14 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 30, 2001 Orlando Miracle draft Thoriu By Jeff Phillips Daily Sports Writer On April 20, Anne Thorius became the third Michigan women's basketball player to be drafed into the WNBA when she was selected by the Orlando Miracle in the fourth round of this year's draft. "It is a dream come true," Thorius said. "It is really exciting and really intimidating at the same time." Thorius was a co-captain this past season and helped guide the Wolverines to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Thorius became the first player, man or woman, to accumulate 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds in a career. She joins former Wolverines Pollyanna Johns and Stacey Thomas in the professional ranks. The nerve-racking wait on draft day was worsened when Orlando coach and general manager Carolyn Peck called Michigan coach Sue Guevara in her office for her take on Thorius. "They were curious as to whether I could run the team or if I could play the two," Thorius said. "Coach G was very posi- tive in selling me as a player." Thorius will be reunited with a former Big Ten foe. Purdue standout and conference Player of the Year Katie Douglas was selected by the Miracle in the first round. "It will be fun to see her from the other side, to see what her personality is like," Thorius said. "But it will be a little weird (to play with her)" Thorius hopes that her selection will be good for Michigan 'M' tennis exits early Anne Thorius, pictured above in her sophomore year against Northwestern, was selected by the Orlando Miracle. players, as well as other Danish players. "I'm getting e-mail from people at home and they are saying that this is great exposure for all ofus,"Thorius said. "It is great for all the younger girls that dream (about playing profession- al basketball)." Thorius' selection does not guarantee her a position on the roster and her fate will be decided in the next couple weeks at Orlando's training camp, which begins May 2. Historically, about half of the players chosen in the third and fourth rounds of the draft make the team. "They know what you have done in college," Thorius said. "But now that you are here, they want to know how you will respond to your teammates." "It is going to be tough - physically and mentally,"Thorius said. "The amount of talent out there is incredible." By Jim Weber and Steve Jackson Daily Sports Writers Going into the Big Ten Championships last Thursday, the Michigan women's tennis team was confident they could beat Wisconsin, their first round opponent, having convincingly beaten the Badgers, 6- 1, earlier in the season. But after losing the match 4-2, the Wolverines were left wondering how they could improve on their disap- pointing 7-13 season. "When things don't go our way we can't start looking around and point- ing the finger," head coach Bitsy Ritt said after the match. "Stick your fin- ger out, and turn it around, and point it right to yourself. Look in the mir- ror and figure out what you can do differently." Coach Ritt took her own advice and pointed that finger at herself after the season-ending loss. "I take full responsibility as the coach for a team that really didn't achieve what we had hoped to," the 1996-97 Big Ten Coach of the Year said. The Wolverines opened the match by losing two of the three doubles matches. The sole winning duo of Kavitha Tipirneni and Chrissie Nolan were impressive in their 8-3 victory. After falling into the 0-1 hole, Ritt remained confident in the team. "I thought they had the advantage in the doubles," Ritt said. "Even with them winning the doubles point, I thought the match-ups were very good in singles. And really, I thought we would win." To Ritt's dismay, only Nolan and Joanne Musgrove were able to win their singles matches, while Szandra Fuzesi had her match abandoned after the Badgers had clinched the victory. "Some people were playing really nervous today and I thought Wisconsin played a lot more relaxed than we did," coach Ritt said. "I think we have to work ori our mental toughness." If nothing else, this season provid- ed the team with the motivation needed to rebound next year. "It's not the best feeling, and don't ever want to feel thisw, again," Tipimeni said. MOMENTUM DASHED: The Michigan men's tennis team entered the Big Ten Championships on a roll. But winning six of their last seven did not make the Wolverines immune from a quick exit at the hands of Minnesota. The Gophers jumped all over Michigan from the start. Before the Wolverines knew what hit them, the score was 4-0 and they were head home. Michigan coach Mark Mees saw the doubles matches as the turning point. "We didn't play well at the No. 2 and 3 doubles spots," Mees said. "But Minnesota is a good team and my hat's off to them." Now the Wolverines will wait and hope for a selection to the NCA field of 64, which will be announce Thursday. Michigan is hoping that its regional wins and its strong play at the end of the Big Ten season will impress the committee. If this proves to be the end of the Wolverines' season, the team will have several months to contemplate its disappointing record. "I don't think you could find any- one who is happy with 12-9;' Mees said. "We lost five players, and we don't have any seniors. But we s expected to do better." Michigan's achilles heel this sea- son has been a lack of consistent play. "It's been a constant 'Jekyll and Hyde' thing for us all year," Mees said. "We never did have a match where everyone was at their best. We were inconsistent up and down the lineup." Men's. crew sails through Big Tens Allison Topp The first varsity eight received the For the Daily stiffest competition of the day. After trailing Purdue for the first 500 meters, Saturday's gor. weather set the the Wolverines increased their effort. stage for the Michigan men's rowing The boat gained momentum as the row- team's dominant victory in the Big Ten ers pulled into a neck-and-neck position Championships. The early headwinds in with just 600 meters left. Michigan then Indianapolis were 8-10 mph, but even overtook the Boilermakers, displaying these small gusts never slowed the team its ability to finish strong. as each boat entered won its respective The first varsity eight kept the team's race. record unblemished for the day, but it was the second varsity eight that had the most impressive victory. It rowed it's fastest time of the season at 6:12.5, almost 12 seconds faster than the next closest boat. "They really stepped up and put one home;' Michigan coach Gregg Hartsuff said. "This victory is important because it puts us in a good position for seeding at the Avaya Collegiate Championships (on May 13th). Purdue and Ohio State have both raced well throughout the year so solid wins against them really help our rankings' The first varsity eight is ranked 19th in the nation and should be one of the top three seeds at the Championships. WL / r _ k ^t^ W 0R 1) 304 South State Street Ann Arbor " MI - 48107 734-665-4440 Lacrosse trounces on CCLA foes By Seth Klempner Daily Sports Editor As the final horn sounded, the second-ranked Michigan lacrosse team rushed the field, throwing their gloves in the air with reckless abandon. The Wolverines won their third con- secutive Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association Championship and added to their 31-game CCLA win streak. Michigan received a bye in the first round as the tourna- ment's number one seed. After defeating in-state rival Michigan State in the semifinals 13-4, Michigan moved on to defeat Marquette in the finals, 8-4. Michigan knew it would have a game on its hands, having narrowly defeated Marquette earlier this season, 13-10. "We had seen them once already this year so I really was- n't that surprised this time with how they played," Michigan head coach John Paul said. "We have kind of been waiting for this, we haven't had a lot of competition in conference this year" Marquette got off to a strong start, scoring first. This acted as a wake-up call for Michigan, which scored the next six goals, putting the Wolverines up 6-1 before trading goals prior to the half. Receiving strong play from attacker Kevin Chan and mid- fielder Ben Herbst who both scored two goals, Michigan wi able to play conservatively for the rest of the game. Using ball control and a passive offense, Michigan kept t ball out of Marquette's hands the rest of the game and playe strong defense when Marquette did have the ball. Marquet would just score two more goals, not enough to overcome th six-goal deficit. "This was a perfect way to finish the year for us," Paul a "We didn't play the way we wanted, but we played a team th; pushed us, that is something we needed right now" It is needed because despite a 13-4 victory over Michiga State, Michigan struggled and played sloppily, getting off to slow start and making several fundamental errors. Als< Michigan has not topped a ranked opponent since playing Nt 3 BYU three weeks ago. Paul attributed the sub-par play to two weeks of finals th many players have been focusing on. But with school over,h team is now completely focused on lacrosse. With the Intercollegiate Associates 2001 Nation Championships a week away the team will need to regain the: focus. Current No. 1 Colorado State lost to BYU in their cot ference tournament, leaving the Wolverines poised to take th top ranking.