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 

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