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. REGISTER NOW! SPEED TEXTING TOURNAMENT Saturday, June 2 Do you text message faster than you type? Can you recount the events of your weekend in a one-sentence text? Could you use some extra spending money this summer? Are you in need of something NEW and FUN to do in Ann Arbor? 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 Contestants may use own cell phones Send your name, age, number, and cell phone model to spdtxtr@gmail.com by May 29th to register or for more information third annual ON~e Try to find the fake advertisement in this week's paper and throughout the month. If you think you've found it, e-mail your name, the page number of the ad and the ad caption to display@michigandaily.com (subect: fake ad contest). Contest sponsored by Papa John's Pizza. Winner will receive 2 Free Large Pizzas! One winner will be chosen at the end of each month and will be contacted by e-mail. k 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