The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
February 8, 2016 — 3B

‘M’ rolls to pair of 
rivalry meet wins

Men’s and women’s 
teams cruise to wins 

over Spartans

By MAGGIE KOLCON

For the Daily

Normally, 
when 
Michigan 

and Michigan State face off, 
an intense showdown from 
the in-state rivalry is to be 
expected. But the Michigan’s 
men’s and women’s swimming 
and diving teams were all 
smiles during Saturday’s dual 
meet at Canham Natatorium. 
The Wolverine women swept 
every event to win, 180-81, and 
the men finished first in every 
event except diving to win in 
convincing fashion, 173-93.

Despite it being Senior Day, 

sophomore Clara Smiddy and 
freshman Becca Postoll claimed 
two 
individual 
events 
each, 

making their mark on the meet as 
underclassmen for the women’s 
team. Freshman Katie Duggan 
also won the 500-yard freestyle 
event to claim her first career 
individual win.

On 
the 
men’s 
side, 
nine 

Wolverines 
won 
individual 

events. Junior Jason Chen placed 
first in the 50-yard backstroke 
and the 100-yard individual 
medley, making him the lone 
male Wolverine to win two 
individual events. Senior Matt 
McNamara had an outstanding 
50-yard breaststroke, in which 
he edged out Michigan State’s 
Alec Kandt by less than a tenth of 
a second.

Because 
of 
Michigan’s 

dominance in the meet, it was a 
bit of a surprise to see Michigan 
trailing the Spartans in the last 
event, the 200-yard freestyle 
relay. 
But 
Michigan 
senior 

Anders Lie Nielsen came from 

behind to win, ending the day on 
a high note.

“We had an all-senior relay 

in the end there, and we were 
trailing a little bit,” Nielsen said. 
“I just got really excited because 
I love winning. I love winning for 
the team, you know, so I didn’t 
really have a choice. I had to get 
my hand on the wall so I did it.”

The 
Wolverines 
used 
the 

dual meet as an opportunity to 
experiment, 
placing 
athletes 

out of their comfort zones and 
into different events than they 
normally swim. Senior Dylan 
Bosch, an Olympic hopeful, tried 
out the 500-yard freestyle event, 
which was a departure from his 
normal butterfly events. He won 
by a significant margin of more 
than 15 seconds.

“Today’s theme was just to 

celebrate each other and to have 
fun,” said Bosch. “We always 
try to swim as hard as we can 
in everything we do. I think 
it’s actually kind of good to not 
always put a huge emphasis on 
your event and the three that 
you’re going to be swimming at 
championships.”

For the men, this win closed 

out their fifth undefeated season, 
and for the women, it gave them 
an opportunity to prepare for the 
Big Ten Tournament, which they 
will be hosting in two weeks. 

“It’s super exciting that we’re 

hosting Big Tens,” said senior 
Sarah 
Kamstra. 
“Today, 
we 

were all focusing on thinking of 
this as a rehearsal almost of the 
next meet, really just working on 
consistency.”

The 
men’s 
team 
will 
be 

resting up for their own Big 
Ten 
Championships, 
which 

start Feb. 24. With the help of 
their experienced seniors, both 
teams have a positive outlook 
for what is sure to be an exciting 
postseason.

SWIMMING & DIVING
Wolverines trounce Big Ten foes

‘Murderer’s Row’ 

continues to 

shine in wins over 
Maryland, Rutgers

By MATTHEW KENNEDY

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan wrestling team 

traveled 
east 
this 
weekend, 

hoping to clinch a third-place 
finish in the Big Ten. With 
dominating wins at Maryland 
and Rutgers, the eighth-ranked 
Wolverines are guaranteed at 
least that finish.

The wins come a week after 

Michigan (7-1 Big Ten, 12-2 
overall) suffered a blowout loss 
to No. 1 Penn State.

“Everybody 
knew 
what 

needed to be done and how we 
needed to bounce back,” said 
junior captain Adam Coon. “The 
team is really great in that it can 
bounce back and continue to 
fight. It doesn’t need someone 
to fire them up. Everybody is 
self-motivated and able to get 
himself up and get the job done.”

The Wolverines’ first East 

Coast 
test 
was 
Friday 
at 

Maryland. The first four weight 
classes traded decisions to tie 
the match at 6-6. After those, 
however, it was all Michigan.

Junior Brian Murphy and 

sophomore Garrett Sutton, the 
157- and 165-pound wrestlers, 
respectively, 
each 
won 

decisions 
to make the 
match 
score 

12-6. 
From 

there, 
things 

only 
got 

worse for the 
Terrapins 
as 
the 

Wolverines’ 
so-called 
“Murderer’s Row” took the floor.

Redshirt sophomore Aaron 

Calderon pinned the Maryland 

wrestler 
in 
the 
177-pound 

round to garner six points for 
Michigan. After a major decision 
by junior Domenic Abounader, 
the No. 4 184-pound wrestler 
in the country, and a technical 
fall forced by sixth-year senior 
Max Huntley, the No. 6 197-
pound wrestler in the country, 

the scoreboard 
read 
27-6 

and 
victory 

was 
all 
but 

assured for the 
Wolverines.

Still in store, 

though, 
was 

heavyweight 
Adam 
Coon, 

who registered 
Michigan’s 
second pin of 

the day to cap a 33-6 victory.

Two 
days 
later, 
the 

Wolverines moved from College 

Park to Piscataway to take on 
No. 12 Rutgers.

The 
match 
against 
the 

Scarlet Knights proved to be a 
lot tougher than Friday’s bout, 
with Rutgers taking a 16-10 
lead with just three weight 
classes remaining. Those three 
weight classes, though, were all 
Michigan needed.

Abounader 
started 
the 

comeback for Michigan with 
a five-point technical fall in 
the 184-pound match. His big 
performance was followed by 
Huntley, who had an even bigger 
six-point pin in the 197-pound 
bout. With one match remaining, 
Michigan had suddenly jumped 
out to a 21-16 lead.

Still, 
though, 
the 
match 

was not over, as Rutgers could 
potentially tie or take the lead. 
Coon, an All-American, made 
sure that didn’t happen, pinning 

the 
Rutgers 
heavyweight 

wrestler to guarantee a 27-16 
victory for the Wolverines.

“I got to my attacks right 

away 
and 
there’s 
always 

improvement to make,” Coon 
said. “But overall, I had a couple 
solid matches and was happy 
with this weekend.”

The 
weekend 
sweep 
was 

especially impressive given the 
proximity of the two matches 
and the fact that they were both 
on the road.

“(Two weekend road meets) 

definitely prepares them,” said 
Michigan assistant coach Sean 
Bormet. “Rutgers has a good 
arena for wrestling, they have a 
good crowd — it’s a loud crowd, 
it’s a real excitable crowd. It was 
great for our guys to compete in 
that kind of environment again. 
That’s what it’s like at the Big 
Tens and the NCAAs.”

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Alec Pantaleo and the Michigan wrestling team bounced back from a loss to Penn State for a strong weekend showing.

“That’s what it’s 

like at the 

Big Tens and 
the NCAAs.”

Wolverines go 2-1 
in weekend series

Loss to Georgia 
spoils otherwise 
strong weekend 

for Michigan 

By MIKE PERSAK 

Daily Sports Writer

The 
Michigan 
women’s 

tennis team has been steadily 
climbing the rankings this year, 
and the ITA National Indoor 
Championship in Madison gave 
the team another opportunity 
to impress against some of its 
toughest competition of the 
year.

A loss to No. 2 Georgia (5-1) 

marred what was an otherwise 
successful 
weekend 
for 
the 

Wolverines 
(4-2), 
who 
beat 

No. 11 Miami (4-2) and No. 18 
Louisiana State (6-2).

“It’s 
definitely 
a 
tough 

weekend with three in a row,” 
said Michigan coach Ronni 
Bernstein. “Each team is tough. 
There’s no easy match when 
you come (to the ITA National 
Indoor Championship).”

Michigan’s biggest test came 

Saturday 
against 
the 

Bulldogs, but 
it was unable 
to pull off the 
upset. 
The 

bottom of the 
Wolverines’ 
lineup 
struggled 
to 

get 
anything 

going 
in 
a 

match 
that 

they lost, 4-1.

Back-end 
struggles 
have 

been a theme so far this year 
for Michigan, something the 
team will need to improve in the 
future.

“It’s just kind of the top of 

the lineup coming through right 
now,” Bernstein said. “So we 
just have to work on that, get 
everybody getting it done.”

Despite 
this 
loss, 
the 

Wolverines felt good about its 
weekend overall, successfully 
fulfilling the expectations they 
set for themselves in every 
match.

“As far as how we competed 

all weekend, I’m really happy 
with the girls,” Bernstein said. 
“I feel like coming away, we 
competed really hard, and we 
talk about that a lot.”

Michigan was led in its 

matches by freshman Brienne 
Minor, 
who 
was 
the 
only 

Wolverine to go undefeated in 
singles matches over the three-
day tournament. While the first-
year player is new to the scene, 
she has been impressive the 
entire season, and it should be 
no surprise to see her as one of 
the top performers on the team.

“Her 
level 
has 
really 

exploded,” 
Bernstein 
said. 

“She’s coming and volleying and 
not just relying on her ground 
strokes, which are amazing. But 
she’s just playing at a high level. 
She’s playing loose and she’s 
playing confident.”

It was this kind of play that 

led Michigan to its two wins on 
the weekend, and the kind of 
play that has gained the team 

some national 
recognition 
this year. But 
the team tries 
not to focus 
on 
rankings 

or what others 
say about their 
team.

“It’s 
still 

early, 
so 
I 

don’t 
know 

how accurate 

(the rankings) are,” Bernstein 
said. “You just have to keep 
winning, and the rankings will 
come.”

Next weekend the Wolverines 

will host Notre Dame in hopes 
of continuing the winning ways 
of their young season. If they 
do, whether the team wants to 
acknowledge it or not, there’s no 
doubt they will continue to rise 
in national prominence.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

“You just have 
to keep winning 
and the rankings 

will come.”

Michigan sweeps Blue Devils

Wolverines rout 

No. 25 Duke, 

continue five-match 

winning streak

By JARED BERSON

For the Daily 

The Michigan men’s tennis 

team’s 
hot 
start 
Sunday 

should’ve served as a warning 
for No. 25 
Duke 
that 

the ranking 
didn’t 
intimidate the Wolverines. After 
earning the doubles point with 
a 2-0 sweep, Michigan didn’t 
let up, sweeping Duke 7-0 to 
extend a stretch in which the 
Wolverines are 32-1 over their 
last five matches.

Michigan 
juniors 
Jathan 

Malik 
and 
Tyler 
Gardiner 

opened doubles play by taking 
a 5-0 lead and cruising to a 6-2 

win. Sophomore Runhao Hua 
and redshirt sophomore Alex 
Knight then completed a rally 
from being down, 4-2, to take 
the No. 1 doubles game 6-4 and 
secure the doubles point for 
Michigan.

The 
doubles 
momentum 

that Michigan built paid off 
immediately, as Hua jumped 
all over Blue Devil TJ Pura, 
establishing a 5-0 lead in the first 
set of his singles match before 
closing it 6-3. Michigan won all 
six opening sets of singles action, 
continuing its strong run of play.

The No. 1 singles match, 

which 
featured 
Duke 

sophomore Nicolas Alvarez, a 
2015 All-American and Malik, a 
British international student in 
his first year with the Michigan 
program, did not disappoint. 
Malik dominated the first set, 
6-2, but Alvarez came back with 
an early break in the second set. 
Malik got the break back for 
4-4 in the second, displaying 
superior net skills to win break 

point. Alvarez started showing 
frustration after being broken 
in the second set and really 
appeared flustered when Malik 
clipped 
an 
alley-line 
from 

beyond the baseline to gain 
a 5-4 advantage. A beautiful 
lob at 5-4, 15-15, sparked the 
break that clinched the match 
for Malik. At match point, the 
crowd clapped for Malik, who 
kept Alvarez deep beyond the 
baseline and finished the match 
with a clinical volley to claim a 
6-2, 6-4, victory for Michigan.

“When I play my best, I don’t 

think there’s very many players 
in college tennis who can beat 
me,” Malik said following his 
impressive performance.

Michigan junior Kevin Wong 

finished off his Blue Devil 
opponent quickly, breezing past 
Ryan Dickerson, 6-2, 6-2. Just 
minutes after Malik closed out 
his win over Alvarez, Knight 
polished off Catalin Mateas, 6-4, 
6-2, and the Wolverines went 
up, 4-0, to clinch the match. The 

Wolverines clinched the match 
in only one hour and 52 minutes, 
sweeping all eight matches that 
were finished and improving the 
team’s record to 5-1 overall.

But Michigan did not let up. 

Hua, a sophomore from Shanghai, 
ended his strong performance on 
the day with a commanding 6-4, 
6-3 win over Pura, and Michigan 
sophomore Carter Lin pulled out 
a tough 3-set match over Duke 
senior Josh Levine, winning 6-4, 
4-6, 6-4.

“We have no seniors, and that’s 

really unusual, to have the same 
team returning,” said Michigan 
coach Adam Steinberg. “My goal 
was to get these guys together by 
this year… and I feel like we can 
go from a good team and become 
great.” 

Regardless 
of 
a 
lack 
of 

experience, 
the 
Wolverines 

believe they can succeed. 

“We can be the best team in 

the country,” Knight said. “We 
know we have a chance to win 
every spot.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan men’s tennis coach Adam Steinberg has guided his team to a 32-1 mark in its last five matches, including a 7-0 win over Duke on Sunday.

DUKE
MICHIGAN 

0
7

