6B -- September 7, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Hunt's arm carries Blue
By MARK BURNS we had some revenge to take on
Daily SportsEditor them."
Either way, the Wolverines (5-1)
Revenge or no revenge, bounced back from an upset to the
the Michigan volleyball team Rockets to defeat the Beavers in
rebounded from last weekend's four sets to win the challenge.
upset at the hands of Toledo. "Mentally, we were a lot more
With another week of experi- poised and more comfortable
once and practice under its belt, playing as a unit rather than indi-
coach Mark Rosen's younger viduals (like against Toledo),"
squad won all three matches this Rosen said.
past Friday and Saturday to win Hunt, who tallied 44 termina-
the Active Ankle Challenge. tions over the three-match week-
After beginning last year with end, led Michigan's high-powered
a 12-0 record, the Wolverines suf- offensive attack. The next-closest
fered their lone loss of the pre- hitter to the preseason All-Big Ten
season to Oregon State in front team member was freshman mid-
of a larger-than-normal crowd at die blocker Jennifer Cross, with
Crisler Arena. 25 kills of her own.
A year later at the invitational "She is justgetting better every-
in Corvallis, Oregon, Michigan day," Rosen said of Cross. "Sl-e is
finally had its rematch with the a very good athlete and also, just
Beavers (3-4). a very good volleyball player. She's
According to Rosen, coming not just getting us points on kills.
into the match against Oregon She's getting us a ton of points off
State - after both the Wolver- blocks as well. She is going to a be
ines and Beavers had previously real great player here."
downed UNLV and Florida Gulf Rosen commented on how in
Coast - there had been minimal previous seasons, the secret to the
dialogue mentioned by coaching team's success has been abalanced
staff to the players of the three-set offensive attack, where he has
sweep last season. received contributions from a slew
Yet, contrary to Rosen's of individuals. But the Wolverines
remarks, junior outside hitter currently play three or four fresh-
Alex Hunt said that "revenge was men at a time, none of whom are
on everyone's mind against Ore- very experienced, as they are still
gon State." adjusting to Division-I volleyball.
Hunt added: "This weekend Additionally, a few players -
was really important for us to like Karlee Bruck and Courtney
win this tournament. Especially Fletcher - are still trying to find
(because) we knew that Oregon their niches since they are receiv-
State was going to be a good ing considerably more playing
team. They ruined our perfect, time this season compared to
undefeated preseason last year so years past.
But in the meantime, senior set-
ter Lexi Zimmerman could still
be riding the arm of Hunt, who is
on the "top of everyone's scouting
report this season," according to
Rosen.
"If we have to be a little less
balanced, Al's ready for that," he
said. "I think she's the type of kid
where the more swings you give
her, the more production we are
goingto get."
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Sophomore guard Matt Vogrich, pictured here, led the team in scoring in its Belgian
league win.
Euro trip preps
'-M' for season
Junior hitter Alex Hunt is Michigan's biggest threat up at the net this season.
By CHANTEL JENNINGS
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's basketball
team will seem a little bit older when
it takes the court at Crisler Arena for
the first game of the season, thanks
to its European basketball tour.
The Wolver-
ines arrived state- NOTEBOOK
side last Saturday
after going 1-3 against four profes-
sional Belgian teams. Michigan's
lone victory came in the final game
against Mons, in which the Wol-
verines played in front of a sellout
crowd.
Sophomore Matt Vogrich led
scorers that day with 22 points after
going 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
And while it was Vogrich who
impressed the crowds, Michigan
coach John Beilein said that for each
game there were different players
who stood out to him and the rest
of the coachingstaff, both with skill
and confidence.
"We'd rather have a guy with
swagger that you can tone down
a bit, than have a guy who's afraid
out there that you have to give him
permission to dunk on somebody,"
Beilein said, praising freshmen Tim
Hardaway Jr. and Evan Smotrycz's
play in Europe.
Hardaway was the team's lead-
ing scorer, averaging 11.8 points per
game. The Wolverines used him
similarly to Manny Harris in past
seasons. But one advantage Hard-
away offers that Harris couldn't is
his size - as a freshman he weighs
more than Harris ever did at 185 lbs.
Michigan's lineup remained the
same all four games - juniors Zack
Novak and Stu Douglass, sopho-
mores Darius Morris and Matt
Vogrich and redshirt freshman
Blake McLimans.
The Wolverines returntoa limited
practice schedule Wednesday, with
individual workouts until Nov. 15,
when the practices will expand to six
or seven players for two hours a week.
2010 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED:
This year, the Wolverines' regular-
season schedule will feature 18 Big
Ten games rather than just 16.
The regular seasonwill start Nov.
S in Ann Arbor against an opponent
not yet determined. Michigan will
then partake in the 2010 Legends
Classic which pits the Wolverines
against Bowling Green, Gardner-
Webb, Syracuse and concludes with
the winner of Georgia Tech and
UTEP. They will follow that up with
the championship round of the tour-
nament in Atlantic City, N.J. before
the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge
game against Clemson.
Following their contest against
the Tigers, Michigan will play host to
eight straight games and won't have
to leave Ann Arbor until January.
Outside of the Big Ten games and
Clemson, the Jan. 9 Kansas game
should be a benchmark for a team
hoping to return to postseason play
after a surprisingly disappointing
2009-10 season.
"We try to pick out games where
a road win would be tremendous
and a tough road loss, like the
U-Conn game from two years ago
... might have helped us to get in the
(NCAA) tournament as much as the
Duke win," Beileinsaid of his team's
schedule strength.
INJURY UPDATE: Freshman for-
ward Colton Christian is the only
Wolverine who didn't see playing
time in Europe, due to a hamstring
injury. Beilein is hoping that Chris-
tian will return to play next week
but is being cautious with how
quickly Christian gets back on the
court.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior setter Lexi Zimmerman, pictured here, will benefit a great deal from having an experienced hitter like Alex Hunt on the floor with her this season.
Wolverines looking good
Gibby replaces Warhurst, hopes
after first non-Scoring race to start season on strong note
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
When the top five Michigan
runners finished within 23 sec-
onds of each other at the Michi-
gan Open in Dexter on Friday, it
meant one thing: they're off to a
fine start. Michigan coach Mike
McGuire was satisfied. An East-
ern Michigan runner crossed the
finish line first followed by seven
Wolverines.
The women's cross country
team stretched their legs at the
annual informal non-scoring
meet to get the season underway
as the Wolverines won't com-
pete again until the middle of
the month at the Spartan Invita-
tional.
After a summer of individual
training and just 10 days of cross
country camp at the Michigan
Biological Station, the top five
ran together surprisingly well,
as did the team as a whole.
The goal is always to stay as
a pack as far along in the race as
possible in order to help pace and
push one another.
But that doesn't usually come
without practice. When the top
five runners finish within sec-
onds of each other before regular
team practices begin, that's usu-
ally a sign of success (especially
when the races become 6Ks later
in the season).
Sophomore Kaitlyn Patterson
and senior Danielle Tauro are
projected to be the team's best
this year and they crossed the
finish line first and second for
Michigan.
"It's really tough to stay at
a tough pace when you are by
yourself and pushing yourself,"
Tauro said. "I did the best that
I could with maybe 800 or 600
to go. K Pat came up on me and
that's really what I needed was a
little kick in the butt."
Patterson is known for her
endurance and Tauro for her
extra kick at the end of a race.
They hope the combination will
help them capture the Big Ten
title as a team.
Tauro, the only senior on
the roster, has been on track to
lead since her sophomore year.
Forced to redshirt last season
when injuries plagued her and
other upperclassman, now-
sophomores were thrown into
scoring roles as freshman. As a
result, they improved tremen-
dously in their first year and are
expected give the team an extra
boost this season.
Michigan is running as a pack
right from the start this season
as a result, and a healthy Tauro
is hoping to make her debut as an
All-American this season. She's
had that goal since sophomore
year, at which time she used the
word "eventually" before All-
American.
After Friday's race, her
emphatic fist pump seemed to
show her confidence that this
year is going to be different. She
was the first Wolverine to cross
the line, followed by Patterson
seven seconds later, a trend that
will likely continue.
"If we can keep a short gap (22
or 23 seconds) once we extend
it over to 6K then we are going
to be in pretty good shape,"
McGuire said.
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
Five Michigan athletes raced
only their teammates in Friday's
non-scoring Michigan Open in
Dexter, MI, marking the begin-
ning of a new era in the men's
cross country program. Legend-
ary coach Ron Warhurst stepped
down in July after 36 years, leav-
ing the future in the hands of Wol-
verine coach Alex Gibby.
Gibby, a 1997 graduate of Wil-
liam and Mary College in Virginia,
spent the last seven years as head
cross country coach at his alma
mater, where he garnered four
top-16 finishes in the NCAA cross
country championships before
taking the job at Michigan. He
brought four volunteer coaches
from William and Mary, gradu-
ates who at one time ran for him
there. He will also be serving as
assistant coach to the men's track
and field team.
Luckily for Gibby - who has a
winning reputation to maintain -
a new coach in distance running
doesn't necessarily mean a cou-
ple of wasted years. Although he
was unfamiliar with Warhurst's
training regimen, Gibby is confi-
dent that his different approaches
to reaching the same goals -
strength, speed and endurance -
will not set his athletes back.
"It's just a matter of trying to
blend the changes in stylistically,"
Gibby said. "Their preparation to
date, especially over the summer,
is drastically different from what
I'd have them doing, but that's not
good or bad.
"It just means there's a price to
pay right now and we will reap the
benefit of that price come Novem-
ber."
There will, however, remain
numerous unknowns through
most of September as 13 of the
squad's 22 runners are new this
year.
Junior Bobby Aprill and red-
shirt junior Craig Forys, along
with the seven sophomores on the
team, hope to welcome the fresh-
men and teach them a lesson or
two along the way. But they aren't
worried about the new coach-
ing style. In fact, they find some
reassurance in the changes Gibby
brings.
"Coach Gibby is doing a good
job of letting us know why he does
what he does and mapping out the
season," Forys said. "Keeping us
informed is the biggest change I
think. Last year we were guess-
ing a lot with coach Ron. (Gibby's)
going to ask a lot out of us and we
are going to trust him."
After sitting out due to an inju-
ry last cross country season, Forys
is happy to have two strong legs
and his fitness back. A young team
and a new coach are no excuse for
this bunch not to perform, he said.
"We've got to go into the Big
Ten meet thinking we are goingto
win because there's no reason to
go in not thinkingthat way," Forys
said.
The Wolverines finished in
fifth place in last year's Big Ten
Championship at Penn State. This
season, the meet is at the end of
October in Madison.
"I'm running out of time, so I'm
ready to get it done," Forys said.
"We are going to work with each
other. There's no time to waste."
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