2B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, October 2, 1995

VOLLEYD


Blue pril in Iowa

By Doug Stevens
Daily Sports Writer
Road wins are always hard to come
by in Big Ten play. For this reason, it is
that much sweeter when one comes
your way.
. Friday, the Michigan volleyball team
(3-1 Big Ten, 9-5 overall) had to over-
come the lasting effects of a heart-
breaking loss to Michigan State, a trip
to Iowa City, and the unfamiliar atmo-
sphere of the 15,500 seat Carver-
Hawkeye Arena, not to mention an Iowa
team (1-2, 8-6) that placed third in the
conference last year.
The Wolverines successfully discov-
ered the most efficient remedy for all of
those factors - strong play. Michigan
-executed well in all facets of its game in
defeating the Hawkeyes in a thrilling.
Aive-game match, 12-15, 15-10, 15-12,
415, 15-10.
"It was a significant win," coach Greg
Giovanazzi said. "I'm really happy be-

cause Iowa is picked as one of the top
four teams in the conference. To go on
the road in the Big Ten and beat a team
like Iowa is really big."
The first three games were all closely
contested. Michigan jumped out to an
early lead in the first game, but was
unable to hold off Iowa as the Wolver-
ines fell 15-12.
Behind strong serving, digging and
blocking play, in addition to fine offen-
sive execution, the Wolverines captured
the next two games.
"We picked up right where we left
off (with the strong play at the end of
the Michigan State contest),"
Giovanazzi said. "Ifwe held them off in
game one, we would have swept the
match."
In the fourth game, Michigan experi-
enced a letdown as it fell 15-4. The
main reason for this scoring discrep-
ancy stems from the unproductive at-
tack of the Wolverines as they were

out-killed 11-5.
"We had ahuge letdown," Giovanazzi
said. "We lost our focus and had a lot of
hitting errors."
In the fifth game, Michigan proved
its resiliency as it captured the victory
15-10 amidst the exciting, rally-scor-
ing format.
Although the Wolverines were out-
killed 75-71 for the match, they were
able to run their offense in a much more
effective manner than in the Michigan
State affair. In that match, the Spartans
consistently double-teamed Shannon
Brownlee.
Against the Hawkeyes, Michigan was
much more efficient in working the ball
to Brownlee on the left side of the court
as evidenced by her 22 kills.
Linnea Mendoza, who finished with
53 assists, was very successful in dis-
tributing the ball for the Wolverine at-
tack. Kristen Ruschiensky had 15 kills
for the match, Jeanine Szczesniak had
11 kills and Suzy O' Donnell had 10
kills.
Despite the Wolverines' strong at-
tacking, the component to their play
that most accounted for their victory
over Iowa, lay in their defense.
Michigan held its own in the front
with 10 blocks, but the players most
distinguished themselves with theirdig-
ging. The Wolverines finished with 67
digs to the Hawkeyes' 49.
"Ourblocking looked good and I was
happy to see us dig well," Giovanazzi
said.
The Wolverines' victory was their
fourth in their last five games and fur-
ther served to establish them as a threat
in the Big Ten.
"By starting out 3-1 in the Big Ten, I
feel like our work is really paying off,"
Giovanazzi said. "We were very tal-
ented last year but very young. They
now know what it is like to play in the
Big Ten."
Friday night's match marked
Michigan's fifth match in the last 11
days. The team now enjoys a little re-
spite in the schedule with a week-long
break before heading to Indiana and
Illinois this weekend.

TONYA BROAD/Daily

TUNY AROAD/Daiy
The Michigan volleyball team defeated Iowa in five games Friday.

Michigan co-captain Shannon Brownlee led the Wolverines last season with 268 kills and 307 digs.


ROWN LEE
Continued from page:1B
programs in her region.
In the eleventh grade, she became
part of a regional team in Ontario
which won the regional champion-
.hips. The following year, she was
invited to try out for the Ontario
'rovincial team. Each of Canada's
ten provinces has a team which
'participates in the Canadian
Championships. Brownlee was a
member of the Ontario team that
won the 1991 championship, and
she was also named MVP of the
tournament.
"The Canadian Championships
and winning the MVP award was
definitely a very proud moment,"
Mary Brownlee says.
In the 13th grade, Brownlee
played on the Junior National
Canadian Team. She had the option
of training with the Canadian
National Team immediately after
high school, but decided that she
would first continue her career in

college.
Recruiters from many American
colleges, including Michigan, began
to show interest in Brownlee after
the 12th grade.
At that time, the prospect of
leaving home did not appeal to her
for two reasons, so she opted to
attend the University of Western
Ontario.
"I stayed in Canada partly
because I wanted to have the chance
to play on the national team (at
some point)," Brownlee says. "I
wanted to go to school (first) and I
was kind of afraid of leaving
home."
Brownlee's first season at
Western did not live up to her
expectations and it was at that time
that she contemplated quitting
volleyball.
"The caliber of play was really
low," she says. "For the men, it's
really good, but for the women it's
low. There's no athletic scholar-
ships, there's no money involved.
It's just so different than it is here.
"My first year at Western I was
like, 'what am I doing. I'm not

The Browniee File

Name: Shannon Brownlee
Position: Outside Hitter
High School: Saunders Secondary

Year: Senior
Hometown: London, Ont.
Major: Physical Education

Career Higlights: 1995 co-captain ... led Michigan in kills (2.53 kpg)
and digs (2.90 dpg) in 1994 ... selected to 1994 Virginia Tech Hokie.
Tournament team ... had two 18-kill games in 1994 ... played in every
match in 1994 season ... 19 kills against Northwestern in 1993 ...
played on 1992 Canadian Junior National team.

going to get any better'. I basically
was burned out and I wasn't having
fun doing it anymore. At that point I
made a decision to stop completely
or try something else. But volley-
ball was so much of my life for so
long I didn't know if I could stop
completely so I decided to try it
differently."
Brownlee still had the opportu-
nity to play in the United States
because of the widespread interest
she received in high school.
After being released from
Western Ontario combined with a
bit of luck, she was able to contact
the Michigan program, which
happened to have an extra scholar-
ship available.
"(After the release), she called us
and expressed interest," Giovanazzi
says. "It was a really tough recruit-
ing year for us and someone as good
as her was a good thing for us."
Brownlee joined the Wolverines
in 1993 and immediately became a
starter. Playing volleyball in the
United States was like playing in a
completely different world for

Brownlee.
"My first year, I was over-
whelmed," she says. "I started right
away which was kind of nice, but
everyone was so good and there was
so much money involved (in the
program and athletics). And Greg,
that was his full-time position as a
coach and that was it. I had never
really seen that because in Canada,
that's not the way it is at all."
The Wolverines finished the
1993-94 season 11-18 and followed
that last year with one of the worst
seasons in Michigan's history. The
team was comprised of seven
highly-talented, but inexperienced
freshmen, and never seemed to
mesh. It was at this time that her
sense of perfection and ferocity -
the on-court Brownlee - became
strikingly apparent.
The Wolverines finished the
season with a dismal 8-23 record
and a ninth-place tie with Purdue in
the Big Ten. Worst yet for
Brownlee was the frustration
associated with the losses.
"We were terrible," Shannon

says. "It wasn't because we had
terrible players. It's just because we
never clicked. I think last year and
the year before, (my high expecta-
tions) made me go on that little
roller coaster. I have really high
expectations of myself, especially in
athletics."
Brownlee believes that she is the
type of player she is today because
of her drive and determination. Last
season, she was the team leader in
kills (268) and digs (307). This
year's success has helped Shannon
learn to channel her need for
perfection into a drive for consis-
tency.
"I think she hasn't been able to
control that aspect of her personal-
ity until this year," Giovanazzi says.
"She's been distracting herself and
focusing on the rest of the team.
She was always expecting perfec-
tion and so she was always disap-
pointed."
Brownlee agrees that she has been
more successful in redirecting her
energies this year than ever before.
"As far as hitting, passing and
digging, I am doing really well at
all of them instead of having a
really great night one night and then
having a really lousy night the
next," Brownlee says. "Now, I'm
just trying to have a good night all
of the time. I think it makes it easier
for the coaches and for the other
players because they know what to
expect from me and what to get
from me instead of being up and
down."
The on-court aspect of
Brownlee's personality has been
apparent in her years as a Wolver-
ine, but her off-court side thrived in
the Michigan program. The success
and team unity has turned the ,
Wolverines into a pseudo-family
which helps her feel like she is at
home all of the time. The family
atmosphere is what she will miss
the most at the end of her college
career.
"This year, it just seems like there
is such a difference in everyone,
everyone's attitudes and everyone's
playing," she says. "I have never

been on a team where everyone gets
along so well. It just seems like we
are all one big family and we just
do everything together.
"That's going to be one of the
biggest things I am going to miss
when I'm gone. Its a family-type of
atmosphere. There's always that
group of people you always know
will be there for you. Its going to be
strange because I had it my whole
life and now it won't be there."
Shannon is a student in the
School of Kinesiology and the
School of Education, majoring in
physical education. She will return
to Ann Arbor in the fall to student-
teach and then most likely head
home to Canada to teach full-time.
"Transferring to Michigan was
definitely the best thing for her,"
Mary Brownlee says. "At Western
Ontario, she wasn't challenged. It
made a big difference in her
personality. She grew and matured
and became more of a team player.
She really enjoyed (her experi-
ence)."
This season has been a com-
pletely different story for the
Wolverines who have already won
one more game than all of last
season.
The Wolverines bounced back
from the close loss to Michigan
State Wednesday and defeated
Iowa 12-15, 15-10, 15-12, 4-15, 15-
10 in Iowa City Friday to raise their
record to 9-5.
Shannon had the usual fiery
intensity in her eyes and in the
high-fives with her teammates. The
season will end in two months and
Shannon will most likely have to
relinquish one side of her personal-
ity that has been so dominant for so
long. But, she will never have to
give up the off-court side that has
also been part of her for so long.
"She's got a good sense of
balance," Giovanazzi says "she has
a charisma that her teammates seem
to be drawn to her. She does a
pretty good job of taking the
pressure off, and she's fun."


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