tallying a season-best three-round
nd, recording career-low total of 907, Michigan was still 27
in stroke total (225) and strokes behind tournament win-
total (73). While she posted ner Indiana.
o-back rounds of 73, she tal- "We did not score as well as
first-round score of 79. we would have liked this week-
y first round was kind of dis- end considering the course con-
nting," said Tan. "But after I ditions," Teichert said. "We had
d out the course a little bit, some opportunities to capitalize
ores really improved, and this weekend and we did not. But
an to play a lot smarter as we did beat some ranked teams
ahead of us, so that was a plus."
finished in the top 25 for The Wolverines will travel to
ird time in the past four Bloomington next week to com-
aments. pete in the Indiana Invitational.
homore Andrea Ratigan Michigan will need Tan and
d up with Tan to lead the Ratigan to lead the way against
rines. Ratigan recorded a the tough upcoming competition.
n-low 226, tying for 31st in But if Tan continues to improve,
metown tournament. the Wolverines could be ripe for
drea Ratigan was very con- success in the near future.
Junior breaks
hammer-throw
record in season's
first outdoor meet
By BRIDGET O'DONNELL
Daily Sports Writer
It didn't take long for Sean Pruit
to break an outdoor record. '
In the Michigan men's track
and field team's first outdoor meet
of the season, the junior broke the
school hammer-throw record in the
first event of this weekend's Yellow
Jacket Invitational at Georgia Tech
University. The previous mark of
195 feet and 4 inches had been set
by Patrik Johansson in 1999.
Pruit's throw of 196 feet and six
inches also gave him a spot in the
NCAA Mideast regional in May.
Junior Vince Belitsos, another
hammer-thrower, set a regional
qualifying mark with a 191-foot 7-
inch throw.
But overall, it was a quiet week-
end for the Wolverines, whose
chances to place in other events
in the non-scoring meet were cut
short by multiple rain delays. When
lightning was spotted during the
800-meter run, the invitational was
called to an end with seven events
remaining on the schedule.
"It would have been great if we
could have finished," Michigan
coach Ron Warhurst said.
But Warhurst was satisfied with
the individual performances of his
athletes whowere able to compete.
Most of the invitational's partici-
pants were from southern schools,
and had been practicing outdoors
for some time. Warhurst said that
it was the first time Michigan had
competed in warm weather. Even
on Thursday, the day before the
invitational, most Wolverines wore
gloves during practice.
"As the meets progress, they'll
be getting all the rust off from
being inside," Warhurst said.
But some runners have adapt-
ed quickly. In the track events,
the sprinters and mid-distance
runners gave the Wolverines top-
10 finishes. Junior Andre Barnes
and senior Stann Waithe finished
fourth and seventh in the 400-
meter dash, respectively.
Barnes and Waithe teamed up
with freshman Nicholas McCamp-
bell and junior Adam Harris to place
fourth in the 4x100-meter relay.
With a time of 40.73, that relay team
ran faster than it did all last year.
Harris, coming off a fourth-place
finish in the NCAA Indoor Cham-
pionships two weeks ago, was the
only athlete from Nationals who
didn't rest this weekend.
In the distance events, Michigan
nabbed two second place finishes -
one fromfreshmanPeter Christmas
in the 3,000-meter steeplechase
and another from junior Michael
Luginbill in the 800-meter run.
Warhurst called the performance
"a lighttest" for the Wolverines and
a "tune up" for next weekend's dual
meet against Big Ten rival Ohio
State.
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SPORTS BRIEF - WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
The Michigan women's track and field
team earned two event titles this week-
end at the Florida State Relays atthe
Mike Long Track in Tallahassee, Fla.
The olverines finished first in the
1,600-metersprint medley relay
(3:49.28). The winning squad included
junior Tiffany Ofili, redshirt sophomore
Shana Vinson, senior Serita Williams
and junior Geena Gall.
Freshman Emily Pendleton won the
discus with a distance ofl76feet in her
first career outdoor meet.
Six Wolverines posted NCAA regional
qualifying marks at the competition.
Michigan will return to action atlthe
Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz., on
Apr. 11.
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