6 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com April 5, 2010 - 3B Robertson returns to lift Blue over Hoosiers 'M' rallies to beat Badgers By MATT RUDNITSKY Daily Sports Writer all of Michigan's players won their second sets. That left the match knotted at 1-1 6-3, 7-5. "I played him freshman year and he did the same stuff, so I kind of By JAMES BLUM Daily Sports Writer The largest regular-season crowd in program history packed into Canham Natatorium Saturday afternoon to witness the first-ever televised Michigan water polo match. The match INDIANA 4 was everything MICHIGAN 6 for the Wolver- ines, a televised battle against bit- ter rival No. 15 Indiana. It was an opportunity to clinch their third consecutive CWPA Western regu- lar-season title and also claim the top seed in the upcoming Western Division Championship. All was accomplished in a 6-4 victory over the Hoosiers. The game also marked the return of injured senior captain Leah Rob- ertson, whose presence was felt immediately. Robertson made an early statement offensively and showed the defensive ability that Michigan has been lacking, tallying a Canham Natatorium-record eight steals. Robertson had no idea of her record-setting performance. "I really was just focused on hav- ing a big rivalry game at home," Robertson said. "It's our only Big Ten competition, so getting a win at home is really important." Robertson kicked off the scor- ing with a back-handed rocket that slipped by Indiana sophomore goal- ie Cassie Wyckoff. Robertson's goal gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead after the first stanza. The first possession * of the second period marked the Hoosiers' first shot of the game and first goal. As the low-scoring battle con- tinued, the physicality escalated. Anger and aggression were evi- dent in the pool as players violently fought for position. "We play them three or four times a year," Junior Lauren Orth Michigan men's tennis coach with five courts still playing, all in know what he is about." Jung said. Bruce Berque couldn't recall a time decisive third sets. "It's hard to play a guy like that in all of his years of coaching when Despite saving ' three match when he's doing all of that stuff, but a college tennis team lost the first points to take the second set, Sroc- I've had experience with it before, set in all six singles matches and zynski fell to Wisconsin's Patrick which definitely helped me get won the match. Pohlmann, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2. And through the match." Well, there really is a first time in another hard-fought battle, Cha After Jung's match, Madden for everything. was outlasted at No. 6. broke serve in the final game of his On Sunday afternoon at the Var- But the Wolverines fought back, third set to clinch the Wolverines' sity Tennis Center, the 26th-ranked starting with a huge win from victory, pulling through against Wolverines (5-0 Big Ten, 9-7 over- Navas. Wisconsin freshman Billy Bertha. all) did just that, outlasting No. 30 The match then came down to It was the fourth time that Madden Wisconsin, 4-3, in a fiercely con- junior Jason Jung at No. 1 singles has clinched the match for Michi- tested match. and Madden at No. 4. gan this year. Michigan got off to a solid start, Jung - the 41st-ranked singles With the victory, Michigan taking the doubles point forthe13th player in the nation - was pitted stayed undefeated in conference time in 16 matches with wins by the againstNo. 21junior Marek Michal- play, and continues to sit atop the No. 33 tandem of seniors George icka of the Badgers, who came into Big Ten standings. Navas and Mike Sroczynski at the the match with an unblemished But the win against Wisconsin No. 2 spot, and freshman Chris Cha 14-0 dual-match record. wasn't the only action for Michi- and junior Chris Madden at No.3. After dropping the first set, Jung gan this weekend. In another tough After a first-set massacre by the took control, taking the second, and conference match, the Wolverines Badgers, the match seemed hope- going up a break at 4-2 in the third defeated No. 48 Northwestern less for the Wolverines. But then set. But Michalicka reached deep 5-2 on Saturday afternoon. It was something clicked, and an unprec- into his bag of tricks to try and stall Michigan's ninth-straight triumph edented comeback began. Jung's momentum. over the Wildcats. "I don't know if this was neces- Michalickha called for an injury This weekend's sweep concluded sarily a conscious choice or not," timeout, attempted to take an ille- a six-match homestand for the Wol- Berque said. "But when you look gal bathroom break, refused to play verines, who will be on the road for up at the scoreboard and it looks for 10 minutes due to a rule dispute, four of their five remaining matches. as bleak as it did, competitors have and then tried for an illegal second "I think these wins are really a choice to give in emotionally and injury timeout, which caused a going to help us," Jung said. "I think cave in, or step it up a notch. point penalty and finally ended his it doesn't matter if we're home And I think that was the differ- strange antics. or away now that we are 5-0 and ence on just about every court. Our Despite all of the commotion, have a lot of confidence behind us. guys elevated their games, compet- Jung somehow managed to stay I think that we're playing well and ed a little harder, played a little more focused, winning the match, 3-6, hopefully can getthat Big Ten title." aggressively and played like ateam." Other than freshman Evan King - who was defeated in straight sets at second singles - AARON AUGSBURGER/Daily Senior Leah Robertson set a home record with eight steals against Indiana. said. "But every time we play them, no matter how either of us is doing, we're going to come out for each other's throats. You never want to lose to your rival, especially at home. So I guess you do what you have to under the water." The coaches could be seen and heard condemning players' actions as well as referees' calls. Indiana coach Barry King was penalized with a yellow card for continued harassment of the referees. The yellow card was handed out on a fourth-period penalty. The dis- puted call gave Michigan an insur- mountable three-score lead. Orth and the- five-meter penalty shot seemed to be the only aspect of the R Read a story about Leah Robert- son at MichiganDaily.com Michigan offense in sync against the Hoosiers. "We had the right opportunities on offense," Anderson said. "They just were not thinking. There were so many times when we ran the right play and something happened and that unfortunately can become a team thing.... There were four or five 6-on-5's that I thought we ran to perfection but we just didn't have the ball in the right place. But the benefit is that they stayed focus on defense and that's what it comes down to." 'fifth rotation guys do great.' Thursday, April 15. Being the runner- BIG TENS "Maybe that's asking for too up last year, Michigan will look to From Page 1 B much, but I want our guys to bringhome anational championship. approach (the fifth rotation) as "We need to make sure that a challenge that they can defeat, we're rested and that we're men- rotation our strongest rotation," because they can." tally strong," redshirt senior Ryan Cameron said. "I want the whole of The Wolverines will travel to West McCarthy said. "We need to go in Ann Arbor to see a gymnast walk- Point, N.Y. for the NCAA Champi- and get four solid hit sets on every ing around and just yell at them onships in two weeks starting on event." Wolverines' schedule of seven Up next for the Wolverines are WILDCATS straight on the road. The impor- back-to-back home games against From Page 1B tance of being able to go through Penn State and Ohio State this the stretch unscathed is not lost coming weekend. With a new high on Bernstein. ranking awaiting the squad, the esting in taking the No. 3 singles, "We prepare very hard at focus remains on the present. and that would be the last point home," Bernstein said. "We feel "We're not taking anybody for the Wolverines lost. No. 2 junior like we're in shape and we've granted," Bernstein said, "Each Whitney Taney, No. 4 Nguyen, worked hard, so it's just trust- and every day, we need to come and No. 5 Mahtani all followed ing ourselves, whether we're at out and be prepared mentally with straight set wins. Sophomore home or on the road. Obviously because if we don't do that we're Michelle Sulahian provided the it's nice to play in front of your going to be in trouble. We have icing on the cake at No. 6 singles, home crowd, but the girls believe a very mature group that real- winning 10-4 in a third-set tie- in themselves even when they're izes the position we're in, so we're breaker. The weekend ended the on the road." going to be ready for every game." Speierman provides third option for Wolverines on the mound By LUKE PASCH Daily Sports Writer A quick glance at the Michigan softball team's personell imme- diately tells you something about coach Carol Hutchins. She has tremendous faith in her pitchers - she must if she only car- ries three of them on her roster. The second-ranked Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 26-5 overall) are one of six ranked NCAA teams with just three hurlers. Most teams have two starters, along with at least two or three arms available in the bullpen. Critics often wonder - what happens if one of those starters has a rough outing, and there's not enough relief? But Hutchins has never been particularly concerned about that. It's a question that she and her players shrug off. "That's fine," senior third base- man Maggie Viefhaus said. "If one of them doesn't do well, we have two other pitchers that will come out and beat you anyway. It doesn't matter who's on the mound. We're going to beat you." All-Americans Nikki Nemitz and Jordan Taylor have pitched for 200 of the team's 211 innings this sea- son. But who is the third pitcher of whom fans hear, but see so little? Who is the one that is bound to step in for Nemitz next season? Her name is Stephanie Speier- man, a freshman righty who spent the last four seasons shattering high school records in Maryland. She set eight different marks, including career strikeouts (1,363), single-season strikeouts (426), single-season wins (23) and single- season ERA (0.00). Moreover, she could poten- tially fill Nemitz's role as a hitting pitcher, as she batted a career .462 over her four years at Hammond High. "Well, I'm not opposed to (put- ting her in the lineup)," Hutchins said. "Anytime you got a player that can pitch and hit, my philosophy is the best nine hitters are in the line- up. So, if she's one of them, then she will be." So far, it's difficult to tell wheth- er or not Speierman's high school dominance will convert to the NCAA level as it did for Nemitz and junior Jordan Taylor. Through her first seven appearances, in which she's pitched 11 innings, she's given up five earned runs and two hom- ers. One may chalk up those num- bers to inexperience or a lack of routine starts, but her stats are comparatively weak when look- ing at Nemitz and Taylor's rookie year numbers - they finished with ERAs of 1.88 and 0.76, respectively. But after this weekend, Speier- man put some of those concerns to rest. SOFTBALL From Page lB Sunday afternoon's game fin- ished in similar fashion, but the Wolverines spread out their scoring this time, crossing the plate at least once in every inning. Senior lefty Nikki Nemitz took the mound and threw five innings of one-hit ball to earn her 11th win. Nemitz has been hot lately after starting the season 1-3 - she's now won each of her last nine starts. Hutchins and her players like to compare their day-to-day attitude to the mantra that's governed com- petition for the Connecticut wom- en's basketball team. Focus on one game at a time. "The kids really like UConn bas- ketball. They've been following it," Hutchins said. "One thing we know about UConn is that they're very intense, they practice really hard and they go after every game the same. "It doesn't matter who they're playing. I like that mentality, and I think it's Michigan softball mental- ity."