18 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May 4, 1994
'M' netters best ILU, OSU,
Brakus picks up 100th career win against Hoosiers
By Darren Everson
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Victories over conference foes are
becoming routine for the Michigan
men's tennis team as it head towards
the Big Ten Championships. The lat-
est victims are Ohio State and Indiana,
and the latest accomplishments are a
shutoutfortheteam andamilestonefor
its top player.
In defeating the Hoosiers and
Buckeyes, the Wolverines won 10 of
12 singles matches, including all six
against Indiana. Of those six was Dan
Brakus' 100th career victory, a 4-6,
6-1,6-4 victory over Johan Landsberg.
The 18th-ranked player in college
tennis raised his season record to 34-
9 and his career mark to 100-45 with
the victory.
"He has been a very consistent
performer for us,' Michigan head
coach Brian Eisner said. "And he con-
tinues to get better."
Easy victories such as these should
be unexpected for a team that finished
eighth in the conference last season.
However, these Wolverines seem to
be taking all of their success in stride.
"We had some injury problems
last year and they really held us back
from doing as well as we could,"
Eisner said. "I have a lot of confi-
dence in the group that we put on the
court, and I think we can do very
well."
The win over the Hoosiers marked
the end of the regular season for the
Wolverines (9-1 Big Ten, 13-6 over-
all), who finished with their best record
since winning the Big Ten in 1988
following a 26-5 season.
Sophomore Geoff Prentice at-
tributes the team's success to tough
competition in the pre-conference
season.
"When it comes to the Big Ten
season," he said, "no matter who (we)
playagainst,wedon'tfeelovermatched
because we've already played against
that kind of competition."
Michigan will enter this weekend's
Big Ten Championships at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota as the second
"I have a lot of
confidence in the
group that we put on
the court, and I thinlh
we can do very well."
-- Brian Eisner
Michigan tennis coach
seed. The host Golden Gophers ar
the top seed and defeated the Wolvet
ines in their only meeting this seasor
5-2 in Ann Arbor.
Despite being under .500 as a
three of the past four years, Michiga
was picked at the season's outset t
challenge Minnesota for the confet
ence championship. Such a predic
tion comes as no surprise to Prentics
"They based it solely on our tal
ent," he said. "What they expect us t
do this year, now that we're mor
experienced as a team."
Dan Brakus and the Wolverines finished with their best record in five years.
Women golfers win first tourney in
'two years, look toward Big Tens
By Darren Everson
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
It's been a season of firsts for the
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL CENTER Michigan women's golf team, and
,- -- the trend continued last weekend at
the Lady Eagle Invitational.
The team captured its first tourna-
* ''~ ment title in two years, carding a two-
round total of 668. The Wolverines
virtually had the victory in hand after
the opening round, leading then sec-
ond-place Rutgers by 15 strokes.
Junior Jenny Zimmerman led
Michigan with a second place finish,
two strokes shy of Harrd's Robin
TaLewis, who shot 164 for the tourna-(
ment. The reason for the improve-
met in Zimmerman's play has come
as no surprise to coach Kathy Teichert.
I
wkin ea-ng Grnare one+o
To fingout ho g jut Like
To fnd ut ow you can help, attend one I 9.>ke
of the foll owing Information Sessions: 1. LfhPiqD
Thursday, May 5, 7-8 p.m. '
Ford Theatre : e ship anywhere in
Monday, May 9, 4-5 p.m. 1 715 N. University
Room 2C108 University Hospital Mon-F618:3- :
For more information, please call 936-4327 i
"Jenny's been improving each
week ... she's a very capable player,"
said Teichert. "I look for continued
improvement from her. The key for
her is to continue being confident."
The team's consistent improve-
ment is most evident in the play of
Zimmerman, freshman Wendy
Westfall and sophomore Shannon
McDonald. Last week, they all placed
in the top 20 for the first time this
year. This time, the trio shot 80 or
under in the first round and finished in
the top five overall.
The tournament was played at two
courses in Boston, and the different
sites brought about quite different
scores. Each team's tally for Monday's
round rose considerably, as the venue
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changed and the winds picked up.
"The second course was muc
more difficult," said Teichert. "(Th
course) played a lot longer, it
more windy and the tee times we
lot earlier than the first round.
"That last round wasn't like us
and you won't see that kind of perfor
mance from us again."
Freshman Ashley Williams, whose
scores didn't count toward the team's
total, also stood out for Michigan,
tying McDonald and Westfall for fifth
place. She and Zimmerman hadk&
team's best second round scores, bMl
tallying an 86.
Hartford was Michigan's closest
competitor, tying the Wolverines'
second round total of 352 and finish-
ing 20 strokes back in second place.
Rutgers slipped to third, with Boston
College, Dartmouth, Harvard and
Mount Holyoke rounding out the field.
The victory was the first at Michi-
gan for Teichert, a Michigan St
graduate in her first season in A
Arbor. Teichert and her team look to
continue the string of firsts this week-
end at the Big Ten Championships, as
they hope to finish in the top half of
the conference for the first time ever.
Realistically, though, Teichert
knows her team's limitations.
"I don't think we're capable of
winning," she said, "but we've bean
some of those teams already this yA
Northwestern, Purdue and the rest (of
the conference) are going to be tough,
but I think we're going in the right
direction."