The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, March 20, 2018— 7
Season, careers come to an end for Wolverines
Like father, like son, the old
cliché goes.
And this was never more true
for Michigan wrestling coach
Joe McFarland than it was
Saturday night.
The Wolverines capped a
wildly successful regular season
Saturday night in Cleveland,
finishing
tied
for fourth place
at
the
NCAA
Wrestling
Championships
with
80
team
points.
Although
the
team
failed
to
take
home any first
place
finishes,
Michigan placed
five
wrestlers
on the podium, all of whom
garnered All-American honors.
Among them were redshirt
sophomore
133-lb
Stevan
Micic and fifth-year senior
heavyweight
Adam
Coon,
each the runner-up at their
respective weight class.
But
for
McFarland,
the
magnitude of the night went
far beyond the team’s success.
For McFarland — who retired
following the championships
— the story began in Cleveland,
many years ago.
Joe
McFarland
Sr.,
McFarland’s father, settled in
Cleveland
following
service
in World War II. He retired
there following
33 years as a
firefighter.
Saturday,
his
son,
Joe
McFarland
Jr., retired in
Cleveland — the
city where he
was raised —
after 33 years
as a wrestling
coach
in
a
pseudo-tribute
to his father.
While
recounting
the
similarities, McFarland could
not help but get nostalgic, and
said the parallels to his father’s
career made the moment all the
more special.
Also special — as he has been
all season — was Coon, who
steamrolled his way through
the preliminary rounds before
falling to Olympic gold medalist
Kyle Snyder of Ohio State in the
championship round.
In the wake of McFarland’s
retirement, Coon sang praises
of his coach and mentor.
“Coach
McFarland
has
definitely given me lots of
opportunities,”
Coon
said.
“He
gave
me
the
great
opportunity
to
wrestle
here
at
Michigan,
so I’m forever
grateful for that
and this great
opportunity he
gave me. And I
just
appreciate
everything he’s
done
for
the
program, as well as helping me
grow as an athlete.”
For Coon, the night was
nostalgic,
too.
Following
his
dual’s
completion,
the
curtain closed on his Michigan
wrestling career. But despite
his impressive collection of
accolades, Coon, rightfully so,
wanted to be known as more
than simply a great wrestler.
“What I’ll be known for
I hope is for my work ethic
and just what I brought to the
team in being a leader and just
working hard every day to give
everything I had,” Coon said.
“I hope I’ll be remembered
as a good person and a man of
faith, and that’s all I can hope
for, that people
will
remember
my
personality
and what it was
like rather than
all the accolades
and stuff like
that.”
McFarland
recognizes
Coon’s
importance, too.
Back in October,
when his star heavyweight was
just returning to form following
a
year
off
due
to
injury,
McFarland complimented Coon
by saying “he leads by example
more than anything.”
In addition to leading by
example,
Coon’s
personality
was a huge factor in the team’s
growth throughout the season,
and enabled the team to mesh as
a collective unit.
“This was a different team
because it was such a close-knit
bond between everybody on
the team,” Coon said. “It was
great to see how everyone grew
with their technique and their
work ethic in the practice room.
Individually everybody knew
how to step up their game to get
more out of practice and out of
competitions than I’ve seen in
all these guys’ recent past so it
was great to see everybody pick
it up one more level.”
It speaks volumes to Coon
as a leader that he is more
concerned with his legacy off
the mat than on it. Then again,
Coon is just following the
example set by his legendary,
and now retired, coach.
‘M’ beats in-state rival
to start Big Ten season
The No. 8 Michigan men’s
tennis team (11-2 overall, 1-0
Big Ten) got to four points so
quickly against Michigan State
(6-9, 0-1) that the coaches let the
Wolverines play out the rest of
the matches on court, resulting
in a 7-0 senior-led sweep of the
Spartans.
Riding a seven-match win
streak into the conference play,
the Wolverines had the Spartans’
number right from the get-go.
Using their own boisterous chants
of “GO…BLUE” and suffocating
doubles play, Michigan won the
first point in twenty minutes
with 6-0 wins at No. 1 and No. 3
doubles.
“I
think
third
doubles
was a big lift
for
us,”
said
Michigan head
coach
Adam
Steinberg.
“They
got
off to a great
start and just
lit the fire for
everybody else.
We needed that.
“We’ve been up-and-down
(in doubles). We’ve had some
good moments and some bad
moments, but we are not going
to be a great team until we start
dominating the doubles point.
That was great to see.”
But the Wolverines were not
done, as senior Carter Lin used
the energy of the home crowd to
propel himself to a 6-1, 6-2 win at
No. 4 singles.
“Carter Lin has been fantastic
this year,” said senior Alex
Knight. “We always go into a
match thinking we are already
up because he does such a great
job. He battles super hard and
he’s a great team guy. We look to
him to lead on the singles court
and he always does that.”
With
Michigan
up
2-0,
Knight was locked in a grueling
first set at the No. 2 singles spot
with
Michigan
State’s
Josh
Mukherjee, squeaking out a 7-5
win before making adjustments
and asserting his dominance
with a 6-0 second set to close out
the Wolverines’ third point.
“I had so many deuce points
and I was a little anxious going
into it. We had a big crowd,”
Knight said. “Once I realized,
‘Hey, you’re getting the balls
you worked for. You’re just
getting them a lot earlier than
the players you typically play
against,’ then it was easy from
there.”
Senior Davis Crocker followed
up
Knight’s
triumphant effort
with one of his
own at No. 5
singles, winning
the fourth point
and
sealing
the win for the
Wolverines
6-2,
6-3.
However,
the
most
special
moment of the day
occurred when senior Runhao
Hua — who normally competes
at No. 2 singles — cranked out a
gutsy three-setter, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8,
at the No. 1 position to start off
his final season.
“(Hua) has had a great year.
He’s on a big winning streak. I
felt like he’s a senior. Let’s give
him a chance to play one before
he graduates,” said Steinberg.
“He’s earned it. He’s been
playing unbelievable, so we felt
like this is a time we can make a
change and give him a chance. I
think he’s deserving of it.”
Michigan
isn’t
getting
complacent as there is a long
Big Ten season ahead. But the
Wolverines
will
enjoy
this
rivalry win for now.
Michigan sweeps Iowa, Nebraska
Michigan can breathe a sigh of
relief.
After weeks of struggling on
the court, the women’s tennis
team snapped a five-match losing
streak to start its Big Ten season
with two straight wins.
“We’ve talked all week that
really our season is starting
again,” said Michigan coach
Ronni Bernstein. “We’re just
going to take it one match at a
time and see what we can do,
there’s still a lot to play for.”
The Wolverines were on the
road against Iowa and Nebraska,
winning 6-1 and 4-3, respectively.
Friday evening saw Michigan
(2-0 Big Ten, 5-8 overall) revert
back to typical form. It clinched
the doubles point easily with
No. 1 and No. 3 doubles earning
victories and dropping just four
games between them.
Braced with the 1-0 advantage,
sophomore
Brienne
Minor
took the court for her singles
match and defeated Hawkeye
Zoe Douglas — earning her first
singles win at No. 3 since her
NCAA Championship victory and
subsequent knee surgery. While
she has been back to full health
for some time, her confidence
was lacking. This may have been
the breakthrough she needed,
a sentiment the rest of the
Wolverines can understand.
“The thing we talked about
is just forgetting what’s in the
past,” Bernstein said. “We can’t
go back to any of those matches. I
think the biggest thing was to just
change our presence.
“When things are difficult,
what
are
we
gonna do — be
tough and fight
through
it
or
are we gonna go
away.”
With the Iowa
victory under its
belt,
Michigan
took its newfound
toughness
and
put it to the test
against a strong
Nebraska (13-3, 2-1) squad.
At
first,
it
appeared
the
Wolverines were lost once again.
Senior Mira Ruder-Hook was
locked into a cross court rally,
but in her attempt to keep the ball
away from the net player Ruder-
Hook’s inside-out forehand sailed
wide. Michigan had dropped the
doubles point.
While not ideal, it wasn’t the
nail in the coffin. But then the
first singles match to finish was
a 6-0, 6-2 loss from Ruder-Hook.
The Wolverines were in a 2-0
hole.
But their confidence didn’t
waver. The next four Michigan
players were victorious, with
junior Kate Fahey securing the
team win. Fahey’s consistency
was the guiding light through
the Wolverines’ rough patch, but
Sunday, she didn’t have to carry
the team alone.
“It’s unbelievable at the top
spot to know that Kate is going to
come
through,”
Bernstein
said.
“But I think the
biggest thing is all
the pressure can’t
be on her all the
time. We needed
other people to
step up. … That’s
going to help us
play looser and
freer and that’s
how we’re going
to get better as a team.”
With the rest of the team
catching up to Fahey, the team
chemistry may just be starting
to
click
for
Michigan.
The
Wolverines
have
chosen
the
perfect time to get their season
back on track, and the hopes of
winning the Big Ten no longer
seem so far-fetched.
Maybe
Michigan’s
season
really is just beginning.
DARBY STIPE/Daily
Junior Kate Fahey clinched Michigan’s win over Nebraska on Sunday.
PAIGE VOEFFRAY
Daily Sports Editor
6-1 and 4-3 wins mark strong start to the Big Ten season
“We’re just
going to take it
one match at a
time.”
MAX KUANG/Daily
Michigan coach Joe McFarland announced his retirement after Michigan’s finish at the NCAA Tournament.
ADAM RICH
Daily Sports Writer
“I’m forever
grateful for that
and this great
opportunity.”
“I hope I’ll be
remembered as a
good person and
a man of faith.”
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer
“They got off
to a great start
and just lit the
fire.”
MEN’S TENNIS