Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 23, 2016 — 7

Michigan’s difference

F

reshman Kate Fahey nailed 
two backhands cross court 
before hitting a forehand 

approach shot 
that pushed 
her opponent, 
Jessie Aney, 
beyond the 
baseline. 
The North 
Carolina 
freshman 
couldn’t 
control her 
next shot, 
sending the 
ball long.

Prior to the ball landing, Fahey 

looked to her left toward her 
teammates, extended her arms, 
and belted the words “Come 
on!” as loud as her lungs would 
let her. Just as she could scream 
no longer, six of her teammates 
all surrounded her to celebrate 
her win. And this was all before 
Fahey and Aney, who are close 
friends from the junior circuit, 
could even shake hands.

That could seem rude, but it’s 

not: It’s just the identity of the 
Michigan women’s tennis team.

The eighth-ranked Wolverines 

will cheer louder than any of 
their opponents — no questions 
asked. It’s what coach Ronni 
Bernstein demands, even when 
Michigan’s opponents don’t come 
anywhere close to matching her 
team’s intensity.

“We’ll have teams come in here 

and we’ll say ‘Wow, it’s so dead in 
here,’ ” Bernstein said. “I think 
all of our girls have that. It’s hard 
when the other teams don’t have 
it, but when you’re playing North 
Carolina, you definitely need it.”

That was the case on Saturday 

when the Wolverines dethroned 
No. 2 North Carolina, 5-2.

Added Fahey: “Honestly, since 

I’ve been here, between every 
team I’ve seen, we’re the loudest, 
definitely, and it helps. It throws 
(opponents) off.”

For most of the match, Fahey 

looked in control. She had played 
Aney countless times in juniors, 
yet had never beaten her. Aney 
has a style that would make any 
player cringe, including Fahey. 
The Tar Heel won’t beat you with 
power, but instead plays like a 
brick wall. And to make matters 
trickier, she slices nearly every 
backhand she takes.

This match was different, 

though. Prior to the match, 
Bernstein told Fahey that she 
needed to be more aggressive 
and get into the net — that was 
her only chance. She listened and 
executed, remaining in control 
nearly the entire match.

Her one blip, though, seemed 

significant. She had a match-point 
opportunity as she was up 5-3 in 
the second set, and found herself 
coming into the net. All she 
needed to do was smash a routine 
overhead, and her and Michigan’s 
match would be sealed. As she 
was gearing up for the shot, her 

teammates, who were watching 
from no more than 15 feet away, 
started to run toward Fahey, 
anticipating the victory.

But the ball went wide and her 

teammates awkwardly walked 
back to where they were before. 

Fahey could’ve dwelled at 

the missed opportunity. But her 
teammates’ cheers swallowed out 
any of the crowd’s gasps, as well 
as her internal emotions.

That’s Michigan women’s 

tennis.

“You could see Kate there, and 

she felt everybody in the crowd,” 
Bernstein said. “It’s a different 
dynamic.”

It’s that dynamic that 

Bernstein pines for. Not only does 
it help her team run opponents 
out of the building like it did on 
Saturday, but it’s also one of her 
key recruiting tools.

Three weeks ago, Bernstein 

hosted a blue-chip recruit for her 
team’s match against Ohio State. 
She knew the Varsity Tennis 

Center would be electric. And 
it was, despite the Wolverines 
falling, 4-2.

Still, Bernstein knows 

the recruit saw how a Ronni 
Bernstein team functions. She 
saw how every player screams 
“Go Blue!” after every point — 
yes, every point. And she saw 
how tennis could transition from 
being an individual to team sport.

“Any time (a recruit) comes to 

Ann Arbor, they see how the fans 
support our programs, and they 
want to be a part of it,” Bernstein 
said. “If they can get past the 
weather … then we are in the mix 
with any recruit.”

And if they ever make that 

decision to come to Ann Arbor, 
they’ll know one thing: It’s all 
about the team.

Because that’s Michigan 

women’s tennis.

Rubinstein can be reached by 

e-mail at jasonbr@umich.edu 

and on Twitter @jrubinstein4.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

The Michigan women’s tennis team knocked off No. 2 North Carolina at the Varsity Tennis Center on Saturday.

JASON

RUBINSTEIN

Pitching leads ‘M’

By ETHAN WOLFE 

Daily Sports Writer

Like a kid in a candy store, 

Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
knew he would get something 
good with whichever pitcher he 
brought to the mound during the 
Wolverines’ 
four-game 
sweep 

against Canisius.

No. 
15 
Michigan 
(4-0) 

outscored the Golden Griffins 
(0-4), 27-5, over the weekend, en 
route to its first 4-0 start since the 
2009 season.

Despite flashes of excellence at 

the plate, the series was headlined 
by the Wolverine pitching staff’s 
dominance. Between all four 
games, the Wolverines debuted 13 
different hurlers, including three 
freshmen, and just one of the five 
runs allowed was an earned run.

“They all looked to be in attack 

mode and they all competed very 
hard,” Bakich said. “Our entire 
team and our coaching staff are 
very pleased, not only with the 
three freshmen but with all of the 
pitchers.”

Junior 
left-hander 
Brett 

Adcock started the first game of 
the series, and he showed why he 
was named to the College Sports 
Madness Preseason Big Ten First 
Team, tossing 5.1 innings of three-
hit, no-run baseball. Adcock also 
struck out seven batters on his 
way to picking up the 9-0 win.

“Going into the first weekend 

of the year, you want to start the 
first day off with a win, and we 
did that Friday,” Adcock said.

In the first game of Saturday’s 

doubleheader, sophomore right-
hander Ryan Nutof threw four 
innings, not giving up a hit and 
allowing only one unearned run 
in the 6-2 victory.

Sophomore 
left-hander 

Michael Hendrickson relieved 
Nutof and kept Canisius hitless 
until the sixth inning, fanning 
five of the nine batters he faced. 

In the second game of the 

doubleheader, it appeared that 
senior left-hander Evan Hill 
was going to be the first starting 
pitcher to have difficulty against 
Canisius bats. But with the bases 
loaded and one out in the first 
inning, Hill struck out a batter 
and forced a pop out to escape the 
inning unscathed. 

Hill’s contributions, alongside 

the relief efforts of freshman left-
hander William Tribucher, junior 
right-hander Mac Lozer and 
sophomore right-hander Bryan 
Pall, combined to strike out 12 
batters for a 3-0 win — the second 
shutout of the series.

In the series’ final game, 

sophomore 
left-hander 
Oliver 

Jaskie got the nod. Jaskie, who 
started only one game last season, 
was electrifying in his season 
debut, tossing six innings while 
allowing just three hits and 
putting nine batters down on 
strikes. He was also named the 
Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for 
the impressive outing.

With the game out of reach, 

Bakich turned to junior right-
hander Keith Lehmann, freshman 
right-hander 
Jack 
Bredeson 

and junior left-hander Carmen 
Benedetti, who surrendered no 
hits, to close out the final three 
innings.

“The whole staff is able to show 

it can get efficient contact and get 
outs,” Adcock said. “That’s your 
starting point and you want us to 
work up to where we don’t have 
to worry about tiny mistakes. The 
defense definitely helped me out 
when I struggled.”

Adcock may have believed 

that he made mistakes on the 
mound, but the scoreboard would 
tell another story. Michigan’s 
pitching was the crux of a 
dominant four-game sweep, and 
will bode well for the Wolverines 
if they want to maintain a high 
level of play.

BASEBALL

Wolverines building postseason foundations early

Offseason training 
designed to push 
players’ physical, 

mental limits.

 

By BETELHEM ASHAME 

Daily Sports Writer

Though 
the 
offseason 

typically 
represents 
an 

opportunity to recover after 
a long and arduous season of 
competition, the way teams 
choose to spend their time 
off can set the tone for the 
upcoming season.

For the No. 2 Michigan 

softball team, the offseason 
wasn’t a time simply to sit back.
Even after falling just short of a 
Women’s College World Series 
title last year, the Wolverines 
knew better than to assume past 
success is an indicator of future 
results. If anything, Michigan’s 
second-place 
finish 
instilled 

a source of motivation for the 
team to tackle its offseason 
workouts in order to bridge 
the gap between itself and the 
reigning national champion, No. 
1 Florida. 

A key cornerstone of that 

regimen was the Oklahoma City 
Challenge.

Named for the site of the 

Women’s College World Series, 
the OKC Challenge pits four 
teams of Wolverines — a blue 
team, a maize team, a gray team 
and a white team — against one 
another in a three-day series 
of strength and conditioning 
challenges in the days leading 
up to Thanksgiving break.

Despite an 8-1 start to the 

season, Michigan’s lone loss 
came at the hands of the Gators, 
reminding the Wolverines why 
the OKC Challenge laid the 
foundation and set the pace for 
their offseason routine.

“The main purpose is to 

compete and to be challenged,” 
said 
Michigan 
coach 
Carol 

Hutchins. “We put them into 
groups so that it’s (the) team 
competing to beat the challenge. 
We made it very difficult this 

year — we upped the ante — and 
it’s something the kids really 
embrace and work really hard 
at. You’ll have to ask them how 
much they could move over 
Thanksgiving break.”

The first day consisted of 

four timed stations — medicine 
ball burpees, sandbag runs, 
tire flips and sled pushes — 
where the team that covered 
the most distance or completed 
the most repetitions won. A 
double-elimination tug of war 
tournament topped off day one.

The 
second 
day 
followed 

a similar format, with four 
different 
timed 
stations 
— 

hurdles 
and 
ladders, 
bear 

crawls, sled pushes, medicine 
ball 
throws 
and 
weighted 

barbell carries — where distance 
and repetitions again served as 
winning objectives.

The third and final day proved 

to be the most demanding, 
courtesy of a strenuous 6 a.m. 
obstacle course that included a 
sandpit crawl, a weighted sled 

push and pull, box jumps, bear 
crawls, and a weight drag and 
sprint, capped off by a team 
relay race.

Though a winning side is 

crowned in the OKC Challenge, 
the ultimate payoff isn’t about 
the competition itself. Rather, 
the challenge 
is 
designed 

to teach the 
Wolverines 
important 
lessons about 
perseverance 
and teamwork 
that they can 
apply to the 
season ahead.

“It’s 
a 
lot 

of 
grueling 

exercises to push us really hard 
physically and see how we react 
mentally,” said junior shortstop 
Abby Ramirez. “A lot of it is just 
pushing yourself to see how far 
you can go, and I think we all 
learned how strong we are if you 
don’t give up. You can do a lot 

more than you think you can.”

During 
the 
eight-month 

absence of games, save for a 
few fall exhibitions, it can be 
difficult to recreate the feeling 
of live competition between 
seasons. 
For 
Michigan, 
the 

OKC Challenge simulates that 

experience to 
fill 
the 
void 

with energy.

“It’s 
very 

effective,” 
said fifth-year 
senior 
right-

hander 
Sara 

Driesenga. 
“It’s hard to 
find that game 
pressure 
to 

put on yourself 

when you’re just running in the 
conditioning sessions. So when 
we do competitions, that’s when 
we push ourselves. (That) is how 
we want to be out on the field, 
so we’re able to pull that out of 
nowhere when we need it.”

Though most of last year’s 

squad is returning, no team 
is exactly the same in two 
consecutive 
seasons. 
The 

offseason provides a space to 
create a new team dynamic, 
mixing and matching new and 
old players to form a cohesive 
unit. Using the OKC Challenge 
to 
its 
advantage, 
Michigan 

examined 
its 
strengths 

and 
weaknesses 
to 
better 

understand and prepare for the 
potential struggles inherent in 
its upcoming journey.

“It’s a dogfight, it’s a battle,” 

said senior captain and outfielder 
Olivia Richvalsky. “But the team 
aspect also makes you think 
about strategy, so it definitely 
correlates to what we would have 
to do on the softball field.

“You look at your team and 

you see who’s stronger in this 
area and who’s faster in this 
area and who you need to pair 
together, so the strategy that 
goes into it gets our competitive 
juices 
going. 
When 
it’s 
so 

physically exhausting, that’s the 

mental part that really comes 
out, and I think that’s the reason 
this has become such a staple.”

The title of the OKC Challenge 

is no accident. The intense 
difficulty 
of 
the 
challenge 

mirrors the onerous nature 
of the Wolverines’ journey to 
reach their ultimate destination 
— the Women’s College World 
Series 
in 
Oklahoma 
City. 

Despite having that main goal 
looming 
overhead, 
Michigan 

understands 
it 
won’t 
be 
a 

cakewalk, which explains the 
level of effort in its dedicated 
approach.

“Hutch talks a lot about one-

pitch focus,” Richvalsky said. 
“We not only narrow down the 
series to the game to the inning, 
we narrow it down to the pitch. 
It’s kind of our overarching 
mission, and that’s what keeps 
us focused every day. We have 
an end goal in mind, but we 
can’t get from zero to 100. It’s 
a progression, so I think that’s 
what keeps our perspective and 
keeps us focused.”

After 
the 
Wolverines’ 

heartbreaking 
loss 
in 
the 

Women’s College World Series 
last season, the name of the 
OKC Challenge took on more 
meaning. 
Hutchins 
made 
a 

clear effort to push her team 
even harder, knowing the team 
would need to learn how to rely 
on both their teammates and 
themselves in order to achieve 
their ultimate goal.

“We didn’t lighten up in 

their physical training at all,” 
Hutchins said. “We challenged 
them to try to push them to 
their frustration level so they 
can learn to deal with it. It’s 
not about just making them feel 
good every day, it’s about how 
they respond, because when the 
game comes, nobody feels good 
unless things all go your way. 
We try to make practice harder 
than the game so that the game 
seems easier, and I don’t know 
if we accomplished that. I guess 
we’ll find out.”

Only one game can decide if 

Hutchins pushed the Wolverines 
hard enough: A June contest in 
Oklahoma City will provide her 
answer. 

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Senior outfielder Olivia Richvalsky and the Michigan softball team spent the days before Thanksgiving break doing a set of workouts called the “OKC Challenge.”

“We didn’t 
lighten up in 
their physical 
training at all.”

