2B - October 13, 2008
Sparts]
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Rosen breaks record,'M'
splits Big Ten series again
By RYAN KARTJE 17-17.
Daily Sports Writer Illinois finished the set by scor-
ing seven of the next eight points
For Michigan volleyball coach and stopping the Wolverines' pow-
Mark Rosen, this weekend was all erful net attack.
about records. The second set picked up where
But it wasn't his program record the first left off as the Illini ripped
breaking 178th win against No. off six points and forced Rosen to
18 Purdue that Rosen was most call two timeouts early in the set.
focused on. Down 22-7, the Wolverines
It was a more modest record: 1-1. showed some signs of life and tal-
That is the Wolverines record lied 10 of the next 11 points to make
each weekend of Big Ten play so far it 23-17, forcing the Illini to call a
this season. timeout of their own.
"We just haven't put together But the double-digit deficit
a weekend yet," Rosen said. "One proved too much for Michigan to
night, we'll play great and every- overcome. The Wolverines dropped
thing will be working for us. The the opening two sets for the first
next night, we look like a different time this season.
team. We need to learn to play well "Our backs were just too far
two nights in a row, because .500 against the wall," Rosen said. "You
isn'tenough." can't go down that far and have a
Michigan (3-3 Big Ten, 15-3 over- chance to come back."
all) posted similar Big Ten results The frustration continued in the
last season, registering six weekend third set, as the Illini opened up a
splits on its way to a 10-10 confer- nine-point lead before Rosen used
ence record. another timeout in desperation.
After a momentous win Friday Again, the timeout ignited the
night that vaulted Rosen past Sandy Wolverines' attack, as junior Juli-
Vongonthe program's all-time wins ana Paz served six straight points,
list, the 23rd-ranked Wolverines but a three-point deficit was as
came out flat against No. 19 Illinois close as the set would get. Illinois
(4-2, 13-4). The Illini swept Michi- finished off Michigan 25-20 and
gan for the first time this season. handed the young squad its first
"We didn't bring our 'A' game," sweep and home loss of the season.
sophomore setter Lexi Zimmerman "We just can't be that streaky and
said. "I'm not sure it was 'B' even. expect to win," Rosen said. "It was
We started off slow, and instead of clear that we had too many things
trying to work into Michigan vol- that weren't on tonight."
leyball, we just kind of fell apart." The loss was a complete turn-
Michigan had its rhythm in the around after the Wolverines' con-
first set, and the two teams were vincing four-set victory Friday
locked in 13 ties before the momen- night against Purdue.
tum changed in favor of the Illini at Rosen's record-setting victory
was broadcast on ESPN2, giving
Michigan its first match in the
national limelight.
And in the spotlight, the Wolver-
ines shined.
With her powerful left-hand
spike, freshman hitter Alex Hunt
led Michigan's offensive attack,
registering a career-high 21 kills
and a .576 hitting percentage. Hunt
began the season on the bench, but
after a great showing against Wis-
consin last weekend, Rosen knew
she belonged in the lineup.
The move paid dividends on Fri-
day as Hunt helped the Wolverines
down the Boilermakers in only four
sets.
"She was the reason why we
changed our lineup," Rosen said.
"We needed to get her in the game,
and you saw that. She was out-
standing."
Since All-American Katie Bru-
zdzinski graduated last year,
Michigan has struggled to find a
replacement on the left side. But if
Hunt builds on her 32-kill perfor-
mance this weekend, Rosen may
have found a powerful spike to
complement Paz on the offensive
attack.
Michigan takes on No. 1 Penn
State at State College on Friday,
and any offensive mistakes, like
those on Saturday night, will be
exposed against the dominant Nit-
tany Lions.
"We just need to put together a
weekend," Rosen said. "And we're
going to need a huge effort next
weekend to do just that. We just
need to play Michigan volleyball,
and it'll fall into place from there."
"
"
:LIF REEDER/Daily
Michigan hockey fans can find comfort and electricity in the raucous crowds at Yost Ice Arena.
Big House ues?
Head to Yost
Blue trio gains experience in Tulsa
By JILLIAN ROTHMAN
Daily Sports Writer
After losing just one senior to
graduation, the Michigan men's
tennis team shouldn't be lacking
experience.
But forthree ofMichigan'sstron-
gest players, experience is what
they received this past week.
Every year, some of the best
players in the nation are invited to
the D'Novo All America Champi-
onships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There,
the Wolverines realized how much
they must improve to challenge the
top competitors.
Senior Andrew Mazlin, junior
Mike Sroczynski and sophomore
Jason Jung represented the Wol-
verines there last week. All three
competed in qualifying singles
matches. Jung and Sroczynski
paired up in doubles main draw
play, too.
Play began last Monday, and
Mazlin and Sroczynski both fell in
the first round of the singles quali-
fying competition.
"We were obviously hoping they
would go there and win matches,"
said assistant coach Sean Maymi,
who traveled to Tulsa with the trio.
"But we wanted to give them the
chance to see how they do against
good competition. Unfortunately,
both of those guys drew some play-
ers who were really good."
Sroczynski played against Mis-
sissippi junior Kalle Norberg.
"We knew it was going to be a
tough match for him, but he had a
lot of really good chances," Maymi
said. "It's not necessarily a bad loss
for him because (Norberg) is very
good."
With his teammates eliminated,
Jung survived . Monday action,
defeating Georgia Tech's Eliot Pot-
vin and advancing to the second
qualifying round.
On Tuesday, Jung was defeated
by Arizona's Jay Goldman in three
sets - despite taking a command-
ing 6-1 lead in the first.
Goldman made quite a few
errors, and Jung capitalized to
win the first set easily. As the game
progressed, Goldman relaxed and
put more pressure on Jung, whose
late-match errors made the true
battle more against himself than
his opponent.
"It's tough for Jason to keep his
levelthathigh throughout amatch,"
Maymi said. "But he's starting to
learn and startingto realize that he
can't get away with (making errors)
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and that when you do that you're
letting your opponenteback into the
match."
Jung's inability to sustain a lead
affected more than just his singles
play. He and Scrozynski had a very
successful doubles tournament,
reachingthe quarterfinals,but their
accomplishments were clouded
by their struggles to cleanly close
out matches. The pair would break
serve, but then get broken right
after, losing momentum and focus
throughout the tournament.
In all three matches, the 18th
ranked pair won the first break
point. In the first two matches, the
duo nearly lost its lead, and did soin
the quarterfinal match.
In the second round, the pair
began with an early break point and
then lost focus, narrowly upsetting
their opponent, the 6th-ranked
doubles team from Maryland by a
9-7 score.
In their last match, Jung and
Sroczynski began as well as they
had in the previous two rounds,
but gave up breaking points of their
own. They could not rally back
against the team from Texas Tech
and fell, 8-4.
"In the back of my mind, I know
I have to keep the lead," Jung said.
"But somehow it always happens
that when I'm up, I tend to lose
a little focus, and I play a couple
points carelessly and it builds on
(my opponent's) confidence."
Lessons like those make fall
tournaments like the D'Novo ITA
All-American Championships
so important for the Wolverines.
Unscored tournaments give the
team a chance to see how its play-
ers measure up against the best in
the nation and realize where they
need to improve.
"I'm definitely taking the things
I've learned and setting an exam-
ple for the rest of my teammates
that weren't there," Jung said.
Ann Arbor
"Experiencing & Extending
God's Grace in Ann Arbor"
Sundays @ 10:30 AM
Modern Language Building (MLB)
(812 E.Washington StAnn Arbor)
Auditorium 4
Childcare available &
free parking across the street
A congregation of the
Reformed Church in America
After Saturday afternoon's
events at Michigan Sta-
dium, a lot of Wolverine
fans needed a release, a break
from an awful reality: this year's
Michigan
football team-
isn't just bad
by Michi-
gan stan-
dards. It's
bad by Mid-
American
Conference =
standards NATE
too, appar- SANDALS
ently.
But even
though Michigan football is in the
proverbial toilet, there are still
outlets on campus where Michi-
gan fans can focus their passion.
A couple thousand students
found some solace at Yost Ice
Arena on Saturday night.
The Michigan hockey team
got its regular season underway
with a sweep of St. Lawrence this
weekend. The victories weren't
pretty, but the crowd was raucous
and that means a lot.
Yost is probably going to
become a refuge for a lot of Michi-
gan students during a down year
for the football team. That's good,
because Yost is one of the best
places in the country to watch a
hockey game, and the Wolver-
ines are going to be a fun team to
watch.
The student season ticket sales
for hockey more than doubled
from last season, and rightfully
so. Last year's team reached the
Frozen Four, and the Wolverines
return tons of talent.
But even if Michiganwasn't one
of the nation's top teams, students
should still be heading to Yost on
Friday and Saturday nights.
Going to a game at Yost is one
of the best fan experiences on this
campus.
From the cheers, to the jeers,
to the dancing, the Yost student
section is the loudest and rowdi-
est crowd in Southeast Michigan.
Yes, most ofthe cheerswere stolen
from a traveling band of Cornell
fans in 1991, and it's not exactly
a family-friendly atmosphere,
but the level of vulgarity (see:
C-Ya chant) is perfect for a couple
thousand 18-to-23 year olds with
varying levels of sobriety.
Most importantly, the student
section at Yost has an impact on
the game. I could rattle off at least
10 games in the last two years
where the crowd played a key role
in Michigan wins.
One that sticks out is last Janu-
ary's comeback win over Notre
Dame. Michigan was down two
goals after the first period, but
the crowd stayed in the game and
helped the team pull even in the
third. When Louie Caporusso
scored the game-winning goal in
the final minute, I thought the
roof might come off. The building
was literally shaking.
And that's just one instance.
Even when Michigan is losing by
wide margins (which doesn'thap-
pen often at Yost), the crowd is in
it for the long haul and that's what
makes Yost different from Michi-
gan Stadium and Crisler Arena.
When Michigan football fell
behind 19 points to Wisconsin
in the first half, a lot of students
headed for the exits. That would
never happen at Yost.
There are just two home games
left on the football schedule, but
the hockeyteamhas 15 moregame
at Yost, plus the CCHA playoffs.
So instead of just jumping off
the Michigan football bandwag-
on, jump onto Michigan hockey's.
You won't be the only one.
-Sandals can be reached
at nsandals@umich.edu.
0
Fifth at regionals, water ski team
books third straight Nationals trip
0
By JON DENITZ ski team participates in three reg-
For the Daily ular season tournaments, which
consist of 10 to 25 teams compet-
Whizzing across the glisten- ing in slalom, trick skiing and
ing lake with the sun shining and jumping. Points are earned in each
teammates cheering, the Michi- event based on completion of the
gan club water ski team was ready course, form, and skill.
to shred at the Midwest Collegiate "We know how good we are,
Waterskiing Regionals. and we know how hard we work to
After two days of competition, get to where we are," junior Dan-
the Wolverines clinched a berth ielle Liffmann said. "It's so fun to
to Nationals for the third straight compete, and show what you can
year. Junior president and co-cap- do out on the water."
tain Kevin Tague's 100-foot jump The Wolverines' first event was
earned Michigan fifth place and the slalom, in which the women
put the Wolverines just five points finished fifth and the men 11th.
ahead of Missouri State Univer- The Wolverines then clinched
sity. third in the trick competition to
"We came in really excited and keep their National hopes alive.
confident," senior Erika Bram- "We were nervous, man, real
lett said. "We practiced real hard nervous," said junior co-captain
throughout the summer, and in Colin Ivey. "But at the same time,
September, and truly deserved to we knew that our women are good
be out there." jumpers and would put up a good
From September 26-27 in Deca- fight."
tur, Ill., 16 water ski teams com- The next day in the jumping
peted to earn a berth to Nationals. competition, every wolverine skier
The top three teams at the Region- landed at least one jump, a rar-
al compete in Division I while the ity amongst co-ed club water ski
fourth and fifth place finisherswill teams.
be competing in the Division II Senior Julia Roberts crushed
this Thursday in Chandler, AZ. her personal best with a 59-foot
Each fall, the Michigan water jump, and junior Torrey Richard-
son nailed a spectacular 45-foot
leap. But after being carried by the
women throughout the competi-
tion, the team's qualifying score
depended on the final event, Men's
Jump.
With the Wolverines in fourth
place overall, the Michigan men
finished in dramatic fashion.
Senior Mike McCray and sopho-
more rookie Brendan Kirchner
both posted personal bests with
77 and 76-foot jumps, respective-
ly. With Tague's last jump of 100
feet, the Wolverines learned they
clinched fifth and were headed to
Arizona.
The Michigan club water ski
team invites new skiers to join
their team. From skiing on the
weekends to competing in events,
the team welcomes all types of
skiers from any background and
experience. Interested students
can visit the team's website at
umwaterski.com.
"We know how much we want
to win this competition, and get-
ting first place would definitely
be pretty sweet," Ivey said. "One
thing is for sure: We are deter-
mined to bring the Division II title
back to Ann Arbor."
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