The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
February 2, 2015 — 3B
Second half dooms ‘M’
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Writer
All of the Michigan women’s
basketball
team’s
Big
Ten
road contests this season have
followed the same script: a first-
half scoring drought followed by
a furious second-half comeback.
In
four
tries,
the
pattern has
produced
only one win for the Wolverines
— a seven-point victory over
Northwestern on Jan. 17.
In Sunday’s matchup with
No. 15 Nebraska, the exact
opposite
scenario
occurred.
Despite starting the game on a
20-9 run and never trailing in
the first half, the Wolverines
were
overwhelmed
by
the
Cornhuskers’ offense in the
second half, dropping the game,
75-60.
“I don’t really know (what
happened),”
said
Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “(The
Cornhuskers) made shots, they
got some rebounds. We had a
tough time scoring down the
stretch. They just played better
down the stretch, they found
the open person.”
The Wolverines (5-5 Big Ten,
13-8 overall) let their early lead
slip away with 16:04 remaining
in the game, when Nebraska
forward Hallie Sample forced
a layup past senior forward
Cyesha
Goree
to
give
the
Cornhuskers their first lead of
the contest, 37-35.
Still,
Michigan
seemed
poised to recover and pull off
the upset. After both teams
traded several baskets to tie
the score at 45, senior guard
Shannon Smith and sophomore
guard Siera Thompson buried
consecutive 3-pointers to give
the Wolverines a six-point lead
with 10:13 to play.
But after the ensuing timeout,
Nebraska took over the game.
The Cornhuskers (7-3, 17-4)
scored the game’s next 11
points as part of a 26-5 run that
dashed Michigan’s hopes. The
run included three consecutive
3-pointers from guard Tear’a
Laudermill to extend the lead
from seven points to 16.
With 11 offensive rebounds
and 15 second-
chance points,
Nebraska
simply refused
to
let
the
Wolverines
put
them
away.
“(The
Cornhuskers)
got
a
lot
of
extra
opportunities
because
of
their
offensive
rebounds,”
Barnes
Arico
said. “Sample did a nice job
on the weak side of offensive
rebounding for them, and she
was 7-for-7 from the floor. Our
game plan was to help off of her,
and she really made big plays for
them.”
The Cornhuskers’ dominant
second half wasted a strong
effort from a Michigan offense
that has struggled to get going
on the road.
Trying to inject some offense
into her team, Barnes Arico
inserted junior guard Madison
Ristovski into
the
starting
lineup in place
of
defensive-
minded
sophomore
guard Danielle
Williams.
Ristovski
scored
just
five points in
the game, but
they all came
in the first seven minutes and
facilitated the fast start Barnes
Arico was looking for.
More
importantly,
the
Wolverines
received
contributions from two players
who
haven’t
been
major
offensive factors lately: Smith
and
senior
forward
Nicole
Elmblad.
In
addition
to
her
tie-
breaking triple, Smith finished
the game with 22 points (18
in the second half) despite
battling foul trouble all day —
she ultimately fouled out with
seven seconds to play.
Elmblad, who was averaging
6.8 points and had reached
double digits just four times this
season, finished the game with
10 points, including three early
baskets that keyed Michigan’s
quick start.
But then the offense went
cold in the second half, allowing
the Cornhuskers to forge a
comeback and run away with
the game.
“We got a little bit stagnant
late,” Barnes Arico said. “I didn’t
think we moved the ball as well
as we did at the beginning of the
game, and we didn’t have the
open looks.”
The
loss
dropped
the
Wolverines’ road record to 1-6,
including an 0-4 mark against
ranked opponents.
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Senior forward Nicole Elmblad stepped up offensively in Michigan’s upset bid against Nebraska, scoring 10 points.
MICHIGAN
NEBRASKA
60
75
“We had a
tough time
scoring down
the stretch.”
Slow start dooms
‘M’ in close match
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
Six singles matches. Three
doubles matches. One deciding
set.
Redshirt
freshman
Davis
Crocker lost his first set, 6-0, and
he attributed the slow start to
being caught up in the moment,
given that
he
was
forced
to
watch
as the Michigan men’s tennis
team fell behind early against
Vanderbilt on Sunday.
Though Crocker recovered
to
win
the
second
set
7-6
against
Vanderbilt’s
Suresh
Eswaran,
it
proved not to
be enough.
While his
teammates attempted to urge
Crocker on toward victory, he
squandered the final, meet-
deciding set, 4-6, resulting in
a 4-3 loss to Commodores. The
defeat was the Wolverines’ third
straight on the road this season.
The
redshirt
freshman
explained
that
the
entire
match was a battle, and that
ultimately, if he had played more
aggressively, it may have yielded
a different result. Despite the
loss, Crocker was optimistic
about Michigan’s fate moving
forward.
“This one stings a little more
because we fought so hard,”
Crocker said. “I definitely think
we can build on this match. We
have a really tough schedule, so
the fact that we were that close
to beating such a good team on
the road bodes well for our next
couple of matches.”
Crocker’s match was one of the
many comeback circumstances
that the Wolverines (1-3) found
themselves in during their 4-3
loss to Vanderbilt.
Though Michigan started the
meet with a pair of commanding
doubles victories, it fell in a hole
as the Commodores (5-2) won
three straight singles matches.
Freshmen Alex Knight and
Runhao Hua found themselves
down early in their single
matches against Kris Yee and
Daniel Valent, and the young
competitors could not salvage
victories.
And after a positive start,
winning his first set 6-4, senior
Alex Petrone faltered in his final
two sets, losing
to Vanderbilt’s
Gonzales
Austin.
These three
results
left
Michigan
down 3-1 with
three matches
remaining.
Senior
Michael
Zhu
and
freshman Carter Lin fought
valiantly
and
proceeded
to
establish a 3-3 tie.
This left the meet-deciding
match to Crocker, and both
teams swarmed to the final court
in support of their respective
athletes.
“Everybody was going nuts on
both sides,” Crocker said. “The
yelling was echoing throughout
the building.”
Though
the
freshman
garnered
incredible
support
from his teammates, he could
not prevail against Eswaran.
Despite
the
heartbreaking
loss, Michigan coach Adam
Steinberg focused on the positive
aspects of the meet.
“I
thought
they
fought
amazingly well,” he said. “I
thought we competed great. I
was really proud of them. We’re
getting better.”
MEN’S TENNIS
MICHIGAN
VANDERBILT
3
4
“Everybody was
going nuts.”
Close not enough
for ‘M’ in defeat
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
Track and field might as well
be called horseshoes and hand
grenades due to how often the
word “almost” could be used.
Almost counts for something
with
horseshoes
and
hand
grenades. In track and field,
almost means its definition — not
quite.
Saturday, the No. 15 Michigan
women’s track and field team lost
its first dual meet of the season
to No. 23 Michigan State, 81-80,
a meet decided by one place. An
almost-win.
“There were a lot of things
where we lost by one place, and
I’m not sure how we’re going to
talk about that,” said Michigan
coach James Henry. “There were
some close ones that we won and
some close ones that we lost.”
The
meet
took
place
in
Allendale, Michigan at Grand
Valley State University, providing
a neutral site for a new Michigan
and Michigan State track and
field tradition — a dual meet
between
two
historically
successful in-state rivals. The
crowd was divided 50/50 with
both Michigan and Michigan
State fans providing support,
but neither created a home-field
advantage. The tradition started
in 2013 (Michigan won, 89-73),
and regularly brings intense
competition
and
excitement
despite
being
toward
the
beginning of the season.
“There’s more emotions in
this
competition
than
there
is when we’re at a conference
championship meet,” Henry said.
“One-on-one is going straight
up against your rivals, so that’s
always fun.”
Fifteen
Wolverines
set
personal bests in the meet,
including freshman high jumper
Claire Kieffer-Wright (first place
with a height of 1.73 meters)
and junior Danielle Pfeifer, who
finished first in the 600-meter
race with a time of 1:30.66.
Michigan won six races and
earned 25 top-three finishes
on the day. Junior Cindy Ofili
won three titles — the 60-meter
dash, 60-meter hurdles and 200-
meter race. Henry was pleased
with the whole team, but didn’t
want to leave anyone out when
he was thinking of specific
accomplishments.
“If you bring up two or three
names, you miss two or three. It
was a good team effort,” Henry
said. “We tried to compete as a
team and win as a team.”
Henry also said that the
team is coming together even
more, as now, every athlete’s
performance counts because
meets are scored for the rest
of the season. Despite the
loss, Henry believes that the
experience was beneficial for
the Wolverines. An almost-win
comes with its share of lessons.
“We have compared ourselves
with two things: with what
Michigan State is like and we
compared
ourselves
against
ourselves so we can improve,”
Henry said.
With
collegiate
personal
bests being achieved early in the
season, Michigan looks well on its
way to continued and consistent
improvement. Even with a loss
to a lower-ranked opponent, the
Wolverines have both veterans
and freshmen racing well, leaving
no reason to worry.
Henry wasn’t disappointed,
but rather has confidence that his
team will succeed. He believes
that his team has the capability to
win races with slim margins for
error as the season goes on.
“We just have to be mentally
tough, that’s what it comes
down to,” Henry said. “We have
to win the close ones. There
were a number of close ones by
hundredths and thousandths of
a second.”
Almost counts for something
instantly
in
horseshoes
and
hand grenades. In track and
field, almost might take a while
to count for something. But it
immediately brings motivation
for the next race.
WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
‘M’ wins top-10 showdown
Wolverines knock
off No. 7 Nebraska
at Crisler
By CINDY YU
Daily Sports Writer
A matchup against the top-
ranked vault squad in the nation
was enough motivation for the
Michigan women’s gymnastics
team to prove it can compete
with the best.
In a showdown between the
top two teams in the Big Ten,
the fourth-ranked Wolverines
(3-0 Big Ten, 5-0 overall)
recorded a season-best total of
197.300 to beat No. 7 Nebraska’s
195.875 points at Crisler Center
on Saturday.
For the fourth consecutive
week, sophomore Nicole Artz,
senior Sachi Sugiyama and
freshman Brianna Brown filled
the top three spots in the all-
around standings. Artz led the
team with a career-high 39.600,
while Sugiyama and Brown
improved
their
career-best
totals with scores of 39.500 and
39.450, respectively.
As
improved
landings
continued
to
escalate
the
Wolverines’
vault
scores,
Sugiyama and Artz delivered
two of the best vaults of their
careers.
Sugiyama tied her career-
best 9.950 to win the event.
After
nearly
sticking
her
Yurchenko 1.5 landing, the
audience repeatedly chanted
“10,” to signify their approval of
the routine.
“We’ve been really focusing
on sticks, especially this week,
because Nebraska (2-1 Big Ten,
5-1 overall) is known for their
really good vaults,” Sugiyama
said. “I had no doubt in my mind
going down (the runway) that it
was going to be a good vault.
“I think that it was just having
that mindset that really helped
out, and obviously it paid off.”
Artz scored a career-high
9.900 on vault, good enough to
tie for second with Nebraska
senior Jessie DeZiel.
“It literally took my breath
away,” Artz said. “I told Dave,
‘Dave, I don’t think I can finish
the meet.’ I was just so excited,
because I worked really hard on
that event.”
Following the first rotation,
Michigan led Nebraska, 49.300-
48.900.
On the uneven bars, Brown
and Artz took first and second
place with season-best scores
of 9.900 and 9.875, respectively.
Senior Brooke Parker made her
first appearance in competition
on the bars, scoring 9.800 in an
exhibition routine.
At
the
halfway
point,
the
Wolverines
led
the
Cornhuskers,
98.500-98.225.
As usual, Nebraska showcased
an impressive vault rotation,
scoring 49.325 in the event
and sticking five of six vault
landings.
Ranked second in the nation
on balance beam, Michigan
recorded a season-best 49.275
in the event. Junior Briley
Casanova scored her season-
best 9.875 in the leadoff position
with a routine highlighted by a
back handspring to layout step-
out and straddle jump to back
salto stuck cold. Sophomore
Talia Chiarelli tied Casanova
for first with her confident
routine performed in sync with
Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.”
In a three-way tie for third
with Artz and Nebraska junior
Hollie Blanske, Sugiyama tied
her career-best 9.850.
“I just got to really learn
to calm myself down before
beam,” Sugiyama said. “I’m
really enjoying being back in the
all-around.”
In her second exhibition
of the night, Parker scored a
career-best 9.750 on beam,
unofficially
competing
in
the all-around and totaling a
respectable 39.225.
“Brooke has been such a
worker bee in the gym and
we’ve been working a great
deal on her confidence,” said
Michigan coach Bev Plocki.
“She’s a very talented athlete,
but we need her to transfer what
I see in the gym to what we see
in competition … We need her to
be ready, because she provides
us with a depth that’s at a very
high level, and that’s what we
need right now.”
On
floor
exercise,
the
Wolverines maintained their
momentum, topping the season
average of Alabama, the best
team in the nation, 49.525-
49.367. The five counted scores
toward the team total placed in
the top five on the event, with
each scoring a season best.
Junior Lindsay Williams led
off with a 9.850 performance
followed by Brown, Parker and
Sugiyama scoring 9.900, 9.875
and 9.925, respectively.
In the second round of “10”
chants, Artz actually received
a
10.000
from
one
judge.
Averaged with her other floor
score, she totaled 9.975 on the
event.
“To see a 10 flash (on
the
scoreboard)
is
just
overwhelming,” Artz said.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Sophomore Nicole Artz scored a career-high 9.900 on the vault in Michigan’s win over Nebraska.