The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com F Wolverines trying to regain its steep legacy with upset of Duke SAID ALSALAH/Daily Junior Chris Summers thinks the Michigan hockey team's game tonight against Michigan State will be its biggest matchup of the year. Unlike past seasons, both teams have had lackluster starts and enter the series with little hype. Excitement low with teams down By GJON JUNCAJ meetings. In the past, Michigan Daily Sports Writer and Michigan State were fighting for breathing room near the top of Rivalry games come with many the conference standings. givens: hatred, trash talk, fierce Now it's about establishing an hits, wild crowds and a lot of cli- identity. ches. But this weekend, there's one "(This weekend) might take on tradition missing, from the No. 14 another dimension," Michigan Michigan hockey team's home-and- coach Red Berenson said. "Because home series with Michigan State. right now, both teams are trying Hype. to prove they're not as bad as they The Wolver- Mhigan St look." ines (5-5 CCHA, The Wolverines and Spartans 9-7-0 overall) at Michigan currently trail first-place Miami in enter tonight's Matchup: the standings by nine and 11 points. matchup losers of MSU 4-9-3; A potential sweep means four five of their past Michigan points, which could spring the vic- eight games and 9-7-0 tor back into the conference race. are- still search- When: Tonight, There's plenty of urgency to go ing for consistent 7:35 p.m. along with bragging rights. scoring. Mean- Where Yost "We have to have agood weekend while, the Spar- Ice Arena if we're going to have any momen- tans (2-6-2-2, tum going into the second half of 4-9-3) are win- TV/Radio: the season," junior Chris Summers less in their past FSN Plus said. "(Tonight) is our biggest game nine contests, of the year." largely because of offensive woes. Goals will be at a premium this Michigan State ranks last in the weekend. The Wolverines looked conference in goals and has been their best this season in games outscored 43-26 this season. where they relentlessly crashed The Spartans' discouraging the net to create scoring chances month of November has been exac- around the crease. Even that may erbated by two blowout losses, one not be enough this weekend, as to No. 4 Miami (Ohio) and the other a familiar face will stand in their at Nebraska-Omaha. Michigan way. State lost those two contests by a SpartangoalieJeffLergis5-4-4 combined score of 12-2. with a .913 save percentage in 13 "You watch a lot of their tape, career starts against the Wolver- and it's a fine line between them ines. With the 2007 national title winning and losing," Michigan and six career NCAA tournament assistant coach Mel Pearson said. wins, Lerg is the most accom- "They're right there in most oftheir plished netminder Michigan will games, but it still comes back to face this season. your team. While the coaching staff has "So you try, maybe this year, not seen the good and the bad from totalkaboutthem asmuch. Because Lerg throughout the past three you can't sugarcoat it. Their record seasons, the Wolverines don't is what it is in the past nine games. plan to attack him differently But we've talked more about our from opposing goaltenders. record (and) how we're playing." "You have to look at games The Wolverines carry their low- where you've had success against est ranking entering a matchup him in the past," Pearson said. with Michigan State since at least "(You) try to incorporate some 2002. Unexpected injuries on the of things where there's traffic blueline and a disturbing lack of in front of the net (and) turning offensive support for senior goalie cycles behind the net. Obviously, Billy Sauer have facilitated Michi- he's a terrific goalie." gan's fall from its preseason No. 2 Berenson will counter by giv- ranking. ing sophomore Bryan Hogan In a strange way, the Wolverines' his second Friday start in net and Spartans' struggles illustrate this season. Berenson hopes the why this series could have more move will spark the Wolverines' meaning than in recent years. The offense, which has scored 37 of its two teams have been ranked in the 47 goals this year with the High- top 10 in each of their past eight land native between the pipes. .,LLEBALL Blue overcomes deficit in Lexington to advance in NCAA Tournament By MARK BURNS the Wolverines had the Wildcats Daily Sports Writer on their heels. "Itwas astreakymatch," sopho- The No. 19 Michigan volleyball more setter Lexi Zimmerman said. team's youth showed during the "And we had all of the momentum first three sets against No.20 Ken- at that point, so we just used it to tucky last night. But the Wolver- our advantage." ines matured at just the right time. The Wolverines used that Michigan (25-8 overall) over- momentum to win the final set and came a 2-1 set deficit to defeat the match from the hometown Wild- Wildcats three sets to two in the cats (26-6). opening round of the NCAA Tour- "We didn't play perfect tonight," nament at Memorial Coliseum in Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. Lexington, Ky. "But we played well and that got us "We are a very young team," the win." Rosen said. "But in that set, we In a game filled with streaks, needed to grow up very fast and Michigan held a 24-20 advantage we did." in the opening set only to see the Down 14-10 in the fourth frame lead evaporate. and on the verge of being bounced "The crowd played a bit of a fac- out of the tournament, Michigan tor in the first set," said junior right responded. side hitter Megan Bower, who had After a service ace by fresh- 12 kills. "We weren't as loose as man libero Sloane Donhoff and we could be, and that played a big two kills from junior outside hitter part." Juliana Paz knotted the score at 15, See WILDCATS, Page 8 No. 4 Duke comes to Crisler Arena tomorrow for second matchup with M' By ALEX PROSPERI Daily Sports Writer Two decades ago, the Michigan and Duke programs were on top of the college basketball world. Coming off a National Cham- pionship in 1989, the Wolverines brought in a star-studded fresh- man class dubbed the Fab Five in 1991. The freshmen led Michigan to back-to-back sec- ond place finish- Duke at es in the NCAA Tournament in Michigan 1992 and 1993. Matchup: Their loss in 1992 Duke 8-0; was to the Blue Michigan 5-2 Devils, who also When: Tomor- won the title in row, 3:30 PM. 1991. Where: Cris- At the time, ier Arena they looked like two - programs ESPNRadio: destined for con- tinued success and college basketball immortal- ity, but they took different paths. Since then, Duke (8-0) has become synonymous with top-tier college basketball, missing March Madness just once and claiming the NCAA Championship again in 2001. And Michigan? The Wolver- ines, due to NCAA sanctions, were forced to vacate the records from 1992, 1993 and from 1995 through 1999. Michigan was also forced to vacate its 1992 Final Four appear- ance, the 1997 NIT championship, the 1998 Big Ten Tournament Championship and the 1993, 1996 and 1998 NCAA Tournament Appearances. The Wolverines (5-2) have a shot to earnbacksome of their lost glory Saturday when a refreshed Michigan team and No. 4 Duke clash for the second time this sea- son. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Crisler Arena. Michigan's first loss of the sea- son was to Duke in the finals of the 2K Sports Classic on Nov. 21. Although the Wolverines were competitive, they suffered their sixth straight loss to the Blue Devils, dating back to 1999. "One of the reasons we sched- ule Michigan is because playing them will make us better, win or lose," Duke coach Mike Krzyze- wski said after the win over Mich- igan. The two teams faced each other every year from 1989 to the 2003 season and started up the tradition again last year when Michigan traveled to Duke (8-0). According to the Raleigh News and Observer, there were no games from 2003-2006 because Krzyzewski doesn't like to coach against former players (former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker played for Krzyzewski from1984- 87). When Amaker started at Michigan in 2001, there were still two years remaining on the con- tract between the two schools.. When it expired, Duke didn't renew it. "You like it when you have a home game all the time," Michi- gan coach John Beilein said. "It's better than playing in Cameron (Indoor Stadium) I think. It's an advantage that we have now as both of us coach up our players and both teams try to get better the next two weeks." And Krzyzewski knows exactly what it means to have home-court advantage. "Playing up there, in their envi- ronment will be a heck of an envi- ronment," Krzyzewski said after beating Michigan two weeks ago. Outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium is a field named "Krzyze- wskiville." Leadingup to thebiggestgames of the season, students camp out for weeks in order to haver a shot at the first row. Students even have the capability to Former Michigan center Eric Riley and the Michigan men's basketball team were downed 75-68 on Dec. 8,1990 in what was a fierce, annual battle between the Wolserines and Duke. Under former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker, the rivalry ceased, hot corrent coach John leilein has revised the matchup. - access wireless internet. the upset of the Jruins - but You may not see students camp- win against Duke would make ing out around Crisler Arena, but their resume come Selection Sun Saturday's game sold out within day even more appealing. hours of the Wolverines upset of And it would certainly help ii then-No. 4 UCLA. bringing the Michigan basketbal Beilein and the Wolverines programback to its golden days a already have a signature win - a national powerhouse. i Offering reusable household items, appliances, furniture, sporting goods, electronics and building supplies at affordable prices. H.-,DO CENTER Phone (734) 222-7880 2420 S. 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