8 -.Friday, November 16, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
8 -Friday, November16, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Utes stand out as
early road challenge
By GREG GARNO using the experience of senior
Daily Sports Writer guards Jenny Ryan and Kate
Thompson and senior center
It has been a long week for the Rachel Sheffer.
Michigan women's basketball Sheffer is averaging 17 points
team. per game so far, thanks to an
on Sunday, the Wolverines left 80-percent mark from 3=point
for Cincinnati to take on Xavier, range, and pulled down 8.5
and after beating the Musketeers rebounds per game. Thompson is
on Monday they didn't make it second in points with 16 per game
back to Ann Arbor until after 2 after not starting a single game
a.m. Tuesday. in her career before. Ryan, has
Thursday, they played all but one minute so far,-a
left for Salt Lake MiChgan team high, while leadingthe team
City to take on at Utah with nine assists.
Utah Friday "Kate Thompson is making
night. ' Matchup: shots for us," Barnes Arico said.
The Wolver- Michigan 2-0; "She's playing exceptionally well
ines (2-0) have and exceptionally confident. And
transitioned When: Friday Jenny Ryan is running the point
well into first- 4:30 p.m. MT for us, so she's really stepped up to
year coach Kim Where: Jon that challenge."
Barnes Arico's M. Hunts- Utah (2-0) also has alineup that
new system, but man Center lacks depth, primarily in scoring,
they may not Stats: but has been able to put up good
have slept as MGoBlue.com numbers nonetheless.
much as they'd A pair of forwards - junior
like to so far. Michelle Plouffe and redshirt
"Anytime you play on the road, junior Taryn Wicijowski - each
that's tough," Barnes Arico said average at least 18 points per
in an interview with WTKA on game to lead Utah. Wicjiowski,
Wednesday."Playinginother peo- the smallest of the two at 6-foot-
pe's arena, when they are making 3, leads the team in rebounds (22)
runs at you at the end of the game and assists (nine). The duo will
- you don't feel like you have any- look to take advantage of a 6-foot-1
thing going for you." Scheffer in the post, where she has
But the first-year coach also little depth behind her.
embraces the opportunity, find- Fifth-year senior guard Iwalani
ing positives in travelling with her Rodrigues is averaging 16.5 points
new team. in her two contests and leads the
"It's a great opportunity for me team in minutes played.
to spend some time with players "They are really a good pro-
on the road," Barnes Arico said."It gram, and they play exceptionally
was a great first experience travel- well at home," Barnes Arico said.
ling with them. They're a heckuva Barnes Arico may look to her
group. They really, really have bench more , frequently 'in this
good team chemistry, and I think game after seeing a stronger game
it showed on the road." from her freshman point guard,
After a strong second half to Madison Ristovski. Ristovski
knock off Xavier, Michigan will scored nine points against Xavier
look to begin Friday's game with off the bench following her two-
the strong start it used against point career debut.
Detroit a week ago. The first-year coach , was
The Wolverines did not prac- pleased with her performance,
tice Tuesday, leaving them little and will look to the Grosse Point
time to prepare for the Utes, an native to provide relief for Ryan.
opponent they have played just "I definitely think there was
once in program history - a 55-50 probably a lot of pressure on her in
win last November in Ann Arbor. her first contest, playing at home
But Barnes Arico is still focused in front of her family and friends,"
on her own team and finishing Barnes Arico said. "The expecta-
strongin the second half. tions for her coming to Michigan
"The first four minutes of the are so high sometimes you forget
second half, and we talk about that that. I feel like she was a lot more
a lot, really sets the tone," Barnes relaxed (Monday). She really gave
Arico said. "It took Xavier out of us some big minutes."
it and really gave us the cushion." The real key to who will see
Michigan's lineup has relied minutes on Friday may be whoev-
heavily on it's starters thus far, er has the most sleep, though.
VOLLEYBALL
Blue sporting new psyche
and riding momentum
Third-period charge downs 'M'
By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan goaltender Steve
Racine played impeccably for
the first 55 minutes of the Mich-
igan hockey team's series-open-
ing tussle with Notre Dame on
Thursday night.
Buthecouldn'trecoverintime
to prevent a wraparound Fight-
ing Irish goal with five minutes
to go in the
game, and NOTRE DAME 3
Michigan MICHIGAN 1
dropped
game one of the series, 3-1, at
Yost Ice Arena.
"I thought (Racine) played
really well," said senior captain
A.J. Treais. "I thought he played
one of his best games at Michi-
gan. ... It's too bad we couldn't
help him out."
Michigan set the tempo early
in the first period, creating a
couple of grade-A scoring oppor-
tunities. Just over three minutes
into the game, freshman defen-
seman Jacob Trouba narrowly
missed giving the Wolverines a
1-0 lead when-he clanged awris-
ter off the post from the bottom
of the left circle.
Ninety seconds later, though,
another freshman connected
for Michigan. Justin Selman,
forechecking hard in the Notre
Dame zone with fellow fresh-
man Andrew Copp, intercepted
an ill-advised Fighting Irish
pass. Notre Dame goaltender
Steven Summerhays, who had
allowed just 1.64 goals per game
this season entering the game,
guessed wrong and Selman
found an upper corner to give
the Wolverines the lead.
"I thought we forechecked
better," said Michigan coach
Red Berenson.
"We got pucks behind their
(defense). We had our legs and
we had more confidence. As the
game wore on, we wore more on
our heels."
Racine played a terrific peri-
od, turning away every shot he
faced, even when the defense
was caught out of position, an
Freshman forward Justin Selman scored the Wolverines' lone goal of the night ina 3- loss at Yost Ice Arena.
alarming trend that has been
amplified recently.
Though Selman missed a cou-
ple of rebound opportunities for
a second goal of the night, the
period ended with the Wolver-
ines ahead 1-0 after outplaying
the Fighting Irish for the full 20
minutes.
Early in the second period,
though,' a dreadful Michigan
power play allowed Notre Dame
to even the score.
After Austin Wuthrich went
to the box for tripping Racine,
the Wolverines began a two-
minute man advantage that
turned out to be their worst
span of the period. The power
play saw only one shot reach the
net, and the tides turned when
T.J. Tynan sent a pass up ice to
Mike Voran, who netted a short-
handed goal for the Irish to knot
the game at one.
"I think that shorthanded
goal in the second period really
turned the game in the other
direction," Berenson said.
"When you get your power-
play guys out there and they
get scored on, that's a huge goal
for a road team and they took,
advantage of it."
Three minutes later, at the
8:20 mark of the second period,
Michigan was awarded another
power play, which was almost as
disappointing. Again, only one
shot reached Summerhays, and
the Fighting Irish had a couple
near misses of their own, despite
being a man short.
Michigan began the decisive
third period on a 4-on-3 disad-
vantage, which was promptly
killed off - one of the lone spe-
cial-teams bright spots for the
Wolverines all night.
With 15:10 to play in the
game, Treais, the NCAA goals
leader, had a breakaway on Sum-
merhays, but his shot was high
of the net.
Minutes later, sophomore for-
ward Alex Guptill ricocheted a
shot off the crossbar.
Michigan would get no more
quality chances in game.
The game-winning goal final-
ly came for the Fighting Irish
with just over five minutes to
play as Racine, way out of posi-
tion, couldn't catch up to Notre
Dame's Bryan Rust - brother
of former Michigan player Matt
Rust- on a wraparound. Beren-
son described the tally as com-
ing off of "sloppy" play in the
Wolverines' own end.
"Your goalie keeps you in the
game and is playing really well,
and then the wraparound goal is
a tough goal," Berenson said.
An own goal off the skate of
sophomore defenseman Mike
Chiasson sealed the 3-1 win for
Notre Dame.
Despite surrendering, the
eventual game-winner late,
Racine bailed out the defense
several times Thursday, saving
30 of 33 shots faced.
Michigan and Notre Dame
conclude their two-game set
Friday night at Yost with a 7:35
p.m. puck drop.
"Every game is a must win
now," Berenson said of his team,
which dipped below .500 for
the first time since Dec. 2 of
last year. "These are huge home
games for us."
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- _. _mm
By RYAN KRASNOO
Daily Sports Writer
Momentum heading into the
late stages of a season has won*
many teams championships, it's a
wonder why people are still sur-
prised when it happens.
The 2011 Connecticut men's
basketball team stormed through
the Big East Tournament, winning
five games in five days before win-
ning six more in a row en route to
a national championship.
The 2011 New York Giants sat
at 7-7 in Week 15 before winning
their final two games and sneak-
ing into the playoffs, only to take
down the heavily-favored New
England Patriots in Super Bowl
XLVI.
And the 2012 Los Angeles
Kings,the eighth and final teamin
the Western Conference playoffs,
obliterated the rest of the field in
one of the more dominating Stan-
ley Cup runs in NHL history.
Peakin'g at the right time is
everything - and that's just what
the Michigan women's volleyball
team is doing. Since dropping
three straight matches, the Wol-
verines have won five consecu-
tive matches, including 12 straight
sets. one of the reasons behind the
success has been the play of soph-
omore Lexi Dannemiller, who has
won back-to-back Big Ten sett9r of
the week awards. £
"I think me playing well
helps the team play well," said
Dannemiller, who is fourth in the
conference in assists per set. "If
my passes aren't good, then the
hitters can't play well. Right now,
I'm putting them in good spots
and they're finishing."
One of the big turnarounds for
Dannemiller and the Wolverines
has been a fresh mindset and out-
look on the court. After failing
to recover from 12 consecutive
dropped points against Purdue on
Oct.26, Michiganturned to sports
psychologistcGregDale in an effort
to stay focused.
"(Greg) came in before our
match with Nebraska and helped
us with things we were struggling
with," Dannemiller said. "He
worked with us on letting things
go and to help us ... not get frus-
trated."
Whatever he told them worked.
The Wolverines' new psyche
helped them to a 9-7 record in the
Big Ten - already one more win
than they had last season, with
four conference games remaining
- and has them poised to make
a run in the NCAA Tournament.
And that road to success will ulti-
mately ride on the production of
Dannemiller down the stretch.
"(My play right now) is a way
to know that we're doing well,"
Dannemiller said. "It gives our
team confidence to trust each
other and trust what we're doing
on the courtto win."
With all four of Michigan's
remaining regular season games
away from Cliff Keen Arena, the
Wolverines understand what it's
going to take to finish the season
on a high note. With a high seed
in the NCAA Tournament up for
grabs, Michigan expects nothing
less than to take care of business,
starting Friday night at North-
western.
"We want to win out,"
Dannemiller added. "That's
doable."
I
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