Monday, May 14, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SOFTBALL
From page 13
western's cleanup hitter with one
out, runners on second and third
and Michigan holding a 2-0 lead
in the third inning.
But the Wildcats' bottom hit-
ters produced and snapped Mich-
igan's 29.2-inning shutout streak
in the Big Ten Tournament.
Nemitz followed the base on
balls with a hit by pitch and a walk
- both on full counts - to score
two runs. Nemitz was ahead of
both hitters with two strikes.
"Instead of finishing, we just
let them get those hits," Saman-
tha Findlay said. "When we have
batters 0-2 and 3-2, we need to
shut the door and get them out."
Hutchins pulled Nemitz in
favor of senior Lorilyn Wilson.
But Wilson gave up a two-run
double to No. 7 hitter Jessica
Miller.
"The bottom of the lineup
didn't comethrough," junior cen-
terfielder Alessandra Giampaolo
said. "We let them come trough."
Although the all the runs in the
critical third inning were cred-
ited to Nemitz, Wilson walked
three and gave up a run on three
hits in her 3.2 innings of work.
It was a far cry from her domi-
nating performance in Michigan's
first round 4-0 win over Illinois
(7-8, 30-25).
Wilson retired 21 of the 22 bat-
ters she faced in that game, eight
by strike out (four looking) in the
complete-game shutout.
"I think she was just in the
zone," Samantha Findlay said.
"When Lorilyn is on, and she's
throwing her pitches, and she's
turning it on, and she's smiling,
and she's in the game, she throws
well."
But after seeing how effective
Wilson's riseball was against Illi-
nois, Northwestern coach Kate
Drohan instructed her players to
lay off the pitch, which helped
the Wildcats advance to the title
game. Northwestern (15-3, 45-11)
lost to regular-season champion
Ohio State.
4
I
The Michigan softball team lost 5-2 to Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament.
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MEN'S TENNIS
Illini win rubber match
ByANTHONY OLIVEIRA
Daily Sports Writer
CHAMPAIGN - This season,
the Michigan men's tennis team
recorded a number of first-in-a-
whiles.
On MICHIGAN 2
Jan. 27, ILLINOIS 4
the Wol-
verines upset a top-15 team for the
first time since 2002.
On Apr. 3, Michigan cracked
the top 20 for the first time since
2000.
The Maize and Blue finished
second in the Big Ten regular sea-
son for the firsttime since 1999.
And at the NCAA Regional
Championship this weekend, the
trend didn't stop.
With anopening-roundsweep of
Drake, the Wolverines reached the
Round of 32 for the first time since
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2000. The victory marked their
first 20-win season in 19 years.
Facing No. 10 Illinois Saturday
afternoon, Michigan had one more
first in store - recording its first
doubles point against the Fighting
Illini since 1997.
But this one didn't mean any-
thing.
After pounding Illinois in dou-
bles, the Wolverines couldn't hold
off the Fighting Illini in a gut-
wrenching 4-2 loss.
"This is the best team I've ever
played on, the closest team I've
played on," senior captain Ryan
Heller said. "It's just sad that today
it hadto end."
This was Michigan's third
contest with Illinois this year.
The Wolverines beat the Illini
in the regular season, but fell to
them in the Big Ten Tournament
semifinals.
The match Saturday ultimate-
ly came down to junior captain
Matko Maravic at No. 2 singles.
Losing the first-set tiebreak, Illi-
nois junior Ryan Rowe made quick
work of Maravic in the second set
to force the decidingstanza.
As Rowe and Maravic held serve
in the first two games, it seemed
that the match would come down
to a single break. And with Mara-
vic getting his break in the third
game of the set, the Wolverines
looked that much closer to punch-
ing a ticket to the NCAA Team
Championship mAthens, Ga.
But Maravic couldn't hold serve
in the fourth game, knottingupthe
set the set at 2-2. Maravic broke
Rowe again in the next game, but
Rowe responded with another
break, putting the match back at
See TENNIS, Page 15