The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
April 22, 2013 - 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom April 22, 2013 - 3B
MICHIGAN
ATHLETICS
SCOREBOARD
L A S T W E E K
TUESDAY (APR. 16)
Softball: Michigan 7, Indiana 4 (9 inn.)
Baseball: Michigan 8, Notre Dame 2
FRIDAY (APR. 19)
Men's Gymnastics: 443.50 (1st of 6)
Women's Tennis: Michigan 5, Penn State 2
Men's Tennis: Michigan7, Penn State 0
Women's Gymnastics: National Championships
196.850 (4th of 6)
SATURDAY (APR. 20)
Women'sRowing:(morning session)6:34.4
(2nd of 6)
Men's Larosse: Michigan 11, Saint Josephs 8
Softball: Michigan 5, Iowa 3
Women's Rowing:(afternoonsession) 6:19.0
(3rd of 7)
Baseball: Northwestern6, Michigan 0
Men'sGymnastics:NationalChampions443.200
(tREof 6)
SUNDAY (APR. 21)
Women's Tennis: Michigan 7, Ohio State 0
Bsebal: :(Game1) Mchigan5, Northwestern 0
Softball)(am 1E) Michigan 8, IoaT 6
Men's Tennis: Ohio State4, Michigan 0
Baseball: (Game 2) Northwestern 3, Michigan
2 (10 inn.)
Softball: (Game2)Michigan8, owa0
N E X T W E E K
TUESDAY (APR. 23)
Softball: Michigan vs. Central Michigan 6:00
PDT. ( )
Baseball: Michigan at Eastern Michigan 6:00 p.m.
Ypsilanti, Mich.
Baseball: Michigan at Eastern Michigan 8:00 p.m
Ypsilanti, Mich.
THURSDAY (APR. 25)
Women's Track: Drake Relays 9:30 a.m. CDT (Des
Moines, Ia.)
Wmen's Track: Penn Relays10 a.m. (Philadel-
phia)
Men'sTrack: Penn Relays10a.m. (Philadelphia)
Men's Tennis: Big Ten Tournament TBA (Colum-
bus)
Women's Tennis: Big Ten TouramentTBA
(Bloomington)
FRIDAY (APR.26)
Women's Track: Drake Relays T a.m. CDT (Des
Moines, Ia.)
Men'sTack: PeRly s E Y9a.Ym. (Philadelpha)
Women's Trck Penn Reays 9 a.(Pahiadelp)hia)
Softball: Michigan at Nebraska 6 p.m. CDT
(Lincoln)
Baseball: Michigan at Indiana 6:05 p.m. (Bloom-
Water Polo: Brown or Connecticut College 7:20
Men's Tennis: Big Ten Tournament TBA (Colum-
bus)
WT s Tennis:Big Ten Tournament TBA
(BloomingtonD,)
MenDs Gof: Big Ten Championships TBA (French
LiEk, Ind.)
Women's Golf: Big Ten Championships TVA
(French Lick, Ind.)
SAT U RDAY (A PR. 27)
Women's Track: Drake Relays 8 a.m. CDT (Des
Moines, Ia.)
Men's Track: Penn Relays 9 a.m.(Philadelphia)
Women's Trck: Pen Rlays 9a..(Phladelphia)
Sftbal: Michigan at NebraskT pDm.YCDT
(Lincoln)
Lacrosse: Michigan at Denver 1 p.m. MST (Den-
Ter)
Baseball: Michigan at Indiana 4:30 p.m.(Bloom-
intoYD)
Women's Tennis: Big Ten TournamentTBA
(Bloomington, Ind.)
Men'sTennis:BigTen TournamentTBA (Colum-
Water Polo: TBD TBA
Women's Golf: Big Ten Championships TBA
(French Lick, Ind.)
Men's Golf: Big Ten Championships TBA (French
Lick, Ind.)
Softbal: MiDhigan at Nebraska 12 p.m. CST
(LincoIn)
Baseball: Michigan at Indiana 1:05 p.m.(Bloom-
yoen's Golf: Big Ten Championships T BA
(French Lick, Ind.)
Men's Tennis: Big Ten Tournament TBA (Colum-
bus)
Mken Gof: Big Ten Championships TBA (French
Water Polo: CWPA Eastern Championship TBA
Women's Tennis: Big Ten Tournament TBA
I(Bloomington)
JOIN THE
SUMMER DAILY
SPORTS STAFF
Maybe by July it
will be warm out.
Probably not
though.
HOLLA AT A
BOY WHEN YOU
SEE HIM IN THE
STREET:
SPORTSEDITORS
@MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Fourth straight Big Ten title for 'M'
By ELI SPARKMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Friday, the No. 6 Michigan
women's tennis team walked into
the Varsity Tennis Center for its
last home meet of the year, sport-
ing a special senior day T-shirt.
On the front was the word Mimi,
the two'M'sbeingMichiganblock
'M's. On the back, it said, "All we
do is ... Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguy-
en." Nguyen, pronounced "win,"
is in reference to Michigan's
lone senior, Mimi Nguyen, and is
a play on the words of the 2010
DJ Khaled MICHIGAN 7
song, "All I OHIO STATE 0
Do is Win."
With the T-shirt, the Wolverines
successfully crafted a very fitting
mantra for not only the day, the
weekend and the season, but also
the last couple years.
Michigan (8-1 Big Ten, 17-4
overall) rolled into the week-
end having dropped only one
of its last 13 meets, a streak that
included six wins against ranked
opponents, even knocking off No.
2 Duke on March 1. Now the only
thing that stood in the Wolver-
ines' way of a fourth consecutive
Big Ten regular-season title was
Penn State (3-6, 13-6) and Ohio
State (3-6,10-11).
Iftheyhappened to slip against
either of the two beatable teams,
they knew No. 12 Nebraska was
looming right behind to steal the
title.
Friday, sophomore Emina
Bektas and company showed up
determined. Michigan secured
the doubles point early on with
wins from the No. 2 seed, senior
Mimi Nguyen and sophomore
Sarah Lee, by a margin of 8-4, and
the No. 3 seed, freshman Ronit
Yurovsky and sophomore Kristen
Dodge, in an epic 9-8 tiebreaker.
The No. 1 doubles team of Bektas
and junior Brooke Bolender also
Bolender came storming out of
the gate, not allowing the Buck-
eyes to win a single game. The
Wolverines' Nos. 2 and 3 seeds
each won handedly as well, 8-5.
Just like that, the doubles point
advantage was capturedby Mich-
igan. When taking the doubles
point, the Wolverines have yet to
lose.
The Wolverines won five of the
six singles matches in straight
sets. Unlike Friday, Bektas was
on the board first. She defeated
Ohio State's Kelsey Dieters rather
quickly, 6-3, 6-1. Next was No.
3 seed Sarah Lee, who made up
for her loss on Friday by beating
Kara Cecil, 6-2, 6-2. Michigan's
No. 2 seed Yurovsky and No. 6
seed Dodge were the other two
to finish their opponent in two
sets. In what was the longest and
most exciting match Sunday, Zhu
came back from losing the first
set 1-6, to win the second set in a
tiebreaker and ultimatelywin the
match in a third-set tiebreaker.
"This is the right time to be
peaking," said Michigan coach
Ronnie Bernstein. "I was glad to
see one of our best performances
today."
Looking back, the Wolverines
were spot on with their senior day
T-shirts. And for Nguyen, her four
years in the program have meant
four consecutive Big Ten regular-
season titles for the Wolverines.
"It has been really exciting
to be a part of the great history
here at Michigan," Nguyen said.
"We have to stay focused though,
because we're going to have to
play all these tough teams again
in Big Tens."
The Wolverines look to con-
tinue the trend of "Nguyen-ning"
in both the Big Ten and the NCAA
Tournaments. They will head to
Bloomington for the first round
of the Big Ten Tournament on
Thursday.
NATASHA JANARDAN/Daily
Senior Mimi Nguyen, along with doubles partner Sarah Lee, won an 8-5 match to help Michigan to a title over Ohio State.
reached atiebreaker againstPetra winners down the line to break no problems putting her oppo-
Januskova and Chelsea Utting but Januskova's serve. Bektas' power nent away in straight sets. After
lost, 3-7. was too much the rest of the way, Michigan had already reached
The tiebreaker set up a No. S as her serve pushed Januskova far the magic number of four points,
singles duel perfectly. The most back behind the baseline. Once the No. 3 seed Bolender won in
intense moment of the day came pushed back, Bektas hit timely straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, playing her
in the third set of the Bektas drop shots that Januskova had best when it mattered most dur-
vs. Januskova match. With the no chance to retrieve. Bektas was ing two tiebreakers. The Wolver-
match tied 3-3, the momentum able to close the match out, 6-3, ines' only losses were at the Nos.
had been wavering all day. Bektas, 2-6,6-3. This was the Wolverines' 4 and 5 seeds, where sophomore
who looked as if she was out for fourth point, clinching the meet. Sarah Lee and freshman Amy
revenge after losing the doubles Beforehand, Michigan's No. 2 Zhu were both defeated.
point, dominated the first set, 6-3. seed, freshman Ronit Yurovsky, Only one win away from the
Januskova won the second set was dominating her opponent, Big Ten title, Michigan traveled to
convincingly, 6-2. 6-2, 4-1, before the Penn State Ohio State on Sunday and didn't
At 3-3 in the third set, Bektas player withdrew. No. 6 seed soph- disappoint. The No. 1 doubles
returned two strong forehand omore Kristen Dodge also had team of Bektas and
CHAMPIONS
From Page 1B
ished.
In the NCAA Qualifier on Fri-
day afternoon, the top 12 teams
in the nation competed for six
spots in the team finals Saturday.
Michigan needed to place in the
top three of its session in order to
advance, and the Wolverines set
the tone early, ultimately grab-
bing first place in their session.
Last season, Michigan also
finished in the top spot in their
session but ultimately ended
up in last place after Saturday,
so the Wolverines knew they
couldn't let their early success
lead to overconfidence heading
into the finals.
"Last year's problems really
helped us to get there this year,"
Golder said. "I mean, just about
the whole team was there last
year so that experience just
helped everyone this year.
"After we won our session last
year in the prelims, we were cel-
ebrating, but this year it was just
as usual and we had a 'We're not
done' mentality. So that really is
experience and maturation as a
competitor."
Friday, Michigan scored
70-plus points on all six events,
but its performance on the par-
allel bars stole the show on the
first day of competition, scoring
a season-best 75.90. All three
Wolverine competitors broke the
personal 15-barrier, with senior
Syque Caesar leading the way
with his 15.60.
This time, Michigan's expe-
rience stood out in every event
Saturday. The confidence Golder
had in his team was reflected
by his decision to start the meet
off on championship Saturday
with pommel horse, widely con-
sidered the hardest of the six
events. The Wolverines scored
their third-highest mark of the
season, hitting an event-high
72.250.
Michigan moved onto the
rings, where it had a terrific sec-
ondrotation.Junior AlexBubnov
went first and set a career-high
15.25, followed by junior Jor-
dan Gaarenstroom, who also hit
a career best with his monster
15.600-point performance.
From there, the Wolverines
made everything look easy.
Mikulak took on his best event,
the high bar, where he scored a
15.650. Saturday night's podium
was filled with maize and blue,
but it didn't end there for Michi-
gan, which continued its domi-
nance Sunday.
Eight Wolverines qualified for
individual finals, and five came
out with spots on the podium. In
addition, gymnasts who finish in
the top eight in individual events
are awarded All-American sta-
tus - Michigan tied a program
high with 13.
Like the rest of the weekend,
Mikulak led the way on Sun-
day, earning individual titles in
high bar and parallel bar, while
grabbing third place on floor.
The 13-time All-American and
five-time NCAA champion's
high-bar performance was so
dominant that he notched more
then a point higher than the next
closest competitor and scored a
weekend-high 16.100.
"I honestly don't think I have
(had a better weekend)," Miku-
lak said. "Olympic trials were
definitely really exciting for
me, but overall for this entire
weekend, I didn't miss a single
routine. It just kind of felt easy
going with the flow, I'm just real
pleased with howI did."
In addition to Mikulak's
achievements, Caesar got second
on the parallel bars and third on
the high bar. He also tied with
teammate senior Rohan Sebas-
tian for fourth on floor.
With a hugely success-
ful NCAA weekend under its
belt, Michigan will walk away
from this season accomplish-
ing everything it wanted to. The
Wolverines not only earned the
team title, the all-around title
and two individual titles, but
they also won the Big Ten cham-
pionship two weeks ago. The Big
Ten proved to be no cakewalk, as
four of the six teams that quali-
fied for Saturday came from the
conference.
And as if all of his team's suc-.
cess wasn't enough, Golder got
to watch the program in con-
ference rival Penn State's home
gym. The Nittany Lions spent
most of the season one spot
above the Wolverines in the con-
ference standings and the Asso-
ciated Press standings.
In the end, it was a perfect
weekend for Michigan.
"It's great to be a Michigan
Wolverine," Golder said. "We
had a great championship, you
get a one-two sweep, and the
all-around and win the team
title, (13) All-Americans and
one national champion on two
events. It doesn't get a whole lot
better than that. I'm very, very
pleased and anxious to host next
year."
On the road and at Wrigley,
Wolverines finally stumble
By MAX COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan baseball coach Erik
Bakich frequently preaches that
pitching and defense are the keys
behind all winning teams. Never
did that seemmore apparent than
this weekend, as the Wolverines
dropped
two games MICHIGAN 0
in a three- N'WESTERN 6
game series
against MICHIGAN 5
Northwest- N'WESTERN 0
ern. MICHIGAN 2
The first N'WESTERN 3
two games
of the series were characterized
by dominant pitching, as the
Wildcats (5-9 Big Ten, 17-14 over-
all) earned a 6-0shutout on Satur-
day night, and Michigan pitched
a shutout in the first game of the
doubleheader on Sunday, win-
ning 5-0. In the rubber match of
the series - and the second game
of the doubleheader Sunday - the
Wolverines' late-inning defense
faltered while their offense failed
to pull away, costing them the
game and their third-straight Big
Ten series victory.
With Friday's game postponed
until Sunday because of rain, the
series began Saturday night at
Wrigley Field. While playing in a
major-league stadium was a first-
time experience for both teams
this season, Northwestern right-
hander Luke Farrell pitched as
though he belonged, throwing a
complete-game shutout. Farrell,
the son of Boston Red Sox man-
ager John Farrell, stymied the
Wolverine lineup, allowing just
three Michigan batters to reach
base - all on singles.
"You have to tip your cap to the
pitcher once in awhile," Bakich
said. "He forced a lot of weak
contact."
The Wolverines (8-4, 22-16)
didn't advance a runner into scor-
ing position until they had one
out in the eighth inning, when
sophomore left fielder Zach Zott
headed to second base after soph-
omore designated hitter Kevin
White laid down a bunt single.
Farrell responded promptly by
recording consecutive strikeouts,
ending the Michigan threat. One
inning later, he retired the side,
ending the Wolverines' 10-game
winning streak.
In Sunday's first game, Michi-
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Freshman shortstop Travis Maezes hit a three-run inside-the-park home run.
gan received strong starting
pitching of its own, as freshman
left-hander Evan Hill pitched
seven shutout innings. Hill
allowed four hits and three walks
in the outing.
"I was attacking hitters early,"
Hill said. "I still walked a few
guys, but overall I kept the big
inning out of the picture."
Michigan freshman short-
stop Travis Maezes provided the
needed offense with his third-
inning, three-run, inside-the-
park home run. The Wolverines
tacked on insurance runs in the
sixth and ninth innings, and
sophomore right-hander Matt
Ogden pitched two scoreless
innings to end the game, extend-
ing his streak of scoreless innings
to 21.2.
For seven innings, Sunday's
second game looked as if it was
going to be the third-straight
shutout in the series. Michigan
built a 2-0 lead while redshirt
junior left-hander Logan McA-
nallen cruised through seven
innings, allowing just four hits
while surrendering two walks,
bouncing back after a start
against Penn State last week-
end in which he lasted only one
inning.
After his exit, things became
dicey for the Wolverines, when
freshman right-hander Jacob
Cronenworth - normally auto-
maticfor Michiganinlate innings
- struggled in the eighth inning.
Northwestern scored its first run
of the inning on two singles, a
sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly.
The Wildcats then tied the game
on a fielding error by Maezes.
"Nine out of 10times, he makes
that tough play, but he just wasn't
able to come up with it today,"
Bakich said.
The Wolverines failed to
respond in the ninth inning
despite good opportunities to
score. Zott led off the inning,
with a single and then advanced
to second on a sacrifice bunt, but
he was thrown out attempting
to steal third on what Bakich felt
was a questionable call.
"The umpire didn't see it the
way that we saw it, the way peo-
ple in the stadium saw it," Bakich
said. "He saw it the way he saw
it and made the call the way he
thoughthe should make the call."
Had he stayed put at second or
made it safely to third, Zott likely
would've scored after freshman
first baseman Jack Sexton singled
in the same at-bat in which Zott
was thrown out. To make mat-
ters worse, Northwestern robbed
junior catcher Cole Martin of a
likely double to right field in the
next at-bat.
The game remained tied
until the bottom of the 10th
inning, when . Northwestern
won on a walk-off fielding error
by Cronenworth. It was one of
two Cronenworth errors in the
inning. Like Maezes on his error,
Bakich believes Cronenworth
makes both of those plays the
vast majority of opportunities,
attributing some of the struggles
to the long grass on Northwest-
ern's field.
"The real issue was we didn't
separate ourselves offensively
from the third inning on," Bakich
said. "We need to do a better job
of scoring more runs and separat-
ing our leads so we are not even
in that position where it's a nail-
biter in the end."