6B - November 3, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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With two chances, Michigan In season finaleBlue
fails, to topple top-25 teams
___a : ,T .loses lead, seniors exi
By CHARLESCLINTONt
Dpily Sports Writer


The Michigan volleyball team
experienced a little deja v on Sat-
urday.
That night, the Wolverines bdt-
iled a tough, ranked opponent, No.
20 Purdue, through five sets only to
come up empty-handed after hav-
ing an early lead. It was eerily simi-
lar to Michigan's five-set loss the
night before, when the Wolverines
slipped up against another tough,
ranked opponent, No. 17 Illinois.
Michigan was looking for redemp-
tionagainsttheBoilermakersinWest
Lafeyette after the tough loss Friday
against the Fighting Illini. They
came back in the first game from an
early deficit to take it 25-21. During
the back and-forth second set, Mich-
igan had three straight game point
opportunities before sophomore
Lexi Zimmerman came up with the
crucial game-ending kill to give the
Wolverines a 2-0 lead.
.But the momentum quicklyswung
back to Purdue, as the Boilermak-
ers won the next two sets by eight
and seven points, forcing a five-set
match, Michigan's forth of the sea-
son: The Wolverines led as late as
8-7 going into a TV timeout before
Purdue went on a run of five straight
points. Michigan never truly recov-
ered and suffered a 15-12 loss.
"The Big Ten's a tough confer-
ence and we were competitive, but
we're frustrated because we didn't
SOCCER
From page 1B
goal," Michigan coach Steve Burns
said. "It was going to be a hard
fought ,all that a team was going to
get on the end of."
Athalftime,Burnstoldhis players
to try to play in the front half of the
field and establish a rhythm by con-
trolling the ball and not giving up
possession on long pass attempts.
Thirty minutes later, everything
came together for Michigan (3-1-1,
11-4-2) when redshirt sophomore
Cam Cameron found Marosevic on
the right side of the field. Marosevic

with tie to in-state rival

play well enough," said Michigan
coach Mark Rosen. "We have the
talent to be competitive. It wouldn't
have been close if we didn't. It's just
a matter of us coming together in
games like this."
On Friday, Michigan was looking
for revenge against the Illini, who
swept the Wolverines in Ann Arbor
three weeks ago. The first game fea-
tured 12 ties and five lead changes
before Michigan pulled out a 25-20
victory. Illinois stormed right back
with an 18-25 win in the second,
but the Wolverines countered once
again, holding off Illinois for the
quickly faked out a single defender
and broke towards the goal. He saw
the goalie slightly out of position,
leaning towards his left, and sent a
low shot past the outstretched arms
of the Buckeye goalie.
Sperry celebrated an individual
accom lishment in addition to the
team's victory. He notched his fifth
career conference shutout, another
school record.
The team's record success hasn't
gone unnoticed. After the game,
young fans flocked to the Wolver-
ines holding posters and asking for
autographs.
"It's nice to have fans come out and
support us," Sperry said. "Especially

25-21 win in game three to take a
2-1 lead.
Michigan needed to win one
more game to take the match. But
that was easier said than done. The
Illini dominated the next game
and sent it to a decisive fifth game.
Michigan had four match points but
couldn't close it out, losing 24-22.
"We've never had a match like
that," Rosen said, "it was so close,
that it was almost like a roll of a
dice."
The Wolverines match up with
Northwestern next Friday in Cliff
Keen Arena.
the young kids around the town."
With Sperry sharp' in goal, and
the players constantly improving,
the Wolverines can't help but think
about postseason play and the pos-
sibilities that exist for them.
"Obviously, we want to go as far
as possible," Marosevic said. "Any
team wants to go as far as possible.
We want to win the Big Ten champi-
onship, we want to go to the NCAA
tournament, we want to win the
NCAA tournament."
There is no doubt that if the Wol-
verines accomplish their goals and
win the school's first ever Big Ten
soccer championship, the team will
be signing plenty more autographs.

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ith just one Big the center of the box and got a step more chances than we did today,"
ahead of a Spartan defender. Michigan coach Greg Ryan said.
Win, Wolverines That was all she needed. With a "We did pressure their backs a lot
free look at the net, Bowery's shot (on offense), and it opened up some
it to qualifyfr found the left corner of the goal, chances for us. On the day, 1-1 is a
postseason evading the outstretched arms of fair result. I don't think I'd say we
p freshman goalie Jill Fliestra. The were much better than them, and
goal, scored with just over 41 min- I don't think I'd say they were a
ROGER SAUERHAFT utes left, was Bowery's team-high whole lot better than us."
Daily Sports Writer , seventh of the season. Aside from Gates, also playing
All year, the coaches have been in their final games for Michi-
T LANSING - Madison telling us, 'take the ball yourself. gan were Skylar Andrews, Katie
almost had the perfect end- Put it into your own hands and Miler, Kristin Thomas and Danelle
her college career - a shut- take control,"' Bowery said. "I was Underwood.
going to take a shot at first, but "We'll be around for the rest of
the only goal the senior there were a couple of defenders, the year and see these girls," Gates
allowed was enough to end so I cut it to the side and let it rip." said. "Hopefully I'll be back and
lichigan women's soccer With 20 minutes left in regula- helpingGreg and (Assistant Coach)
upset bid against Michigan tion, Michigan collapsed on Spar-. Dean (Duerst) and the team. I don't
s tan Lauren Hill' in the middle of regret anything about it."
Spartans (5-4-1 Big Ten, its defensive zone. But Hill found Ryan said he appreciated the
overall) forced Michigan to teammate Laura Heyboer alone seniors' leadership and that team
e Friday before a crowd of 10 feet from the goal for the quick unity was strong despite the tough
han 1,000 at DeMartin Sta- score past a diving Gates, her 19th season. He stressed that although
The Wolverines came into of the year. the team's record was poor, his
seasonably warm afternoon Sophomore Jackie Carron had main objective as a first-year coach
ng the game would be their a chance to score in the first over- was to change the culture around
nce they had already failed time on a free kick from 30 yards the team.
lify for next weekend's Big out. Carron passed the ball to Bow- "We toldthe girlswe were never
urnament. ery, whose header attempt fromthe. concerned with wins and losls
owing ascoreless first half, middle of thtttdx fell shoretAs6le t7thi$ fea'r' Ryan said .'T e Dily
an (1-6-2, 4-10-5) landed from an early effort 'by Bowery important' thiig was the culture
st blow early in the second thap wasrejected by the Spartans, and imprgving our play as '&teai.
Taking a pass from fresh- there were few chances to score in' over the course of the season, and
orward Kristen Goncalves the second overtime period before we-did that. There's still a lotto do,
left side, sophomore for- time wound down. . but this is the group of players I
kmanda Bowery dribbled to "I think we could have 6reated inherited and I love them.

4

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BENJI DELL/Daily
Michigan assistant coach Sean Maymi saw some bright spots this weekend as the Wolverines fell in separate competitions.
In two states, young Wolverines
gain valuable playing time and
experience even through losses

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Michigan drops doubles team of Kevin Hayward
and Zeyad Moritesser in their fi'r'st
early matches, but match of the tournament Satur-
day.
rebounds in But while none of the Wolver-
ines achieved a great victory over
consolation rounds the weekend, there were solid
match play and valuable learning
By AMY SCARANO experience.
Daily Sports Writer "Any time we take the guys to
a tournament, we hope they can
Two hundred and forty seven do well and win the tournament,"
miles separated them, but the Michigan assistant coach Sean
Michigan men's tennis team's Maymi said. "I think we had a
players in Kalamazoo and Madi- couple of players who were capa-
son shared one goal: they wanted ble. We had some good matches."
to win. Both fell short. Aarts tallied two wins in Madi-
In Madison, six Wolverines son, propelling him to the third
headed to the courts at Nielsen round of the tournament, where
Tennis Stadium to compete in the he lost to Purdue's Slavko Bijelica
Big Ten singles championship Sat- in straight sets. Redshirt sopho-
urday. Senior Peter Aarts made it more Drew Daniel and juniors
farthest in the tournament. Matt Parks and George Navas all
And almost 250 miles to the lost in the first rounds of the main
southeast, six more players par- draw but found success in the
ticipated in the Western Michi- consolation round. Navas went on
gan Invitational in Kalamazoo. to win three matches and will play
Senior Mike DePietro and sopho- in the consolation final today.
more David Streeter teamed up "I am trying to make progress
for doubles action, and they lost with my game and get ready for
8-2 to the Western Michigan the season when it counts," Navas

said. '.
Andhat's exactly what the
Wolverines -want to see in these
fall tournaments:
Meanwhile, ih the nonscoring
meet in Kalamazoo, DePietro and
Streeter went op to beat doubles
squads from Indiana and Bradley
finished fifth in the doubles draw
for the weekend.
"I; don't think we could say we
were happy with it," DePietro
said. "Whenever any.of us go into
something, whether it's doubles
or singles, we want to win it....
We would have liked to be a lit-
tle more aggressive in the first
match, but there was nothing we
could do about it after."
Both DePietro and Streeter
played singles on Sunday, both
winning their first matches and
losing in their second round.
"We certainly leaned a lot from
the experience," DePietro said.
"(In) the first match, we didn't
play our best but the mistakes we
had in that match, we corrected
in the next two. We were a lot
more aggressive and that worked
out well for us."

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