The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - March 11, 1991- Page 7 M' netters smash Wildcats Men's impressive singles play trips up Northwestern y Becky Weiss daily Sports Writer ahrNorthwestern literallystumbled through their match with the Michi- gan men's tennis team, as Giora Payes tripped and twisted his ankle, causing his match to be retired in the second set 3-6, 5-5 (30-0). Payes' fall was the deciding point of the No. 2 singles match be- tween Payes and Michigan's Dan Orakus. Michigan also took four out of the five remaining matches from the Wildcats. The doubles matches were called off as Michigan (7-2 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) had compiled all five wins needed to win a dual meet at the end of the singles competition. Since the match was played in the Track and Tennis Building on a on-concrete surface, Northwestern oach Paul Torricelli was also not anxious to risk his players health in finishing the already determined match. "The chances of injury are in- creased on this kind of surface," he said. "I can't afford to take that kind of chance." Though they were unavailable for this match, dual meets are usually *eld at Liberty Sports Complex courts, which Torricelli feels are more desirable. He thought the un- usual sight had an effect on his team's performance, but not a piv- otal one. "The sight certainly had an ef- fect," Torricelli said. "Under the best of conditions, if we had won, I would have considered it a great win. It would have been an upset." i Michigan's strength was demon- strated as No. 1 through No. 5 sin- gles matches were won in straight sets, with the exception of the retired No. 2 match. In their first meeting ever, Michigan's nationally ninth- ranked David Kass defeated fifteenth ranked Steve Herdoiza, 6-0, 6-1. Michigan's No. 3 singles player Scott Cuppett and Northwestern's Todd Occomy met before, in last year's Big Ten championships. Cuppett felt playing to his oppo- nent's weaknesses led to his easy 6- 2, 6-2 victory. "I knew the kind of player he was," Cuppett said. "He has a big forehand and a big serve, but he wasn't consistant. I planned on be- ing consistent yard getting it in until he missed." Cuppett said the surface added to his opponent's inconsistency, as Oc- comy fell once during the match, as well as made many unforced errors. Michigan's Brakus felt the surface could have given him a slight advan- tage as well. "The bounce (on this surface) is never the same," Brakus said. "We're used to it because we practice on it, so they were more frustrated than we were." Cuppett felt a better explanation for the decisive victory was Northwestern's graduation of three seniors. Michigan has seasoned up- perclassmen as well as frosh Brakus at No. 2, moving the remainder of last year's singles players down a position. Though the Northwestern team is young, Michigan coach Brian Eisner is hoping that their impressive vic- tory will help prepare the Wolver- ines for future challenges from Indi- ana and Notre Dame. "Northwestern is an explosive team," Eisner said, "but very young. We played very solid singles today. Defeating them so soundly was an outstanding feat and a sign of our continual progress. It was an impor- tant Big Ten win." Women split over weekend by Tim Spolar Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's tennis team split their matches last week- end, falling to a tough Northwestern squad on Friday and then defeating Miami of Ohio on Sunday. The Wolverines went into Fri- day's match with an impressive'5-2 record. However, the Wolverines were not able to keep the mo- mentum rolling into their first taste of Big Ten competition of the season. Northwestern (9-3 overall, 4- 1 conference), ranked third in the Big Ten in the preseason, notched six of the match's nine victories. The, 6-3, victory margin was very similar to last year's hard-fought, 5-4, Wild- cats' victory. Northwestern waltzed to victories in the four, five, and six singles matches, but faced fierce competition in defeating the Wolverines' one and two doubles tandems. In each of these matches, the Wolverines won one set and took the Wildcats to a close 7-6 set. "The doubles matches were especially tough," senior Stacy Berg said. "We took them to set point but they're really aggressive and played really well. Their serves were excellent and reflected their ag- gressiveness." The Wolverines had previously trounced teams such as Toledo and Bowling Green and had lost some of the toughness which comes from playing close matches. According to Berg, who is half of Michigan's No. 1 doubles tandem, this is necessary to defeat highly-ranked teams such as Northwestern. "Although they were the best team we've played all year, we could have won any of the three doubles matches," Berg said. "We hadn't played any close matches all year long, and these are necessary in order to remain mentally tough." Berg and Kim Pratt, Michigan's No. 2 and No. 3 singles players, were the only Wolverines to pull out singles victories. No. 1 singles player Christine Schmeidel was emotionally down during her first set, but came back and nearly pulled out a victory over the Wildcats' Lindsay Matthews. Despite the setback, the Wolver- ines remain positive about the possibilities for the rest of their season. "Our goal is still to win the Big Ten championships and I still think we can," Berg stated. "An early season loss to a really good team like Northwestern doesn't faze us. If we focus on beating a team, we have the ability to do it. The loss to Northwestern is already having pos- itive affects on the team by getting us psyched up for Wisconsin." The Wolverine netters easily handled the Redskins on Sunday, walloping them by a final tally of eight victories to one. While Miami may not be the toughest competition the Wolverines will face all year, they are the number-one ranked team in the MAC. "Our doubles played really well against Miami," noted Berg. "We pulled out our close matches, some- thing that we will really need to do to have a successful season. Overall, the team played really well." The Wolverines next face the Badgers, ranked second only to Indiana in the Big Ten, in Madison. While the Wolverines face an uphill battle, they are relying on the ex- perience gained from the North- western matches and their emotional drive to carry them to an upset. - Rob Siegel contributed to this story Michigan tennis player John Karzen hits a forehand return against Northwestern's Eric Blakeman. Karzen , the No. 4 singles player, defeated Blakeman in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. Italian Restaurant ~~AO oso with our finest homemade Pastas and Pizza. Serving lunch .. and dinner. NOW SERVING BEER AND WINE 300 Detroit St. " 665-0444 - a a *Cerutti battles to start for pitching-poor Tigers Associated Press WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - John Cerutti has a degree in ec- onomics from Amherst. He oc- casionally drinks beer with Prince Albert of Monaco. But John Cerutti considers him- self a baseball player above all else, nd that's making life very in- "eresting around the Detroit Tigers' camp. Cerutti, as in beauty, is a left- handed pitcher who signed asaa free agent with the Tigers this winter after 10 years in the Toronto organization. The Tigers, whose starters com- bined for a 5.00 earned run average last year, looked like the perfect club ,or Cerutti. So he signed a one-year Contract. ' Thenhe arrived at spring training; and learned he was one of 21 pitchers in camp, fighting for one of two openings in the rotation. ''I've given him no guarantees," Detroit manager Sparky Anderson said. "I'll either start him or use him in long relief. It depends on what happens down here." 0 Cerutti got his first live action Sunday in a "B" game against the Boston Red Sox. He gave up one run in two innings. "My stuff was pretty good," Cerutti said. "The main thing is that I got in the work." That's the stock response from a pitcher who has been under- whelming in spring training. But in Cerutti's case it was true. 0 The "B" game was quickly arranged because rain washed out the scheduled exhibition between the Red Sox and Detroit in Lakeland on Saturday. Cerutti pitched 205 1-3 innings in 1989 and finished 11-11 with a respectable 3.07 ERA. Last season the Blue Jays demoted him to the bullpen about midseason. As a result, he finished the season with only 140 innings, an 8-9 record and a fat 4.76 ERA. He thinks there is a lesson to be learned there. The Blue Jays didn't see it. That's why he went looking for work elsewhere. "I know I have to pitch well. If I do, I'll get the ball," Cerutti said. "A big thing is innings. I thrive on work. I had over 200 innings in 1989 and it worked well." At the moment, Anderson considers only Frank Tanana, Walt Terrell and Bill Gullickson to have a lock on starting positions. That puts Cerutti in competition with Dan Petry, Steve Searcy and a number of rookies for the other starting berth. Off the field, Cerutti takes a cer- tain amount of good-natured kidding about his education. "I'm proud that I went to Amherst. But I also played baseball there," he said. What about the beers with the prince? "We went to school together, and he likes baseball," Cerutti explained. "The last time he came to Toronto, we got together after the game." at Catherine across from the Farmer's Market Carry out available. THE MOTHER OF ALL MIDNIGHT SALES lii_ _ _ _ COUNCIL TRAVEL ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF OUR NEWEST OFFICE IN ANN ARDOR! America's oldest and largest student/budget travel organization can now offer MICHIGAN the following: " The BEST in budget/student/teacher airfares anywhere! * Budget/student adventure tours worldwide. " Work abroad programs, and language study abroad programs, PLUS MORE! For more information AND FOR YOUR FREE 1991 STUDENT TRAVEL CATALOG WRITE OR CALL: 1220 South University Avenue, Suite 208 Ann Arbor, Ml 48104 ' " 313-998-0200 TONIGHWrtam"ia 12:01 AM-i AM -- THE NEW -- R.E.M. "OUT OF TIME" R.E.M. OUT OF TIME Featuring: LOSING MY RELIGION. SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE " RADIO SONG OUT OF M I 1 6 "i y (C)HTLY .6 DKy 3 g soWimesor today only.____wt._nr__mn_ _.nr._munL Euc a. nI U UM I I I IE STILL CONSIDERING STUDY ABROAD? The University of Michigan has openings in the following study abroad programs: FLORENCE SPRING - courses on Dante, art history and drawing (taught in English), plus Italian language courses JAMAICA SPRING - Culture, History and Politics of Jamaica SAINT-MALO SUMMER - French 205, 206, 231, 232, 305, 306, 361 SEVILLE SUMMER - Spanish 205, 206, 230, 232, 305, 306, 361 FLORENCE SUMMER Commencement is just around the corner. What lies beyond graduation? CAREER PLANNING AND PLACEMENT offers a series of programs that can help you prepare for a successful job search: Resumes: When You Think You Have No Experience Monday, March 11 4:10-5:00 OR Marketing Your Liberal Arts Degree Wednesday, March 13 4:10-5:00 - courses on literature, architecture, art history and; (taught in English), plus Italian language courses OXFORD SUMMER studio art - courses in medieval studies or environmental studies T:%. 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