The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - 5E The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - SE 'M' advances to first ever Final Four DE suppo Th season team Four seven the W to b ranke Bui set ti knock beatin State,] momel ford 25-20 Saturd Ky. fo namer Th 12 tea posts ry, ha ing th last fo win e upset: "I' team, Rosen the k really month of the part o "I (the E match relaxe Today other were s fun, y An( hitter four s ished digit Lexi has al team's honor, Fro set, its finally By GREG GARNO onlyunseeded team remainingin Daily Sports Writer the Elite Eight, the Wolverines were never expected to mount a C. 9, 2012 - This wasn't comeback, but they did. sed to be the year. Both teams came out aggres- is wasn't supposed to be the sive in the set, but it was the n the Michigan volleyball Cardinal's blocking that caught advanced to its first Final Michigan off-guard. Sophomore in program history. With setter Lexi Dannemiller followed freshmen on their roster, her game plan, isolating Erwin rolverines weren't supposed and junior outside hitter Molly e this successful against Toon. But the pair continually d teams. found themselves stuffed at the t after winning a five- net on several swings. When they hriller against Tennessee, did manage to hit it around the ing off No. 9 Louisville and wall, there was a Stanford defen- sg in-state rival Michigan sive specialist waiting to pass. Michigan capitalized on its The Wolverines, benefitting ntum to topple No. 2 Stan- from a strong freshman squad, in four sets, 20-25, 25-20, met an equally impressive fresh- ,25-20, inBerkeley, Calif.on man group from Stanford. With day to advance to Louisville, the score tied at eight, a balanced r its first-ever NCAA Tour- Cardinal front led by freshman nt Final Four appearance. middle blocker Inky Ajanaku e Cardinal, a dominant Pac- went on a 6-0 run to grab a com- m that has seen action in the fortable lead and eventually close eason every year in its histo- out the set. s had the misfortune of fac- The Wolverines refused to stop e Wolverines in three of the challenging Stanford's block- ur years and was favored to ing scheme in the second set and ach time. But Michigan has raced out to a 16-10 lead, capped Stanford all three times. by a kill from right-side hitter m just very proud of our Claire McElheny. Fourteen of the "said Michigan coach Mark Wolverines' first 16 points came . "The word 'team' is really on kills. ey. I think this group has "We're a very balanced team come together in the past and that's something we pride h and a half and become one ourselves on," Cross said. "It was best teams I've ever been a really about attacking the quick f. tempo and then spreading out and think we just approached giving our outsides an open space Elite Eight) like any other to hit." . They were just very Cross finished second on the d, very loose, very normal. team with 15 kills after her strong was completely like any effort the previous night. Toon day, they were goofy, they followed with 12 kills and McEl- silly and they were having heny with 11. et they were focused." Following back-and-forth play offense normally led by two from both teams in the third set, s was not expected to have Michigan opened up a lead on a ;tep up, but Michigan fin- 6-1 run. Stanford took a timeout with four hitters in double- but it was ineffective at slowing kills. Junior outside hitter down a team that had no trouble Erwin led the way as she responding to a powerful Car- 1 postseason, with 23 of the dinal defense. The Wolverines s 69 kills, earning her the cruised through the remainder of of NCAA Regional MVP. the set, riding a wave of momen- )m the beginning of the first tum into the final. appeared as if Stanford was With a two-set lead to boot, ready for Michigan. As the Michigan looked like the team Men's Swiming takes NCAA title ADAM SCHNITZER/Daily Freshman Libero Tiffany Morales carried Michigan's defense to the Final Four. that had been in this situation before, the team that knew how to close out big games in the fourth set. Trailing 10-9, the Wolverines put together a 5-0 run, leaving Stanford looking drained. Leading 15-13, Michigan needed one final run to crush any thought of a comeback in the fourth set. The Wolverines did so with a 4-0 run, which ultimately allowed them to cruise to a match point, which Erwin finished off with an emphatic kill.' The Wolverines, the team that wasn't predicted to be celebrat- ing, celebrated. They smiled as they had all season, as even the coaches knew they had accom- plished somethingspecial. Freshman libero Tiffany Morales, playing in front of friends and family in her home state, bailed out Michigan when it needed her most. The Redondo Beach, Calif. native tallied 22 digs on a night where she was all over the court. Erwin, too, found her- self doing more than hitting, con- tributing16 digs of her own. "Tiffany's progression has been great," Rosen said. "I thought last night she did an out- standing job of just positioning herself and making great defen- sive plays, and she definitely car- ried that through tonight." Dannemiller, who continues to be a catalyst for a team that wasn't supposed to have a variety of options to passto, finished with 59 of her team's 66 assists on the night. "Our setter, I thought tonight, set one of the best matches I've seen her set in her career," Rosen said. "She put our hitters in great positions and made great deci- sions throughout the match that really allowed us to be successful." It's likely Michigan, a team without a real star, will once again be underdogs when it travels to Louisville to face Texas. But that underdog mindset doesn't exist anymore. "It doesn't matter because we're such a great team," Erwin said. "We don't need our names out there because no matter what teams throw at us, 14 people are coming at them." By RAJAT KHARE Daily Sports Writer MARCH 31, 2013 - With the NCAA title finally in hand, it was time for Michigan head coach Mike Bottom to have some fun of his own. Adorned in a plaid maize-and-blue shirt, a blue tie emblazoned with Wol- verines and dark brown pants, Bottom leaped off the starting blocks and into the diving pool, joining the celebration of the newly crowned Michigan men's swimmingteam. "It's definitely time to cel- ebrate," Bottom said. "This team has worked hard all year at every meet and has swam fast since they got off on the block. They swam fast all throughout the season, and they got here and kept swimming fast." The meet spanned from Thursday to Saturday at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis - the exact location the Wolver- ines won their last title in 1995. "We have a lot of great alum- ni that have sent me pictures of them swimming around in that pool," Bottom said, with a chuckle, in his press conference. "And we put some of those pic- tures up and had some of them come in and talk to us about that feeling." With preparation, poise and perhaps alittle luck, the Wolver- ines were ready to make their run at a title. The quartet of sophomore Bruno Ortiz, graduate student Zachary Turke, and seniors Sean Fletcher and Miguel Ortiz got Michigan its first points of the meet, placing third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Wolverines would finish the night with another third-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay event, as the quartet of Miguel Ortiz, sophomore Rich- ard Funk, Fletcher, and Bruno Ortiz clocked in at 3:04.73, set- tinga school record. Michigan's onlywinof the day came by way of junior Connor Jaeger in the 500-yard freestyle, who became the fifth Wolverine ever to win the event. Jaeger had won the event outright for Mich- igan throughout the season, usu- ally leading the race right from the start. His record looked to be in danger though, as Texas' Michael McBroom wouldn't allow Jaeger any separation. At the 150-yard mark, Jaeger finally made his move,holding off McB- room for the event win, helping Michigan take the day one lead with 153 points. The second day followed a similar script, with the Wolver- ines' relay teams making head- lines. In the first event final of the night, the quartet of Miguel Ortiz, Bruno Ortiz, Fletcher and Turke took first-place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:22.27, setting new NCAA, U.S. Open, NCAA Cham- pionship and school records. The win also marked the first time a Michigan relay team has won a national title in the NCAA Championship's 76-year history. "We started out with one recruiting class that we were scrambling with because we came in late," Bottom said at his press conference. "And these are the guys, you know, we had four of them on that relay that broke the national record and it's awe- some to see." The Wolverines also received significant contributions from Fletcher and Funk, both plac- ing third in the 100-yard butter- fly and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. With a second- place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the team of junior Michael Wynalda, Jaeger, freshman Anders Nielsen and redshirt junior Hassaan Khalik helped Michigan end the night in first place with 336 points. "We didn't have a real confi- dence that we would win this," Bottom said to ESPN on March 30. "By the second day, I looked at our team and I said, 'Alright, we've gotten in the top three, now what do you want to do?' They looked at me like I was crazy. They looked at me and said, 'We came here to win."' And with Jaeger's first-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Michigan inched ever closer to a national championship. With the event win, Jaeger became the first swimmer for Michigan to win two individual events since Tyler Clary - a gold med- alist in this summer's Olympics - accomplished the feat in 2009. And surely enough, the Wol- verines rounded out the event with a second-place finish in yet another relay. With a time of 2:50.18, Miguel Ortiz, Turke, Fletcher and Bruno Ortiz ensured Michigan 34 points and a National Championship. "We never took our eyes off the big show, but we went into every meet and we wanted to win, and we swam fast all year: swam fast in dual meets, swam fast in conference and we kept getting better," aeger said. "We kept believing, we kept follow- ing the program we have set, and this is a team fueled by pas- sion. ... Passion for Michigan." The title marks the 12th in the history of Michigan swimming and diving, but perhaps more importantly, its recent triumph breaks a tie between the Wolver- ines and Buckeyes for the most all-time championships. And to top it all off, coach Bottom was named Coach of the Year at the culmination of the meet. At the end, with his players still celebrating in the pool, Bot- tom sat alone on the side of the pool, finallytaking it all in. The Wolverines finished the season with an 8-0 overall and 6-0 Big Ten record, but Bottom said the team needed to push on for Big Ten Championships. When Michigan won its third straight Big Ten Championship, Bottom said the team needed to keep swimming fast for NCAAs. But now, with a NCAA title under his belt, Bottom is finally ready to celebrate. Men's Gymnastics wins Championship By ALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Writer APRIL 21, 2013 - Going into 'W the final rotation of the NCAA national championship Saturday night, the Michigan men's gym- nastics team held a half-point lead over Oklahoma with only its floor routine to go. But while the Soon- ers and the other four teams were anxiously waiting to begin their last event rotations, the Wolver- ines couldn't help but smile. No. 3 Michigan (7-1 Big Ten, 27-2 overall) was up on the floor, where it ranks first in the nation, and knew it was only a rotation away fromwinningthe program's fifth national championship. But the anticipation of winning wasn't the only thing bringing smiles to the Wolverine bench. Junior Sam Mikulak was up by 2.95 points in the all-around com- petition over his teammate, soph- omore Adrian de Los Angeles. So with first and second place locked up in the all-around, a huge floor routine was all that stood in Michigan's way to a team title. The Wolverines did more than rise to the occasion on their floor exercise, where they scored an event-high 75.250, which gave them a 443.200-440.100 blowout over the second-place Sooners. It's been 29 years since a team won the NCAA team title by more than three points. "I knew we could score higher on floor then Oklahoma could on high bar, we just had to hit our sets," said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. "But it can happen where one guy misses, then the next guy, then the next guy, and it can be really hard to get it turned around. "We didn't have it clinched (and) even though we had the pressure on us, the guys were ready for it and handled it really well." Michigan's success on floor also kept Mikulak in the lead for the all-around championship, wherehe ultimatelyedged out Los Angeles with a career-best 91.150. It's Mikulak's second all-around title in three years, and the pairs' 1-2 finish for the all-around is the first time teammates have done that since the 1980s. "Mikulak is special because of his unselfishness," Golder said. "Every interview that he has, he just talks about how he didn't have personal goals and (that) everything was for the team. He kept saying all he wanted was to get one or two in the all-around no matter the order, (just) as long as it went to Michigan. "He just wanted the team to win, and that approach was really great - just get out there and be the best." All in all, it was a storybook weekend for the Wolverines, who started out as well as they finished. 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 fin- ished in the top spot in their ses- sion but ultimately ended up in last place after Saturday, so the Wolverines knew they couldn't let their early success leadcto over- confidenceheadingintothe 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 considered the hardest of the six events. The Wolverines scored their third- highest mark of the season, hit- ting an event-high 72.250. Michigan moved onto the rings, where it had a terrific sec- ond rotation. Junior Alex Bubnov 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. Miku- lak took on his best event, the high bar, where he scored a15.650. Sat- urday night's podium was filled with maize and blue, but it didn't end there for Michigan, which continued its dominance 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 status - Michigan tied a program high with 13. Like the rest of the weekend, Mikulak led the way on Sunday, earning individual titles in high bar and parallel bar, while grab- bing 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 com- petitor and scored a weekend- high 16.100. "I honestly don't think I have (had a better weekend)Miua said. "Olympic trials were defi- nitely 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 how I 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. The Wolverines not only earned the team title, the all- around title and two individual titles, but it also won the Big Ten championship two weeks ago. The Big Ten proved to be no cake- walk, as four of the six teams that qualified for Saturday came from the conference. 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." i Join MRun, The University of Midilgan Running Clubs ALL ABILITY LEVELS WELCOME! Practice Weekdays 4:15PM Outside of CCRB Workouts 8:30PM Tuesday Outdoor Track Race/travel with team for fall cross country mgeets Stay in shape for winter track season Community Service." Social Events.* Optional Races For nooreinfo contact Greg Sollish n nmpresident unich.edu Website: http://m=n.dibnumin.oru/ { ALLISON FARRAND/Daily Junior Sam Mikkulak was also a member of Team USAin the 2012 Olympics. A t"