Sports
8 — Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WATER POLO
‘M’ finishes 3-1 on weekend

By JESSE KLEIN

Daily Sports Writer

This 
weekend’s 
Triton 

Invitational in San Diego put 
the Michigan women’s water 
polo team in many different 
situations, 
allowing 
coach 

Marcelo Leonardi to see how 
his team would respond. And it 
responded well.

The Wolverines proved they 

were ready for high-pressure 
situations 
in 
their 
second 

tournament of the season by 
winning games in overtime, 
coming from behind and holding 
onto one-goal leads.

The weekend started out rough 

with a loss to No. 15 Long Beach 
State, 6-5, in the closing seconds. 
Junior attacker Ali Thomason 
scored a hat trick, but her feat 
wasn’t enough for the Wolverines 
to win. The game wasn’t a total 
loss, however, according to senior 
goalkeeper Emily Browning.

“Even though Long Beach State 

didn’t go the way we wanted, it 
was a good close game,” Browning 
said. “It’s good preparation for the 
tough games we will be seeing 
later in the season.”

Losing the first game of a 

tournament by one could have 
weighed down the morale of a 
team. Leonardi saw his team 
come back with extra motivation, 
proceeding to win all of the 
remaining games. They downed 
Cal State East Bay, 10-5, as 
freshman 
attacker 
Caroline 

Anderson followed Thomas’ lead 
and completed her first hat trick.

Attacking and goal scoring has 

not been a problem for Michigan 
so far, as the Wolverines have 
averaged eight goals per game. 
However, their defensive play 
has been confused and sporadic, 
with the new system imposed by 
Leonardi only now starting to 
click after four months of work. 
This tournament showed vast 
improvement on defense of the 
Wolverines.

“We were finally all on the 

same page,” Leonardi said. “We 
are trusting each other and the 
system.”

After dominating the Pioneers, 

Leonardi 
got 
to 
experience 

another 
novel 
situation, 
an 

overtime win. No. 16 UC Davis 
came back from an early 3-1 deficit 
to tie the game at nine. Browning 
held off the the Aggies’ attack, 
making double-digit saves. She 
cited the cohesiveness of her and 
her teammates for the success.

The weekend came to a close 

with a come-from-behind win 
against No. 18 UC Santa Barbara. 
Michigan trailed 1-0 after the 
first quarter and 3-2 at the half, 
but in keeping with the weekend’s 
previous 
performances, 
the 

Wolverines fought against the 
odds, winning 6-4.

“We learned that even if we 

are down by a couple goals, we 
can still get back in the game and 
come out with a win,” Browning 
said.

Bigs use size advantage

Doyle, Donnal 
combine for 22 
points on 8-for-9 

shooting vs. Indiana

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball team matched up 
Sunday with an Indiana team 
that was more athletic with 
better shooters and probably 
quicker as well.

But the Hoosiers weren’t 

bigger. And it’s a rare day when 
the Wolverines can say that.

Though Michigan fell short in 

the end, both freshman forward 
Ricky 
Doyle 
and 
redshirt 

freshman forward Mark Donnal 
turned in strong performances 
at 
the 
‘5’ 
position. 
Doyle 

finished with 15 points and six 
rebounds, while Donnal added 
seven points, including an early 
3-pointer that helped keep the 
Wolverines afloat at Assembly 
Hall.

Sunday was just the fourth 

time this season, and the second 
since Nov. 17, that multiple 
big men scored at least seven 
points each. Michigan also had 
significant size advantages in 
each of the previous occasions: 
Nov. 15 against Hillsdale, Nov. 
17 against Bucknell and Dec. 22 
against Coppin State.

“It was good to see them being 

productive,” 
said 
Michigan 

coach John Beilein. “Ricky really 
gave us a lot of good minutes out 
there. Mark was coming in after 
the sickness, and we wanted to 
really give him a shot, and he 
made the most of it in the second 
half.”

The success down low came 

after a 72-54 home loss to Iowa 
on Thursday in which Doyle, 

Donnal and senior Max Bielfeldt 
combined for just four points 
and five rebounds on 1-for-4 
shooting.

The Wolverines reaped the 

benefits of playing one of the 
smallest teams in the Big Ten. 
While Michigan ranks below 
average at No. 195 nationally 
in effective height, a height 
measure weighted based on 
playing time, Indiana is even 
further down at No. 260.

With junior forward Hanner 

Mosquera-Perea 
limited 
to 

four 
minutes 
by 
an 
ankle 

injury, Indiana started 6-foot-
7, 215-pound sophomore Collin 
Hartman at the ‘5.’ Freshmen 
Max Hoetzel (6-foot-8, 220) 
and Emmitt Holt (6-foot-7, 225) 
spelled Hartman, but the three 
Michigan big men were bigger 
than all three of their Indiana 
counterparts.

So 
the 
Wolverines 
got 

unexpected 
production 
from 

their frontcourt, which has been 
competitive but not consistent 
this season. Doyle, Donnal and 
Bielfeldt have not been immune 
to the midseason spell of injuries 
and illnesses. Donnal played just 
two minutes Thursday against 
Iowa and missed the previous 
two games with an illness, and 
Doyle hadn’t scored in double 
figures since Jan. 10 as he battled 
an upper respiratory infection.

“With their total numbers, 

they were really good today,” 
Beilein said. “And I loved that 
Mark could come in and get 
the offensive rebounds. Once 
again, (Indiana is) not a great 
rebounding team, but it is a step 
for us to go, and (for) Ricky to get 
the rebounds.

“When people switch screens, 

like they do, we weren’t going to 
do anything else. We were just 
going to throw it to those two 
guys as much as we could. We 
would like to have more success, 

but they’re making big steps.”

When the Wolverines lost 

junior guard Caris LeVert and 
sophomore 
guard 
Derrick 

Walton Jr. to foot injuries last 
month, among the production 
they lost was 3-point shooting. 
LeVert and Walton were two of 
the team’s top three long-range 
shooters, so in recent weeks, 
Michigan has had to redirect the 
game plan to penetration and 
paint touches.

Sunday, that meant finding 

Doyle 
and 
Donnal, 
who 

combined to shoot 8-for-9 from 
the floor.

“I was just doing what I’ve 

practiced — using my leverage, 
keeping the ball high, just score 
the easy bucket,” Doyle said.

That easy bucket might not 

be as easy when the Wolverines 
face Illinois, Michigan State and 
Ohio State in their next three 
games, but they continue to 
reshape their offensive attack 
to rely more on getting the ball 
inside.

“In 
the 
Michigan 
State 

game, we scored two points a 
possession when we put two 
feet in the paint,” Beilein said. 
“We’ve been working on this in 
practice, driving the ball. We 
have a lot of shooters that aren’t 
shot-fakers or drive-fakers.”

That won’t change overnight, 

and the size advantage will 
disappear soon as well. But 
Michigan’s crop of big men 
put on a much-needed show of 
strength when given the chance 
Sunday.

Nagelvoort thriving 
in latest opportunity

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Writer

For much of the season, it 

hasn’t seemed to matter who is 
in net for the Michigan hockey 
team.

The 12th-ranked Wolverines 

have scored more goals than any 
team in the country, but behind 
the 
curtain 

of goals lies 
a 
problem 

that concerns even one of the 
nation’s hottest teams. Despite 
having won 14 of 17 games, 
Michigan 
has 
struggled 
to 

find consistent play from its 
goaltenders: sophomore Zach 
Nagelvoort and junior Steve 
Racine.

In the past three games, 

however, Nagelvoort has looked 
as good as he has at any time this 
season, bringing some much-
needed stability to a team in 
the midst of an eight-game road 
stretch.

After making 31 saves to 

earn the win in net Saturday, 
Nagelvoort is now 6-2-0 in 
Big Ten play. He sports a 
conference-leading 1.74 goals-
against average and .938 save 
percentage in eight conference 
games. Since returning to the 
starting role two weeks ago, the 
sophomore is surrendering just 
one goal per game, earning the 
starting gig for now.

“It’s 
been 
a 
big 
debate 

just about every week,” said 
Michigan coach Red Berenson. 
“Racine started to lose his 
focus or gain a little bit of (over)
confidence, so we put Zach in 
there, and his next start is a 
shutout (against Wisconsin on 
Jan. 24). If you look at his last 
three games, it’s pretty good on 
the goals-against side. We were 
giving up four goals a game 

(before).

“I like both of them, but right 

now, Zach’s in a good spot.”

While Nagelvoort has the job 

for now, this season indicates 
that in goal, one’s job security 
is only as good as their last 
performance. For Nagelvoort, 
this means he has to carry a 
consistent mentality regardless 
of position.

“I always approach games 

like I’m going to play them, 
whether I’m the starter or not,” 
Nagelvoort said. “I feel like 
in my position, you have to be 
prepared to go every single night 
as we’ve seen. You never know 
when you’re going to get thrown 
in there.”

WINDY CITY PIPELINE?: 

There was a lot to be excited 
about in Michigan’s win over 
Michigan State, but beyond the 
experience of an outdoor game, 
Berenson is hoping for one long-
term benefit of the trip.

With nine Big Ten players 

from the Chicago area and 
more than 40 playing Division 
I hockey nationwide, the Windy 
City has become something 
of a hockey hotbed in recent 
years. The surge is especially 
intriguing given that no team 
calls Chicago home, with Notre 
Dame (96 miles) the closest 
team.

Sophomore 
forward 
JT 

Compher 
and 
freshman 

defenseman Sam Piazza have 
come from Chicago to Ann 
Arbor, and Berenson hopes a 
big win at Soldier Field can help 
that contingent grow down the 
road.

“I think it’s huge for us,” he 

said. “We’ve had some good 
players from Chicago before we 
were even in the Big Ten, we 
have some now, and hopefully 
we are going to get more.”

Michigan travels to Columbus 
for second rivalry showdown

By KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Writer

Tuesday’s game against Ohio 

State will be the Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 
team’s 

fourth contest in 10 days.

With the addition of two 

teams to the conference, not 
only 
do 
the 

Wolverines 
have to combat 
a 
fatiguing 

schedule, 
but 
also 
a 

much 
more 

competitive 
one.

“We played 

two less games 
in the Big Ten 
last 
year,” 

said Michigan 
coach 
Kim 

Barnes Arico. “You go and add 
Maryland, who’s No. 5 in the 
country, and Rutgers, who’s 
a top-20 team in the country, 
to our league, and we have to 
play them three times. So that 
drastically changes what we 
had to do last year. … I think the 
NCAA committee will take that 
into consideration.”

But it won’t be challenging 

for Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 14-9 

overall) to find the energy it needs 
to put up a fight in Columbus, 
despite obvious fatigue.

On top of being a major 

rivalry game for the Wolverines, 
when the teams met on Jan. 
11, the Wolverines edged out 
the Buckeyes (8-4, 16-8) in 
an overtime thriller, 100-94. 
Michigan pulled out a win by 
holding the nation’s leading 
scorer, guard Kelsey Mitchell, to 
just 13 points.

For a player who averages 25.5 

points per game, Mitchell was 
largely shut down by Michigan’s 
defense.

Unfortunately 
for 
the 

Buckeyes, that defense is as 
strong as it has been all season. 
In Sunday’s loss to Rutgers, 
defense was the only thing that 
kept the Wolverines in the game. 
Michigan shot just 26 percent 
from the field, but its zone 
formation held Rutgers to just 57 
points, a dramatic improvement 
from when the Scarlet Knights 
dropped 81 on Michigan in their 
first matchup on Jan. 7.

Mitchell will have to find a 

way around senior forwards 
Cyesha 
Goree 
and 
Nicole 

Elmblad. Both shut Mitchell 
down, and led the Wolverines in 
rebounds, grabbing 19 and nine, 

respectively. With their help, 
Michigan outrebounded Ohio 
State, 45-31.

After coming so close to 

victory, it’s safe to assume that 
Mitchell and the Buckeyes will 
be set on revenge in Columbus 
after leaving Ann Arbor as 
losers. Additionally, a large part 
of the earlier loss was because of 
Ohio State’s lack of experience, 
and the Buckeyes will be better 
prepared this time around.

Michigan’s biggest problem 

is still its road woes. The 
Wolverines have just a 2-6 
record away from Crisler Center 
and can’t seem to get open shots 
to fall while on the road. If they 
want to have any hope of a win 
in Columbus, none of Michigan’s 
three leading scorers — Goree, 
freshman 
guard 
Katelynn 

Flaherty 
and 
senior 
guard 

Shannon Smith — can afford to 
take the night off.

Goree, Flaherty and Smith all 

scored in double digits against 
the Buckeyes in January, with 
the most notable performance 
going to Smith, who scored a 
career-high 36 points.

Michigan made a marked 

improvement against Rutgers 
this week, and it hopes to do the 
same against Ohio State.

Michigan at 
Ohio State

Matchup: 
Michigan 14-9; 
Ohio St. 16-8

When: 
Tuesday 7 P.M.

Where: Value 
City Arena

TV/Radio: 
BTN Plus

DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Cyesha Goree had 18 points and 19 rebounds in Michigan’s first meeting against Ohio State. The rematch is Tuesday.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Ricky Doyle took advantage of Indiana’s undersized front line, scoring 15 points.

ICE HOCKEY

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