Monday, May 11, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

11l

CHAMPIONS
From page 10
the Wolverines an early 2-0 lead after
the first inning, but Michigan was
shut out through the middle innings,
and Michigan State tied the game on
a two-run home run.
After Spartan head coach Jacquie
Joseph switched pitchers in the fifth,
sophomore Dorian Shaw's single
scored two runs and the rout was on.
Michigan (17-3 Big Ten, 41-10 over-
all) scored _
three runs MICHIGAN STATE 2
in both the MICHIGAN 8
fifth and
the sixth innings.
The near-perfect nature of Michi-
gan's Big Ten run made the feat
all the more impressive. After los-
ing their opening Big Ten series to
Northwestern, Michigan rattled off
21 straight wins before Saturday's
loss.
"I thought that was the best thing
that happened to us," Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins said. "It real-
ly forced us back into our moment,
because they didn't get caught up in
the race for a while. Then we really
started gelling, and we had some

people catch fire."
Michigan's pitching has been its
strength all year, and, despite the
streak-ending loss, it was strong this
weekend as well. Junior Nikki Nem-
itz and sophomore Jordan Taylor had
just one problem - the home run.
Both gave up two-run home runs
early in their starts last weekend
while racking up 11 strikeouts.
Michigan has been battling back
from early deficits all season. After
giving up early runs, both pitchers
came back to throw well all season,
giving their hitters a chance to win.
Seven of their 17 Big Ten wins were
in come-from-behind fashion.
"I was concerned that this week-
end would be a little anti-climatic in
some regards," Hutchins said. "But I
thought our kids just gutted through
it. It wasn't one of our best games, yet
we're the
champi- MICHIGAN 1
ons." MICHIGAN STATE 2
The con-
ference championship also guaran-
tees that Michigan is in the field for
its 15th straight season. Their quest
for a second NCAA Championship in
five years will start at Alumni Field
May 15 against Miami (Ohio) in the
NCAA Regionals.

Slow start plagues Wolverines

Pos-
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But
ed wit
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tseason run ends hard right from the beginning and
to go into the match thinking we
he second round could win, and we didn't do that
in doubles so that was disappoint-
By MARK BURNS ing," Berque said.
Daily Sports Writer The slow start in doubles cost
the team its chance at advancing
LUMBUS - The look on in the tournament.
gan men's tennis coach "I didn't feel like we were
Berque's face told the whole nervous, but we certainly played
badly," Berque said. "We came
35th-ranked Wolverines out and made a bunch of errors
st lost to No. 3 Ohio State on all three courts in the first
second round of the NCAA games.... You get on your heels a
ament in Columbus, Ohio. bit then, and I think the bad start
the third time Michigan hurt us."
the Buckeyes in the last Ohio State (33-1) garnered the
1. first two singles matches at No. 3
Berque laid down his bags and No. 5, taking a commanding
nt of his team, ready to 3-0 lead in the match.
ss his players after the That's when Jason Jung made
4-1 loss, the frustration his statement. Michigan's 93rd-
ng to their rivals yet again ranked sophomore defeated the
nparent. No. 3 ranked player in the coun-
while Berque was frustrat- try, Bryan Koniecko, in straight
h the end result, he was sat- sets (6-2, 6-3). The win gave the
with his team's work ethic. Wolverines their lone point Soon
ir goal today was to play after the upset win, Buckeye

Steven Moneke finally sealed
the victory at No. 2 singles as he
defeated senior Andrew Mazlin.
"It was a pretty long season
with some ups and downs,"junior
George Navas said. "There's
kind of mixed emotions - I'm
proud of the way we bounced
back from the huge slump to
make the (NCAA) Tournament
and give Ohio State a competi-
tive match two times in a row.
... But we didn't do enough work
during the body of the season to
earn the opportunity to play a
team like (Ohio State) later on in
the Tournament."
Next year, the team returns
the bulk of its starting singles
and doubles lineup. And with the
incoming tandem of high school
standouts Chris Cha and Evan
King, the top-rated recruit in the
country, the Wolverines could
have an opportunity to contend
for a Big Ten Championship and
to go deeper in the NCAA Tour-
nament.


Blue stays in
Big Ten race
The Michigan baseball team
honored their seniors before Sun-
day's game against Minnesota. But
Sunday proved to be the only day
the Wolverines could celebrate.
After losing in Friday's game
9-5 and Saturday's game 12-5.
The Wolverines stayed in conten-
tion for the Big Ten Tournament
by winning 10-4 Sunday. The
Wolverines trail sixth-place Pur-
due by a game and a half.
'M' finishes
in fifth place
After losing a hard-fought
game to UCLA in the first round
of the NCAA Tournament, the
Wolverines finished in fifth place
after victories against Marist
and Loyola Marymount.
The win gave Michigan a pro-
gram record 35 wins on the year.
The Wolverines used eight
straight goals to beat the Lions
on Sunday and were led by senior
captain Julie Hyrne's hat trick.

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