8A - Thursday, February 23, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam 8A v husay!FbuayU3-21.Te.ihianDil. .ihgnaly.c WOMEN'S TENNIS Critser returns in sweep of Spartans in East Lansing - --1-- We Mic first Bl lverines drop moved up to the third spot in sin- gles last week in the ITA tourna- :higan State in ment against Georgia, remained undefeated on the season with a match of 2012 win to clinch the match. STenWednesday's appearance at g season the third spot in singles was just Lee's second time inthat position, By NITAI LEVE as she normally contributes from For the Daily the fourth spot. "She has shown that she can ,ql f 6 ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily Junior defenseman Lee Moffie tallied four points last weekend against Northern Michigan and now leads Michigan with 29 total points of offense. Moffie By EVERETT COOK Daily Sports Editor It's October. Imagine you have some gambling tenden- cies - which, of course, you don't - and are taking a look at the Michigan hockey team. You want to place a bet on who is going to be leading the Wolver- ines in points in late February. You would have looked at the forwards first, maybe at senior David Wohlberg and junior Chris Brown. But you don't want to limit yourself, so you take a gander at junior A.J. Treais and sophomore Luke Moffatt, and throw in a freshman, Phil Di Giuseppe. If you want this list to be truly comprehensive, you'll need to pick out a defenseman, just for kicks. You'd probably look to senior defenseman Greg Pateryn, the No.1 defenseman. It's now late February, and you want to collect your money. But thanks to Lee Moffie, you aren't going to see any of it. Not a cent. The junior defenseman has been on a tear the last month, vaulting himself to the top of Michigan's points list. He's registered at least one point in six consecutive games leads offensive charge - three goals and six assists - Moffie's shot. mindset that other Wolverines to add to his team-leading and So how has Moffie racked do. He looks for the assist more career-high 29 points. up almost four times as many than the goal, which is rare for "Twenty-nine points as a assists than goals? anyone, let alone an offensive defenseman is a big number to "It's a lot of luck," he said. defenseman. put up," said senior goaltender "Sometimes your best passes "He always wants to shoot for Shawn Hunwick. "I looked up aren't put in, but other times, sticks and talks about how much our team stats and was pretty you just chip the puck out and a better a feeling it is when you surprised to see (Moffie) at the guyscores. I feel like I'm looking set up a goal instead of scoring top, I thought he would be third to pass more than I'm looking for yourself," Hunwick said. "I or fourth. to shoot, which probably isn't a think it's a little bizarre myself, "It's great for our team. You great thing, but it's just kind of butI always tell him to shoot the can make up a lot of offense what my instincts tell me." puck." when you don't have to rely on Berenson thinks it could be a While Moffie may not be your just the guys up front to create." shot of confidence that has done prototype on offense, his style of Moffie took the difference play is working for the Wolver- home CCHA for Moffie. He ines. Defensive was in and out Moffie is paired with sopho- Player of the "Everybody can of the lineup more defenseman Jon Merrill, Week honors frequently in arguably one of the best defen- after a four- be good, but with his first two seman in the country. The pair point weekend years in Ann may not have similar styles of against North- connuence yOU Arbor, find- play, but they complement each ern Michi- ,, ing consistent other on both sides of the ice. gan, where he canbe great. playing time Merrill gives Moffie the con- registered a for the first fidence to jump up in the play, goal and three time in his knowing that Merrill is going to assists. That career this have his back in the other zone. goal-to-assist ratio is right in season. "When you know you can Moffie's wheelhouse - he has "When you score like that,you count on a guy and he's got the six goals to go along with his 23 get some confidence," Berenson same mindset as you going into assists. said. "You start getting that feel- the game, you can use each And it's not like Moffie ing, and confidence is so impor- other to play off each other and doesn't have a good shot. Michi- tant in hockey. Everybody can make plays," Merrill said. gan coach Red Berenson often be good, but with confidence you Merrill can count on Mof- credits Moffie as being an offen- can be great. That can be the dif- fie the same way you can count sive-minded defenseman, and ference." your winnings. Hunwick also gives credit to But Moffie doesn't have the Oh wait. The Michigan women's ten- nis team opened its 2012 Big Ten campaign with a sweep over rival Michigan State in East MICHIGAN 7 Lansing on MICH. STATE 0 Wednesday. The Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 6-3 overall) started and ended strong, dominating Michigan Stace (0-1, 6-2) in both the doubles and singles competitions. "This is a good start. tt feels good to get our first Big Ten win of the season," said Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein. Michigan started its doubles competition with an 8-2 vic- tory by the freshman-sophomore duo of Emina Bektas and Brooke Bolender. The Wolverines clinched their first point of Wednesday's match when Michigan senior Michelle Sulahian and junior Mimi Nguy- en won 8-4. Bolender, ranked No. 56, cap- tured the second point for Michi- gan when she won her singles bout in straight sets. No. 5 Bektas remained unde- feated on the season when she defeated Spartan junior Nicole Herzog in straight sets to capture Michigan's third point. Bektas has been playing at a very high level over the duration of the season, moving up in the national rankings from No. 36 to No. 5 over the course of only a month. Bernstein does not think that has effected Bektas's mindset though. "Bektas is a great team player, and I don't think she's too focused on her ranking." Bernstein added "She's working on stuff in prac- tice. "She's gaining confidence with every game she plays." Freshman Sarah Lee, who was compete in different spots, and I have a lot of faith in her," Bern- stein said. That flexibility in handling positions is very useful to Bern- stein, who added: "I like to move the lineup around." "Her return is big for us ... one of our better players." Sophomore Sam Critser won in her return to singles play. Out since October with a knee inju- ry, Critser returned to doubles last week in the ITA Tourna- ment. "It feels great to be back on the court," Critser said. " I still have a little to work on, but right now it's all building my confidence back and working on hitting the shots I'm used to hit- ting." Senior Michelle Sulahian and freshman Kristen Dodge round- ed out the sweep with victories of their own. The Wolverines have shown a lot of promise through their sixth win of the season. With big victories against then-No. 15 Clemson and then- No. 18 Vanderbilt, the Wolver- ines look like they will be fierce competitors down the stretch of the conference season. A deci- sive sweep over Michigan State wasn't a bad way to get started. The Wolverines will play their first outdoor match of the season when they take on Hawaii in Honolulu on March 3. Michigan celebrates senior night versus No. 22 Purdue By MATT SPELICH Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's basket- ball team will be celebrating their senior night this Thursday at the Crisler Center. The Wolverines Purdue at (19-8 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) will Michigan be taking on No. Matchup: 22 Purdue for Purdue 19-8; their final home Michigan 19-8 game of the reg- When: Thurs- ular season. day 6 p.m. The Boiler- makers, once Where: Crisler Center a top-10 team, have fallen in TV/Radio: the rankings in BTN recent weeks due to a string of conference loss- es toward the end of the season. From mid-December to the end of January, Purdue was riding high on an 11-0 run. But in the last six games they've seemed to fall apart. Their last win was against Illinois two weeks ago at home. "Purdue is big, they're athlet- ic, they're fast, and they're very talented all around," said Michi- gan coach Kevin Borseth. "They started the year on top of the con- ference, but they took a bad slide. Things have been a little bit dif- ficult for them as of late." Indeed, the Boilermakers are big. Four of their five starters are over 6-feet-tall. This may spell trouble for Michigan, whose starting center, junior Rachel Sheffer is just 6-foot-1. Regardless of their height, Sheffer has been one of the team's leading scorers 0 Junior forward Rachel Sheffer has a tall task cowing up against Purdue. Attend a Cooley Law School Open House in March and talk to Cooley administrators, department representativesstudents,and faculty members from all five of our campuses, including our newest campus inTampa Bay, Florida. They will be available to answer your questions about Cooley Law School, applying to and attending law school, and entering the legal profession. Register online for one or all five Open Houses in March at cooley.edu or register onsite the day of the open house.You are encouraged to visit more than one campus. Learn about Cooley Law School at cooley.edu Thrmas M Cooley Loam School is committed to a far and obective adm ssions pokcy Suject io space Icmrtaons Cooey fes e opporu y Fr legaleduato l med iKIapptcar ooey bie by an federl and sne laws aganstdiscrimnaon In additiono ole:byAmercanAwsoo asonStand 1 a.whchprondar" alaw schoosha seradmananeqalty o ortury r al educauoncluding loymtem o a yad saffwitout disctimat""" r"se"reation"o UM Scan here to learn more about Cooley Open H*uses and register online to attend all season, and even when she has struggled underneath, the Wol- verines have come out on top by looking to their outside shooters to put points on the board. "It's going to be a hard match- up for us with their size," Borseth said. "We obviously have to be ready to go. It's going to be a big game for everyone in the confer- ence at this point in the year." Aside from being a tough matchup, this will also poten- tially be the last game in the Crisler Center for Michigan's three senior guards - Courtney Boylan, Carmen Reynolds and Jamillya Hardley. For them, it's going to be a night of celebration and retrospection. For the young- er members, it will be a reminder that one day they will no longer be able to call on the promise of next season. Borseth believes that this notion will give his team the edge they will need to win. "Senior night is generally an emotional night, especially for our three seniors," Borseth said. "We're expecting a lot of high energy, and being at home will help us. It's a great night to honor our seniors and the work they've put in all four years."