2B — April 11, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

In ‘The Slaughterhouse,’ tennis is a team sport
A

dam Steinberg doesn’t 
remember the first 
time he heard Bo 

Schembechler’s “The Team” 
speech, but 
it was during 
his initial visit 
to campus 
in 2014, 
when he was 
interviewing 
to become the 
new Michigan 
men’s tennis 
coach. Over 
his first 23 
years of coaching college tennis, 
Steinberg had worked to establish 
a mindset that Schembechler’s 
speech embodied.

“It’s perfect,” Steinberg said. 

“When I heard that speech, I 
was like, ‘Wow, this is it. This is 
the place.’ ”

So just before noon last Sunday 

at the Varsity Tennis Center, 
Schembechler’s words began to 
play over the loudspeaker.

No man is more important 

than the team. No coach is more 
important than the team. The 
team, the team, the team. … 
Everything that you do, you take 
into consideration: What effect 
does it have on my team?

When we play as a team, when 

the old season is over, you and 
I know, it’s gonna be Michigan 
again. Michigan.

After Schembechler’s speech, 

the Michigan men’s tennis players 
gathered for a loud, rambunctious 
huddle. Then, they went out and 
defeated Purdue, improving to 12-0 
this season while playing at home.

In less than two years, 

Steinberg has used his unique 
philosophy to change the 
trajectory of the program. Former 
coach Bruce Berque was fired 
in 2014 after failing to advance 
past the second round of the 
NCAA Tournament. Last season, 
Steinberg’s changes took a while 
to kick in as Michigan finished 
7-17, its worst season since 1991-

92. This year, the 21st-ranked 
Wolverines (5-1 Big Ten, 16-4 
overall) are on pace for their best 
season since 1987-88.

Lots of coaches say that when 

they start at a program, they want 
to change the culture. Steinberg’s 
change, one that has put together 
one of the biggest turnarounds 
in the country, is a broad one: As 
he puts it, he wanted to change 
“everything this program is about.”

“I have a different concept, that 

we’re going to take an individual 
sport and make it a team,” 
Steinberg said. “Your first priority 
as a Michigan tennis player is 
to make your teammates better. 
That’s something that’s another 
language for a tennis player — 
‘What do you mean, I have to 
think about somebody else?’ ”

It’s not their fault, Steinberg 

says. In junior tennis, team events 
are rare. You play your game, on 
your court, against your opponent.

But not at Michigan. Here, the 

players pay as much attention 
to other matches as their own. 
Last weekend against Purdue, 
as soon as the last shot of each 
point landed on their court, they 
looked over to the next court 
and yelled encouragement at 
their teammates.

“Our opponents should feel 

like they’re playing three guys, 
not one,” said redshirt sophomore 
Alex Knight.

At Steinberg’s previous stops 

— most recently at Pepperdine, 
where he spent 13 years — he has 
used this approach. It took him 
a year to get there at Michigan, 
which is why (coupled with heavy 
graduation losses), the Wolverines 
struggled last season.

But last fall, while his team 

competed in non-scoring events, 
Steinberg could tell that things 
were different and that his 
methods were starting to sink in.

In the season opener Jan. 

24 at Kentucky, Steinberg saw 
individuals playing again, and 
Michigan lost, 4-3. The following 

weekend, the Wolverines 
dominated Princeton and Cornell 
on the road, and that attitude 
changed for good.

“That was the first time I saw 

from them a real team out there,” 
Steinberg said, “and we really 
haven’t gone back.”

The players on the court played 

their points, then turned to watch 
the matches on other courts. 
The players on the sidelines 
shouted encouragement to their 
teammates. Even in warmups, 
Steinberg felt a different vibe.

“We’re not just going to hit 

tennis balls,” he said. “We’re 
going to be there for each other.”

Michigan came home from the 

East Coast, started rolling and 
hasn’t stopped. The following 
weekend, the Wolverines pulled 
off three 7-0 sweeps in three 
days, including one over No. 25 
Duke, starting a remarkable run 
of 12 straight home victories. 
The players have taken to 
calling their home courts “The 
Slaughterhouse,” trying to make 
it even more intimidating for 
opponents. That’s where they 
are most comfortable, and that’s 
where the team-first mindset has 
a chance to shine.

But such a drastic transition 

started a long time ago. Every 
single day in practice, when 
Steinberg sees his players playing 
as individuals and not as a team, 
he will stop practice and ask 
a player: Eight other guys are 
looking at you right now, and 
what are they seeing? What’s your 
body language right now? Are you 
helping anybody?

Either the player will say, “Yeah, 

you’re right, I need to change it,” 
or he’ll send Steinberg a text later, 
after the emotion has worn off, 
with the same message. That has 
happened enough times to make it 
show up during matches.

“Just like you work on 

a forehand, you work on 
teamwork,” Knight said. “Each 
day, our goal is to get better at 

recognizing lulls in matches, 
recognizing, ‘We’re a little bit low, 
someone pick it up.’”

Steinberg admits that his 

team is still far from perfect. 
Even when he won the national 
championship at Pepperdine in 
2006, his team wasn’t perfect. 
Every day, he sees moments in 
practice he needs to fix — but now 
there are considerably fewer.

“The only time you’re going 

to be able to play really your 
best tennis is when you know 
everyone else on this team has 
sacrificed everything for you, and 
they’re doing what they need to 
do,” Steinberg said. “And then 
you don’t have to worry about 
anybody. And then it just flows.”

Steinberg knows that there 

are teams that stick to playing 
an individual sport, focusing on 
their match. Some of those teams 
are even better than Michigan 
right now, one of them being Ohio 
State, which beat the Wolverines 
on March 27, 4-0.

But that still didn’t faze 

Steinberg.

“We got beat, but they never 

gave up on each other ’til the 
last point, which was terrific,” 
Steinberg said. “We got beat. 
It’s OK. Every team has a match 
like that.”

Even when they win, the 

recipe doesn’t always work. At 
one point last Sunday against 
Purdue, sophomore Runhao Hua 
led his match, 6-3, 4-4, 30-30, 
and he and Knight were both 
between points on adjacent 
courts. They met between 
courts, and Knight slapped 
Hua’s hand, hit his chest and 
encouraged him, “Come on!” 
Hua lost the last two points of 
the game, but he went on to win 
the match and clinch a victory 
for Michigan.

As Michigan’s record shows, 

Steinberg’s method works far more 
often than it doesn’t, and he hopes 
it stretches off the court, too.

“Life’s not about you. Life’s 

about giving to others, and you 
will get in return,” Steinberg said. 

“It doesn’t work the other way. I 
don’t live my life that way, and I 
don’t want them to.”

And he also recruits people 

who fit that mold.

“It’s the first thing I talk about 

with every recruit,” Steinberg 
said. “I tell them, ‘If that’s not the 
environment you want to be in, 
it’s not for you.’ I don’t hide it at 
all, and it’s not for everybody.”

If Steinberg learns that a 

player played tennis for his high 
school team or played a team 
format in juniors tennis, he 
wants that player. He’ll take him 
over a higher-ranked player who 
won’t fit in as well with what 
Steinberg is trying to do.

So some teams end up more 

talented than his. He’s different, 
and that’s OK with him. Come 
into the Slaughterhouse, listen to 
Bo Schembechler’s speech and try 
to beat his team.

Lourim can be reached 

at jlourim@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @jakelourim.

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN

JAKE
LOURIM

SAMII STOLOFF/Daily

The Michigan men’s tennis team has bought into an unconventional team mentality under coach Adam Steinberg.

Fahey shines in wins

By AZALEA HINOJOSA 

Daily Sports Writer

As 
freshman 
Kate 
Fahey 

spoke with a reporter following 
Sunday’s match versus Maryland, 
Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein 
snuck up behind her. She wanted 
to congratulate her freshman on 
a job well done. 

Fahey helped the Michigan 

women’s tennis team secure the 
doubles point en route to a 6-1 
win over the Terrapins, wrapping 
up a successful weekend for the 
Wolverines.

After a game-packed week 

on the road, No. 11 Michigan 
traveled back home to end the 
weekend on a high note, adding 
two more wins to its undefeated 
Big 
Ten 
record. 
Saturday’s 

contest against Rutgers proved 
to be no challenge, either, as the 
Wolverines shutout the Scarlet 
Knights, 7-0. 

On both occasions, Michigan 

earned the doubles point with 
wins from freshmen Brienne 
Minor and Fahey at court No. 1 
and sophomores Alex Najarian 
and Mira Ruder-Hook at No. 2.

Just 20 minutes into play on 

Sunday, Minor and Fahey gained 
a 5-0 lead over the Terrapins 
and looked prepared to close out 
the doubles match, but it was 

Najarian and Ruder-Hook who 
were the first off the court in a 6-2 
set win. Several minor mistakes 
at No. 1 cost the Wolverines a few 
games.

For a moment, it seemed as 

though Maryland was set to 
make 
a 
comeback, 
winning 

three sets in a row as Minor and 
Fahey scrambled back and forth 
across the court to counter their 
shots. The doubles duo finally 
won Michigan its first point on 
a Maryland shot that landed just 
barely out of bounds.

“Doubles 
is 
all 
about 

momentum,” Fahey said. “Things 
can slip. We just got a little tight 
in the end and let them step in, 
but I think (Minor) did a really 
good job serving and closing it 
out.”

With Michigan claiming the 

first two doubles matches and 
the doubles point, the third 
match became irrelevant to the 
score and was stopped early. The 
Wolverines were trailing in that 
match, and senior Ronit Yurovsky 
put her head down in her hands 
as 
Bernstein 
offered 
some 

much needed encouragement. 
Yurovsky and her partner junior 
Sara Remynse managed to catch 
up to their opponents, but it was 
left unfinished at 3-4.

“Sometimes I can give up a 

few games just because I’m hard 
on myself,” Yurovsky said. “It’s 
not really what the (opponent’s) 
doing, it’s more about how 
I’m acting, so I just try to stay 
positive.”

Against 
Rutgers 
and 

Maryland, the first three to win 
their singles matches were Fahey, 
Yurovsky and Minor, with Fahey 
being the first to finish in both 
competitions. Yurovsky’s 6-4, 
6-1 sets clinched the win over the 
Terrapins for Michigan.

Fahey, as of late, has been 

more aggressive. In the past, she 
has been more defensive, but she 
mentioned that she feels on top of 
her game now.

While it came down to a nail-

biting third set, Remynse was the 
only Wolverine unable to pull off 
a victory in singles play against 
Maryland.

“As a team, we did really well,” 

Fahey said. 

The 
defending 
Big 
Ten 

champions know there are still 
some tough matchups before the 
conference tournament, but they 
are confident their success will 
continue.

“We have a lot of tennis left to 

play,” Bernstein said. “But we’re 
young, and I think we’ve beaten 
some good teams so we can 
compete with anybody.”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Freshman Kate Fahey won both her singles and doubles matches against Maryland in Michigan’s 6-1 win Sunday.

‘M’ finishes strong at home

Wolverines top 

Harvard, Princeton 
in final homestand

By LELAND MITCHINSON 

Daily Sports Writer

In its final home stand of the 

season, the Michigan women’s 
water polo team showed fans 
at Canham Natatorium why the 
team has climbed into the top 
10 in the national rankings.

Saturday, the eighth-ranked 

Wolverines maintained their 
undefeated conference record, 
posting 
wins 
over 
No. 
17 

Princeton and No. 13 Harvard, 
9-7 and 10-5, respectively.

In both games, Michigan 

started slowly before eventually 
finding its stride to secure the 
win.

“Something I’ve noticed a 

pattern of is, every time we play 
a team we haven’t seen for the 
first time, it’s kind of like we 
need to feel it out and see what’s 
going on,” said Michigan coach 
Marcelo Leonardi. “In terms of 
matchups, we’re prepared. But 
we start a little bit slow, and 
then once we make adjustments 
… our defense is on and then we 
slowly chip away.”

Against 

Princeton, the 
Wolverines fell 
behind 
early. 

The 
Tigers 

scored in the 
first 
minute 

and converted 
a 
five-meter 

shot less than 
four 
minutes 

later 
after 

interference 
was called on an excluded 
Michigan player to give them a 
2-0 advantage.

Despite the early mistakes, the 

Wolverines bounced back with 
two goals of their own, kick-
started by a steal-and-score from 
senior attacker Ali Thomason 
just in front of the Princeton net.

“If you go down two in the 

first quarter, there’s so much 
time 
left,” 
Thomason 
said. 

“If you go down two in the 

fourth quarter, there’s still so 
much time left, so you can’t let 
yourself get into this mindset 
that we’re two down.”

After taking the lead with 

3:31 left in the first half, 
Michigan was able to hold off 
a second half Tigers push to 
win, 9-7. Senior attacker Kelly 

Martin scored 
a hat trick in 
the game to 
propel 
the 

Wolverines to 
victory in the 
penultimate 
home game of 
her career.

Though the 

final 
home 

games 
are 

typically 
a 

time to highlight the seniors’ 
careers, the crowd in Ann 
Arbor also got a glimpse of 
the program’s future during 
Saturday’s contests. Freshman 
defender Kim Johnson tallied 
five goals against Princeton and 
added two more in the second 
game against Harvard.

“(The younger players) are 

going to do so amazing,” Martin 
said. “I’m just sad that I won’t 
be here on the team with them.”

In the game against the 

Crimson, Michigan’s defensive 
prowess was on display. The 
Wolverines 
limited 
Harvard 

to just five goals and were 
led by Thomason’s four steals 
and senior goaltender Julia 
Campbell’s four saves.

“If our offense sputters or 

certain people get neutralized, 
our press defense is really 
effective,” Leonardi said. “Teams 
struggle with it, and I feel like 
that’s what has kind of carried us 
throughout the season.

“We make everybody on the 

team play offense as well as 
defense, so I feel that if Julia has 
to make a save, it’s calculated 
and it’s tactical in terms of 
we’re funneling shots in to her.”

Offensively, Michigan again 

started slow, but got things 
going with a four-goal second 
quarter. The string of goals 
gave the Wolverines a 5-2 lead 
at the half. From that point on, 
Michigan was in control and 
cruised to a 10-5 victory over 
the Crimson. In addition to 
Thomason’s defensive duties, 
she was was also at the head of 
the Wolverine attack, scoring 
four goals in her final home 
game.

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Ali Thomason scored four goals in her final game at Canham Natatorium.

“It’s kind of like 
we need to feel 
it out and see 

what’s going on.”

