The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 — 7
‘M’ looks to create energy
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS — When senior
forward Zach Hyman scored
his second goal of the game 5:36
into the first period to give the
Michigan hockey team a 2-0
lead, the celebratory banging
of gloves and sticks was heard
loud and clear even from the
highest parts of the building.
The rest of Value City Arena
was shockingly quiet.
The
fans
in
Columbus—
all
8,156
of
them
—
had
been silenced early. For the
Wolverines, that meant mission
accomplished.
“I think it was huge,” said
sophomore
forward
Tyler
Motte. “We’re just trying to
focus on our system and play
our game every night, no matter
what building we’re in and no
matter what energy there is.
“We’re trying to create our
own energy.”
The 10-6 win at Ohio State
marked the start of an eight-
game road trip for No. 16
Michigan. The stretch away
from home comes after playing
11 of 12 games in Southeast
Michigan — two in Detroit for
the Great Lakes Invitational
and nine at the friendly confines
of Yost Ice Arena.
The lone trip outside of the
state was to Boston, where the
Wolverines fell to then-No. 16
Boston College, 5-1 — the team’s
only loss since Nov. 21.
After starting the season 1-5
on the road, the Wolverines
needed to start fast in the
unfamiliar environment Friday.
Thanks to the early offensive
execution, the 10-6 win showed
that the Wolverines are capable
of doing just that.
“Zach got us out to a good
start,” said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. “With (Friday)’s
game, you could say we won
the game and we scored a lot of
goals, but we gave up six goals.
“Had they scored the first
two or three goals and we had
to play catch-up in this building,
it could’ve been a different
outcome.”
Behind
Hyman’s
goals,
Michigan hushed the crowd.
With
two
more
goals
in
the
period,
the
Wolverines
successfully sucked the life
from the stands, leaving only
their own energy to control the
game.
But in the third period, three
consecutive
Buckeye
scores
evaporated Michigan’s five-goal
lead and brought the remaining
fans to their feet. It was a
crude glimpse for Michigan of
what can happen when it plays
passively on the road.
“It’s a game of momentum
too,”
Berenson
said.
“We
had momentum for parts of
the game, but when they had
momentum,
it
was
really
obvious.
“We
didn’t
like
the
momentum and the way things
were going — the puck was
going in too easy.”
Friday, the Wolverines travel
to Madison, where they haven’t
won since 2006. Though the
Badgers are just 2-13-3 on the
season, Michigan players know
that
come
conference
play,
there simply are no breaks on
the road.
“We
got
the
bounces
(Friday),” Motte said. “But it’s
easy to see that game going the
other way if we didn’t get that
extra bounce or two.
“Obviously, we’ve got to find
a way to win on the road if we’re
going to compete in the Big
Ten.”
Wolverines claw back to
top Wildcats on road
Michigan’s strong
second half erases
early deficit for
first road win
By MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Writer
After just three minutes, the
Michigan women’s basketball
team was down 9-0, and it
seemed like the Wolverines’
road woes traveled with them to
Evanston.
But tonight was different.
This time, the home team’s
lead
evaporated
before
the
Wolverines
took
an
insurmountable lead en route to
a 73-66 win over Northwestern
on Saturday night.
Unlike at Rutgers, where the
Wolverines closed a 19-point
deficit to zero before going
behind again, Michigan took
the lead in the second half and
never looked back.
But it was the defense that
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico attributed most to the
comeback.
“It
really
started
with
our defense,”
Barnes Arico
said. “In the
first
half,
they went up
early and we
switched our
defense
and
kind of slowed
them down a
little bit.”
The
Wolverines
started
out the game playing a full-
court
press,
which
worked
successfully against opponents
such as Michigan State and, at
times, Ohio State.
But the Wildcats were ready
for the defense and broke the
press early and often with top
scorers Maggie Lyon and Nia
Coffey getting easy buckets in
transition.
So Barnes Arico changed up
her defense to the only thing
that would keep the top scorers
in check: half-court man-to-
man defense.
And it worked like a charm,
with Coffey finishing with just
six points.
“Early, we tried to press them
and they broke that and got a
bunch of baskets in transition,”
Barnes Arico said. “Then we
tried to go 2-3 on misses, and
we really weren’t able to locate
the scorers in transition. So we
just played half-court man, and
it was effective for us.”
On the other end of the court,
senior guard Shannon Smith
and sophomore guard Siera
Thompson led the way with
20 points apiece. But the way
each obtained their points was
different.
Smith scored most of her
points in transition, including
an acrobatic layup late in the
first half that
awed even the
Northwestern
bench.
“(Smith
has)
been
incredible,”
Barnes Arico
said.
“She’s
been
playing
at
another
level. We want
the ball in her
hands when the shot clock is
running down because she’s
able to make some big plays for
us.”
For Thompson, she stuck
with her bread and butter: the
3-point shot.
On a night where freshman
guard Katelynn Flaherty —
Michigan’s
leading
scorer
— went 0-for-5 from behind
the arc, Thompson excelled,
hitting five of nine 3-point shots
including key shots at the ends
of both halves.
Down low, senior forward
Cyesha Goree was her usual self
and led the way for the bigs with
16 points. But senior forward
Nicole Elmblad led the team in
rebounds with nine.
While Michigan still has a
tough schedule ahead with the
bulk of the Big Ten schedule
still remaining, a win over a
team undefeated at home will
do wonders for a team that has
struggled on the road.
“Anytime you have a win
against a really good opponent,
it gives you confidence,” Barnes
Arico said. “If you can do it on
the road, even better, and if you
can do it and play well like we
did in the second half tonight, I
think it’s definitely going to help
us moving forward.”
Najarian closes
out home victory
Freshman not
fazed by late
tension
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
Alex Najarian’s serve was on
fire.
After a barrage of aces, her
opponent from South Florida,
Olga Martinez, tried to use a
common stall tactic: icing the
server.
Fans at the Varsity Tennis
Center
groaned
after
her
opponent
took
what
they
thought was too long to search
for a rogue ball. Fresh off a
couple
of
aces,
Michigan’s
freshman standout was unfazed
by the wait.
Najarian had to fight through
her emotional opponent. After
winning the first set handily,
6-1, Najarian battled to win the
second set of her last match of
the tournament, 7-5.
Martinez yelled either with
jubilation or disappointment
after
every
point.
Najarian
simply smiled to the crowd as
it whispered about Martinez’s
antics. Najarian later jokingly
called her opponent’s tactics
annoying, but said she respected
her play.
“She started playing better by
picking up her game a little bit,
and I backed off when she was
doing so,” Najarian said. “I just
needed to step it up a little more
and take control of the points.
I did that in the end, which
helped me.”
Najarian has been working on
being more aggressive since the
fall, and it showed on Monday.
Her overheads and serves were
noticeably powerful, keeping
her opponents off balance. She
picked up aces at crucial times,
especially in her last match.
“She’s kind of changed the
way she’s played from the (ITA)
Juniors,” said Michigan coach
Ronni Bernstein. “She was a
little more defensive and (now)
she’s coming forward more.”
Najarian,
a
three-time
state
champion,
three-time
All-American and last year’s
Michigan High School Athlete
of the Year, has already made an
impact on the team. She went
undefeated over the weekend
in both singles (playing at the
No. 3, 4 and 5 positions) and
doubles, where she is in the No.
1 position and ranked No. 10 in
the nation.
Her success in both makes it
tough for even Najarian herself
to decide where she excels more.
But she does have a preference.
“I
like
doubles
better,”
Najarian said. “I like having
another person out there.”
Although
team
points
weren’t scored in the Michigan
Invitational,
Najarian
will
certainly
contribute
to
the
Wolverines’
success
as
the
season progresses.
“She’s come a long way in
four months. She’s been doing
a great job and has been a great
addition,” Bernstein said. “She’s
going to compete day in and day
out, and that’s all I can ask for.”
Najarian lost only one singles
match in her entire high school
career. The college game isn’t
much different, but it comes
with heightened competition
and pressure. Though Najarian
has
tweaked
her
playing
technique and strategy to be
more successful at the college
level, Bernstein has the utmost
confidence in her to achieve.
“She’s hopefully going to get
more confidence in what she’s
doing,” Bernstein said. “She’s
playing more different and
offensive, and hopefully the
results will come.”
As
Najarian’s
confidence
grows, she and the team will
improve and learn, for this year
and the years to come. At the
same time, her opponents will
learn something as well: You
can’t ice Alex Najarian.
Coon, Murphy strong in defeat
Michigan can’t
overcome early
deficit in loss to
Ohio State
By OLIVER HENRY
For the Daily
Brian Murphy raised his
arms in triumph. He overcame
the odds and beat his nationally
ranked competitor as the sold-
out crowd in Cliff Keen Arena
erupted in cheers.
In spite of Murphy’s efforts,
though, the Michigan wrestling
team dropped its home opener to
No. 4 Ohio State by a total score
of 25-15. Despite surging after
intermission, the Wolverines
were unable to climb back into
the match and earn the victory.
Ohio State (2-1 Big Ten, 7-3
overall) boasts a catalog of
highly ranked wrestlers who
dominated Michigan early in
the bout. In three successive
fights, the Buckeyes posted two
majority decisions and a pin to
jump out to an early 15-0 lead.
From
there,
Ohio
State
cruised to a victory, as the
Wolverines
were
visibly
demoralized.
But all was not lost for
Michigan, as it salvaged a few
prized victories.
Sophomore Brian Murphy
was one of the Wolverines’
bright spots, improving his
personal record to 14-6 and
taking down the No. 5 wrestler
in the country in the 157-pound
weight class. During the match,
Murphy and his opponent, Josh
Demas, remained even through
the first period.
But at the beginning of the
second period, Murphy chose to
begin in the down position and
escaped Demas’ hold to earn
himself a point and the lead.
Murphy surged to a 3-1 lead
with a takedown entering the
third period before he decisively
earned his team three points
with a powerful takedown.
“Before the match I try to tell
myself if I get a lead, I gotta score
again,” Murphy said. “So I put
the match away, and it felt really
good to get that last takedown.”
Murphy’s
victory
is
an
example of the kind of grit and
determination that Michigan
coach Joe McFarland has tried
to instill in all his wrestlers. He
firmly believes that toughness
and
determination
are
the
key contributors to success in
wrestling matches.
“We’ve got
to have that
toughness
in
those
moments,”
McFarland
said. “We have
got to be the
ones firing off
those shots.”
Other
shining
moments
in
the defeat for Michigan (1-2,
3-3)
were
majority-decision
victories by freshman Alec
Pantaleo
and
sophomore
Domenic
Abounader.
Both
wrestlers fought for six tireless
minutes to earn victories and
a combined six points for the
Wolverines.
But
the
most
impressive
performance of the night for
Michigan came from sophomore
captain Adam Coon.
After a disappointing outing
for the Wolverines throughout
the day, the heavyweight was
the last to step on the mat. And
he did not disappoint, putting
on a clinic instead.
Coon quickly earned two
points by taking down his
opponent, and with still 1:22
left in just the
first
period,
he
secured
a pin to give
Michigan
15
total
points
for the match.
Coon, ranked
No. 8 in his
weight
class,
improved
to
19-2
in
his
career
after
the victory.
“Coon’s
approach
is
everything,
bottom
line
—
just the way he approaches
his academics, the way he
approaches our workouts, our
training and his competitions,”
McFarland said. “He’s great in
all those areas, and he’s really
focused and he’s got a lot of
character, too.”
Despite
a
few
hard-
fought
victories,
the
team
was
underwhelmed
by
its
performance.
“I feel like we didn’t get the
job done today, but I feel like
our team is capable of beating
these
guys,”
said
Murphy.
“But we have some even better
opponents coming up, so we just
gotta prepare like we always
have.”
McFarland,
in
particular,
was unhappy with the effort
and toughness his wrestlers put
forth on the mat.
“If you want to beat a team
like Ohio State in Cliff Keen
Arena, you better be able to lay
it on the line, and you better
be able to really gut out an
incredible
performance
to
win
those
tough
matches,”
McFarland said. “That’s what
it takes to win a national
championship, that’s what it
takes to be an All-American,
and that’s what it takes to win a
Big Ten title.”
While Michigan’s loss to Ohio
State sets it back on its quest for
a conference championship, the
Wolverines will get a chance to
right the ship on Friday when
Wisconsin comes to town.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Sophomore forward Tyler Motte scored two goals and added an assist in Michigan’s 10-goal outburst at Ohio State.
“We switched our
defense and kind
of slowed them
down a little bit.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan Women’s Basketball
20
Point totals for guards Siera Thompson
and Shannon Smith
13
Largest deficit overcome by Michigan
at Northwestern
55.6
3-point shooting percentage by
Thompson (5-for-9)
10
Northwestern blocked shots against
Michigan
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
ANDREW COHEN/Daily
Sophomore Brian Murphy improved to 14-6 after a victory over No. 5 Josh Demas at the 157-pound class.
“Coon’s
approach is
everything,
bottom line.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS