Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 16, 2016 — 7
Huntley owns second Senior Night
By MAGGIE KOLCON
For the Daily
The Michigan wrestling team
is going to have a huge hole to
fill at the 197-pound weight class
come next season. Sixth-year
senior Max Huntley wrestled
his last regular-season match
Friday night at Cliff Keen Arena,
winning against Purdue’s Drake
Stein with an impressive 16-1
technical fall.
Huntley is in his third season
as a captain for the Wolverines,
a first in Michigan wrestling
history. He is undefeated in dual
meets this season, along with
his upperweight teammates and
fellow captains, juniors Adam
Coon and Domenic Abounader.
Huntley’s
bout
was
highlighted by an early 10-1 lead
before the end of the first period,
which allowed him to add two
more single-leg takedowns to
end the match with 40 seconds
remaining in the third period.
“I
was
pretty
confident,”
Huntley said. “The only thing
I was worried about was that
Adam (Coon) was going to get a
pin, because I’m leading the pin
count for the team. You get an
award at the end of the year, and
if Adam would have gotten a pin,
it would’ve been tied, so I’m not
too upset about that.”
Despite Michigan coach Joe
McFarland’s jokes about bringing
him back for a seventh season,
Huntley will finish his collegiate
career this March. The sixth-
year wrestler participated in the
Senior Night ceremony last year
before the NCAA granted him
eligibility for another season,
but he was not keen on walking
through it again.
“When I wasn’t there yesterday,
they took a team vote to see if I
should get off the hook,” Huntley
said. “I guess I lost the vote by a
huge mass decision. But I made an
agreement with (McFarland) that
he would have to walk out with
me at least, but he hoodwinked me
and didn’t go out there. He had a
pretty good laugh.”
McFarland has had ample
opportunity to get to know his
oldest team member. Throughout
his time at Michigan, Huntley
has accumulated five varsity
letters and 78 wins for the
Wolverines.
“He’s going to be a hard
one to replace, I’ll be honest,”
McFarland said. “Anytime you
get a guy like that that’s got all
that experience and has wrestled
really well for you, you hate
losing those guys.”
But Huntley still has an
important postseason to guide
his team through. It won’t be his
focus or his drive that makes the
biggest impact in his opinion, but
rather his sense of humor.
“A lot of teams I’ve been on
have been very serious,” Huntley
said. “We’re in the locker room
and everyone is sitting there
with
brows
furrowed.
(It’s)
tough going through a whole Big
Ten season like that. You can
ask a lot of guys, I kind of joke
around a lot, try to keep it a little
lighter. That’s a small thing, but
over the course of how long a
college season is, I think it does
kind of help.”
The Wolverines have followed
Huntley’s example of keeping
things light, most notably during
senior Cody Vanderhagen’s plea
for a job offer in his Senior Night
introduction. From the looks
of Michigan’s 13-2 season, it’s
ability to have fun with the sport
has worked. Even the pregame
meals are a bit of a joke.
“That’s funny because me and
(Abounader) eat the exact same
meal,” Huntley said. “Every time,
both of us eat the exact same
thing. It’s such a crappy meal,
because it’s bagels and cream
cheese dunked in soup, and it
doesn’t sound good. But it’s like
a Stockholm Syndrome where
you start to love it. ... It’s kind
of becoming one of my favorite
meals.”
Huntley will be wrestling in
the Big Ten championships in
two weeks, when he will have an
opportunity to better last year’s
fifth-place
finish.
Regardless
of the outcome, one thing is for
certain: The impact Huntley has
made on Michigan wrestling
over the past six years will be
long-lasting.
DAVID SONG/Daily
Sixth-year senior Max Huntley won on Senior Night at Cliff Keen Arena against Purdue on Friday.
‘M’ top B1G team
in preseason polls
By SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Writer
Preseason accolades mean little
to the Michigan baseball team.
Instead, the rankings are an award
for last year’s work, rather than
any true prediction for the coming
season.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re
ranked top 25, or if you’re a lower-
ranked team,” said senior left-
hander Evan Hill. “You still have
to compete in every single inning
and in every single pitch.”
The Wolverines are currently
ranked by two different sources,
Baseball America and the NCAA,
at the No. 15 and 25 slot nationally,
respectively. Michigan is the only
Big Ten team to appear in the top
25, and the the only cold-weather
school as well.
“We just try to improve by
one percent every day,” Hill
said. “We talk about that all
the time. Pitching and defense
win championships, and that’s
something we put a precedent on
in our program. And maybe people
see we have both those strong suits
going into this season.”
Despite
the
Wolverines’
indifference, the commendations
are quite impressive.
Notably, just this week, the team
was also picked by a committee of
conference coaches as the favorite
to win the 2016 Big Ten Baseball
Championship.
Hill, his teammates and the
coaching staff all mirror his
sentiments that these rankings
will have no effect on their play.
“It’s nice to be recognized for
hard work,” said Michigan coach
Erik Bakich. “But those rankings
fall in the uncontrollable zone.
It really has no impact on the
outcome of the game, and it has no
impact on our training. These guys
are going to strive to improve daily
regardless of ranking.”
Currently in his fourth season,
Bakich led the team to win the Big
Ten Tournament last year. The
2015 Michigan team (14-10 Big
Ten, 39-25 overall) went to the
NCAA Tournament for the first
time since 2008, but its season
ended with a disappointing loss
to Louisville during the NCAA
Regionals.
Much of that team, however,
is returning to the current roster,
which boasts some individual
awards as well.
Notable
returning
players
include sophomore infielder Jake
Bivens, who was named the Big
Ten Freshman of the Year last
year. Additionally, junior left-
handers Carmen Benedetti and
Brett Adcock were both named
to the College Sports Madness
preseason All-Big Ten first team.
Though the players, and the
team itself, humbly disregard the
attention, there is one stat that
does matter to the coaching staff.
“We
lead
the
nation
in
freshman All-Americans the last
three years,” Bakich said, “which
isn’t a stat I’m boasting about, just
making a point that we’ve had
success with the freshmen making
an impact.”
Of the freshman class, four
players were named to the Big
Ten All-Freshman team last year,
including Bivens. Additionally, the
team boasted three Wolverines
in the MLB First-Year Player
Draft and eight Louisville Slugger
Freshman All-Americans — the
most in the nation under Bakich’s
first three years.
“We try not to worry about the
past that much,” Bakich said. “It’s
just a point of reference.”
BASEBALL
Michigan leans on
No. 1 doubles pair
Success by Ruder-
Hook, Minor
spurs victories for
Wolverines
By ORION SANG
Daily Sports Writer
Sophomore
Mira
Ruder-
Hook and freshman Brienne
Minor were in a tight match.
The No. 1 doubles team had
traded games back and forth
with
Notre
Dame’s
Quinn
Gleason and Monica Robinson,
and now needed to hold serve,
up 5-4, to clinch a victory.
With the game score 40-0
in favor of Michigan, Minor
unleashed
a
serve
at
her
opponent’s
backhand.
The
return landed out, and the
duo won their match to secure
the
doubles
point
for
the
Wolverines.
The pair is now 4-0 in dual-
matches this year, was ranked
for the first time this week at
No. 26 and has proven to be
crucial to the team’s success in
doubles.
When No. 8 Michigan wins
the doubles point, it bodes well
for its overall success in the
match. Following their win
against Notre Dame on Sunday,
the Wolverines are now 5-0 in
dual-match play after winning
the doubles point.
Minor
and
Ruder-Hook
have been the most consistent
doubles pair for the Wolverines,
staying together while coach
Ronni Bernstein has switched
up the No. 2 and 3 doubles
teams recently.
“It’s just clicked from the
beginning,”
Bernstein
said.
“They enjoy playing with each
other.”
For
Minor,
playing
with
Ruder-Hook has been a good
experience mentally.
“We know how to calm each
other down if we’re nervous or
not playing our best,” Minor
said.
“We
started
playing
regionals at the beginning of
the year and (coach) thought
we complemented each other
really well. We set each other
up really well. We stuck with it
and had some good results.”
On Sunday, it was clear
the two had a lethal on-court
connection.
Minor
and
Ruder-Hook
were both active at the net,
constantly moving to get in
position for volleys.
“It’s hard to get balls by them
at the net,” Bernstein said.
The
pair
also
kept
the
Fighting Irish uncomfortable
by returning their serving with
several different positions.
And when Michigan was
serving, there were several
moments during which the
Wolverines moved and attacked
as if they were one.
“They’re both aggressive,”
Bernstein
said.
“They
complement each other. (Minor
is) good at the net, moves well
and has great groundstrokes,
and
(Ruder-Hook)
comes
forward. They’re intimidating
when they’re playing well.”
Minor and Ruder-Hook not
only get along well on the court,
but off it as well.
“I love playing with (Minor),”
Ruder-Hook said. “We really
like each other as people so I
think that helps.”
Added Minor: “We hang out
all the time. We both like to eat
a lot.”
As
Michigan
enters
the
bulk of dual-match play, the
continued success of its No. 1
doubles team will go a long way
toward helping the team secure
more victories.
“That doubles point is big,”
Bernstein said. “It’s a lot easier
to win three singles matches as
opposed to four. We work on it
a ton. But to have our top team
in the lineup doing so well takes
some pressure off the other
kids.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Jackson’s hot hand leads ‘M’
By AZALEA HINOJOSA
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men’s lacrosse
team fought for a hard-earned
win against Colgate (0-1) on
Sunday, just barely slipping past
the Raiders, 9-8.
The Wolverines (1-1) will be
losing one of their key players
when the season comes to a close.
But until then, senior attackman
Kyle Jackson continues to lead the
offense.
Jackson,
who
started
at
midfield for three seasons, has
already found success in his new
role as an attackman — tallying
eight goals in just two games. In
the season opener against North
Carolina, Jackson matched his
career high of four goals, and did
it once again in the matchup with
Colgate.
Twenty seconds after junior
midfielder Mikie Schlosser scored
the first goal of the game, Jackson
netted one of his own. By the end
of the first quarter, Michigan led,
4-1, with Jackson scoring on two
quick shots.
The Ontario, Canada, native
is used to the toughness that
accompanies the contact sport,
so when a player on the opposing
team initiated a quarrel by
walking up to him and giving a
slight push, Jackson used it as
motivation.
“There was
frustration on
both
ends,”
Jackson said.
“But
I
like
a
little
bit
of
physical
activity.
It
makes it a little more enjoyable for
me.”
Throughout the game, Jackson
fought hard for the ball and raced
around the net in search of the
perfect
scoring
opportunity.
The 5-foot-9 attackman found
himself scrambling among 6-foot
defenders,
which
occasionally
resulted in a few tough hits to the
turf.
As the third quarter came to a
close, Schlosser calmly cradled
the ball down the field before
realizing the clock had just 10
seconds left on it. At that point,
he quickly cleared the ball down
to the goal at the opposite end,
where his teammates anxiously
waited. Jackson, who was just a
few feet away
from the goal,
stretched
his
stick
out
to
catch
the
ball, and took
a shot as he
was falling to
the ground —
notching his third goal of the
match.
Known by his coaches and
teammates as “K.J.”, Jackson was
listed as one of three Wolverines
on the Big Ten Preseason Players
to Watch list. His dominant
performances thus far have made
it hard to miss him on the field.
But Jackson isn’t focused on the
statistics he achieves individually.
Instead, what matters most to him
is the growth of the team.
“Personal
accomplishments
don’t mean a whole lot to me,”
Jackson said. “But as a team with
a great win like this, that’s more
than I could really ask for.”
Senior
midfielder
Mike
Hernandez notched a goal of his
own but took the time to give
credit where it was due.
“We just let K.J. be K.J.,”
Hernandez
said.
“He
makes
things happen for himself. He’s so
versatile and good with the ball.”
Added Michigan coach John
Paul: “(Jackson’s) so explosive.
He’s got such an incredible stick
and sense around the goal. It just
adds a dimension in that lefty spot
that we haven’t had.”
This win marks the first of its
kind in program history, as the
Wolverines have never defeated
a ranked team. Jackson and his
teammates are hopeful that this
will be just one of many program-
defining wins as the season
unfolds.
SINDUJA KILARU/Daily
Senior attackman Kyle Jackson has scored four goals in each of Michigan’s first two games this season, including four against Colgate over the weekend.
“We just let K.J.
be K.J.”