Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Tuesday, December 6, 2016 — 7 Michigan picking up the pieces The Michigan hockey team was outscored, 11-2, in its two- game series at Penn State. There aren’t many positives the Wolverines can take away from those results, and in the press conference after Friday’s game, that sentiment was reinforced. When talking about the physical nature of the series, Michigan coach Red Berenson said his team still had pride, and senior forward Alex Kile quietly explained that Michigan simply wasn’t good enough against the Nittany Lions. Yet, the season still goes on. As devastated as the Wolverines (0-2-0 Big Ten, 6-7-1 overall) may have been after the weekend, Wisconsin will still travel to Ann Arbor for the teams’ series starting Friday. Despite how poorly Michigan played against Penn State, it still must find a way to refocus for the future. “We had a good meeting before practice,” Berenson said. “We talked about having a rebound week, and get back to playing the kind of hockey we were playing two or three weeks ago.” Shifting focus may be easier for Berenson than others — he’s spent most of his life playing and coaching hockey. For the players themselves, refocusing after a blowout loss can be more difficult, but veteran players can smooth the transition from a poor showing to the next game. “First of all, I spend personally — and I encourage other guys to do this — 20 minutes after any game, good or bad, thinking about that game,” said senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort. “And then it’s all on to the next thing. And I think you’d find a lot of other guys in the locker room who have that same approach. So as far as the week of practice, we’re looking forward. We’re looking at Wisconsin this weekend.” Nagelvoort played in Thursday’s game against the Nittany Lions and faced 29 shots in just two periods, one more shot than the Wolverines had the entire game. As staggering as that total is, it pales in comparison to the 58 shots from Penn State that freshman Jack LaFontaine faced Friday. Nevertheless, the number of shots a goaltender faces is not in his control. And just like how Michigan must refocus on the next game, Nagelvoort says, a goaltender has to refocus on the next shot. “You can’t make the save seven shots from now right now,” Nagelvoort said. “Staying in the moment is the biggest thing, which is one of the hardest things to do in goaltending, and in any sport I would imagine, and a lot of different things in life. But specifically as a goalie, you’ve got to just find some way to stay dialed in to the moment you’re in.” Giving up a high volume of shots is just one of Michigan’s weaknesses that Penn State exposed. The team is working to fix those weaknesses, and Berenson isn’t going to overreact. He is focused on improving the team that he has right now. “It’s not any one thing,” Berenson said. “Our penalty killing wasn’t very good. Our power play wasn’t very good, our goalies were, I thought, OK. Our defense has to be better, and our forwards have to be better. “It’s a challenge. And yet, we’re not going to reinvent our team. We’re not going to trade all our players. We’re going to try and build them up and get them playing the way they need to play.” Berenson, Wolverines had meeting before practice Monday to recover from losses MIKE PERSAK Daily Sports Writer JAMES COLLER/Daily Michigan coach Red Berenson is looking to refocus his team over the course of the week after two blowout losses. “We’re looking forward. We’re looking at Wisconsin.” WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Offensive woes plague Wolverines in defeat When the Michigan women’s basketball team hosted Xavier last season, it ran the Musketeers out of Crisler Center to the tune of a 92-54 beatdown. But when it was the Wolverines’ turn to travel from Ann Arbor to Cincinnati, Xavier (6-0) made last season’s loss a distant memory, edging Michigan, 61-58. Unlike last year’s offensive blitzkrieg, the Wolverines (7-2) uncharacteristically struggled to sink their shots, shooting just 33.9 percent from the field. Michigan’s offensive troubles also hurt them in the paint. Two early fouls by sophomore center Hallie Thome sidelined her for much of the first half, and the Wolverines couldn’t develop a low post presence throughout the game. The two teams were mostly similar on the stat sheet, but the Musketeers held a big rebounding advantage on both ends. With Thome in foul trouble and a smaller lineup in to replace her, Xavier pounded the glass, outrebounding Michigan 46-32 and getting the second chances it needed, which proved to be the difference maker. While the Wolverines’ issues in those areas kept the contest closer than expected, their defense also stymied the Musketeers’ attack, forcing a 28-28 tie heading into halftime. Just as Michigan did against Western Michigan on Nov. 21, when it had a two-point lead at halftime but pulled away in the second half, the Wolverines hoped they could replicate that same performance into the third quarter. “I definitely did expect (the team) to start clicking,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “I think we showed signs of it. But we really couldn’t sustain it. Xavier did a great job of taking us out of our game plan, limiting our transition, and we started to play in the half-court, which we don’t want to do.” Offensive difficulties for both teams carried into the second half, but the Wolverines entered the final quarter with a 46-44 lead thanks to a buzzer- beating bucket by freshman guard Kysre Gondrezick. But for Michigan, the worst shooting woes were yet to come. After a five-point run by Xavier, layups from senior guard Siera Thompson and junior guard Katelynn Flaherty put the Wolverines down only one with 3:08 left in the game. From that point on, Michigan made just three free throws and missed its final six field-goal attempts, unable to take the lead and the game. “I was trying to get us going offensively, but I think it cost us on the defensive end,” Barnes Arico said. “We really did get killed on the glass and didn’t have any second- chance opportunities. We went offensive to get something going, and it hurt us with our rebounding.” In Michigan’s worst offensive outing thus far, Flaherty and Thompson were the only Wolverines who notched double figures, scoring 21 and 12, respectively — a stark contrast from a team that came into the game seventh in the nation in scoring offense. ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Writer MEN’S SWIMMING Michigan finishes sixth at Georgia Invitational Traveling to Georgia for the UGA Fall Invitational, the Michigan men’s swimming and diving team managed to earn 503 points on Sunday, finishing sixth among seven teams and placing seven swimmers in the top-eight in the invitational finals. Michigan opened up Friday with 12 NCAA provisional ‘B’ times and two NCAA Diving scores. The team added to their ‘B’ times with 17 more on Saturday and finished the invitational on Sunday with an additional 11, bringing their weekend total to 40. The team missed some key pieces during the weekend, with juniors Paul Powers, PJ Ransford, Evan White, sophomore Mokhtar Al-Yamani, and freshman Felix Auböck all sitting out the competition to participate in the FINA World Swimming Championships that begin Tuesday in Windsor, Ontario. Leading the way for the Wolverines were a quintet of freshmen in Charlie Swanson, Miles Smachlo, Jacob Montague, Steven Anderson, and Jake Herremans, all five of whom qualified for their events’ finals on Saturday and Sunday. Swanson, a Big Ten Freshman of the Week, followed up a 400- yard IM championship in the USA College Challenge with a fifth-place finish (3:46.06) in the same event on Saturday and a 13th-place finish in the 200- yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 1:58.88. Ranked fourth in the Big Ten in both the 100-yard and 200- yard breaststroke, Montague took seventh in the 100 on Saturday with a 53.51 finish and outpaced Swanson in the 200 with a time of 1:57.30, placing him eighth in the final on Sunday. Anderson came away with a 10th-place finish in the three-meter springboard final on Saturday with a score of 295.10 and earned fifth in the platform final on Sunday (291.95). Herremans played an active role the entire weekend, receiving an NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score on Friday with a 309.75 mark in the one-meter springboard final on Friday, earning him sixth place. He followed the strong start with a score of 281.70 in the three-meter springboard final on Saturday and a tally of 262.35 in the platform final on Sunday, placing 12th and eighth, respectively. Smachlo finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly on Saturday (46.88) and 10th in the finals for the 200-yard butterfly with a 1:45.09 mark on Sunday. The Wolverines will now enjoy a month-long break before competing again at the Orange Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla., on Jan. 3. And with the missing members of its team returning for that meet, Michigan will be in better shape going forward. Wolverines travel with young squad as Powers, other regulars sit out meet EFE EDEVBIE For the Daily Michigan closed the weekend with 40 NCAA ‘B’ qualifiers. AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily Michigan placed fourth out of eight teams at the Georgia Invitational over the weekend and will next compete in the Orange Bowl Classic on Jan. 3. Ryan, Bi lead Wolverines in fourth-place finish The No. 4 Michigan women’s swimming and diving teams went head to head with some of the nation’s top competition and came out feeling positive about its results. For a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country at the beginning of the season, a middling fourth-place finish out of eight teams might seem like a disappointment. But at the Georgia Invitational in Athens, Ga., the Wolverines broke several school and conference records — a good sign for a team that is aiming to add to its a Big Ten championship season from last year — and were able to qualify swimmers for seven races at the NCAA “A” level, and 33 races at the NCAA “B” level. Five teams ranked in the top 11 competed at the meet, with No. 10 California coming out on top. Junior G Ryan and sophomore Yirong Bi were the long-distance standouts from Michigan. In the first day of action, Ryan swam her best race of the season, posting a Big Ten record time of 4:34.28 in the 500-yard freestyle. It is Ryan’s favorite event to swim, and she normally competes well in the race. But the record finish time was a surprise, even to her. “It kind of came out of nowhere,” Ryan said. “It was a lot of attention to detail and consistency in training that really helped that race be what it was.” Bi was not far behind, joining Ryan in posting a time good enough to qualify for the NCAA “A” championships. The pair now ranks No. 3 and No. 4 in the event nationally, trailing only U.S. Olympians Katie Ledecky (Stanford) and Leah Smith (Virginia Tech). In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Bi and Ryan placed 1-2 again — and this time Bi took the victory. She made the “A” cut for the event, while Ryan — a few seconds behind — qualified for the “B” level. Bi and Ryan also teamed up in the 4x200-yard freestyle relay to post a sub-7:00 time, finishing second in the event and earning another NCAA “A” status. They were aided by junior Gabby DeLoof and sophomore Siobhán Haughey — who also won the individual event to bring home Michigan’s only race victory in Saturday’s action. “The energy — especially on the relays — feeding off of each other and supporting each other … that was the best part (of the weekend).” Another “A” level performance came in the 400- yard freestyle relay on Sunday, with the Wolverines clocking in at 3:13.65. But that was only good for third place in the race, on a day that showed just how tough the competition at the meet really was. Haughey — the 2016 Big Ten champion in the 100-yard freestyle — swam well enough to qualify for the NCAA “A” meet in the event, with a time of 48.31 within six tenths of her personal record. Still, she finished just sixth in the race. Similarly, freshman Vanessa Kraus broke the Michigan school record in the 200-butterfly, but finished fifth overall in the event finals. Spending the weekend side by side with some of the nation’s top teams, the Wolverines know they can compete with the best down the line. What’s in store for the end of the season? Ryan doesn’t want to predict anything, but the team is feeling good about its chances. “It’s hard to predict the future,” Ryan said. “But what I see now is that we’re going to continue to work hard, continue to grow as a team, (and) put everything out there when we swim.” COLE ZINGAS Daily Sports Writer MICHIGAN XAVIER 58 61