8 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Brienne Minor makes history

In observance of Women’s

History
Month,
The
Daily

launches a series aimed at telling
the stories of female athletes,
coaches
and
teams
at
the

University from the perspective
of the female sports writers on
staff. Daily sports writer Maya
Salinas continues the series with
this story.

Brienne
‘Bri’
Minor
isn’t

your typical tennis star. She’s
not the highest-ranked player
on the Michigan Wolverines’
Women’s tennis team. She wasn’t
even seeded as a singles player
going into last season’s NCAA
Championships.

But on May 29, 2017, everything

changed. That Monday, Minor
shocked herself and the rest of
the tennis world by winning the
singles championship.

“Going in unseeded, no one

expected anything from me,”
Minor said. “I actually loved
being unseeded. I loved being
the underdog.”

And it was an underdog

story for the ages. Minor’s run
made her the first Wolverine in
the program’s history to win a
championship.

“That week I just kinda got on

a roll,” Minor said. “The team
event was over; I was just kinda
playing for myself. … Day by day,
each match.”

Minor’s
championship-

winning match — after five
grueling wins prior — was against
Florida’s Belinda Woolcock, who
she defeated 6-3, 6-3. Three of
the six matches were against
top-16 seed opponents. When
Minor won, she threw her racket
in the air, the defiant celebration
of someone who beat multiple of
the country’s best players.

“It was a surprise to me,”

Minor said, speaking of her title
win.

For
winning
the

championship, she earned a
wildcard spot at the U.S. Open.

Minor saw all the greats in one

place, and for a moment, played
in the same tournament as some
of her tennis idols. She called it
the best experience of her life.

***
Looking back on what shaped

Minor into the national champion
she is today, she thought largely
about her family and their
influence on her hardworking,
yet humble demeanor.

Growing up, Minor watched

both of her sisters, Jasmine
and Kristina, play tennis from
childhood to college, and in turn,
helped her do the same. To this
day, Jasmine and Kristina are
some of her biggest supporters.

As Minor was playing in

the round of 16 during the
tournament, her sisters were
watching from home. Kristina
was in New Jersey and Jasmine
was in Washington D.C. at the
time, but once they saw her win
that match, they decided they

had to support her in person.
Kristina got in the car after work
to pick up Jasmine, and together
they drove through the night to
surprise Minor in Georgia.

Jasmine said that supporting

her sisters was a principle that
she was raised with, no matter
their endeavors.

“We always want the best for

Bri,” Jasmine said.

And her parents are huge

supporters too.

“They support us like no other,”

added Brienne of her parents.

In a match against Purdue on

March 25, Minor won 7-6, 6-1,
just a month and a half after
returning from a knee injury.
As her parents watched her
play, Minor’s mother, Michelle,
was mostly quiet, but anxiously
playing with her hands, as if
her
daughter’s
nerves
were

transferred into her body. Her
father, Kevin, watched more

calmly, taking note of every
move his daughter made. Both
parents
occasionally
spouted

something along the lines of
‘Go Blue.’ But for the most part,
they sat quietly, supporting their
daughter in a nervous silence.

And that’s just against Purdue.

One can only imagine what they
were like during that Monday in
May.

***
More broadly, Minor made

history as the first African
American woman to ever win
the singles title. The last African
American to win a singles title
in Division I tennis was Arthur
Ashe over 50 years ago.

Minor
plays
in
a
sport

dominated by white athletes,
despite
tennis
having
a

worldwide presence. Tennis has
always been mostly white, and
the Minors felt that firsthand.

“We were the only family

of color for a very long time,”
Jasmine said. “We knew how to
deal with certain things.”

Minor’s biggest inspirations

outside of her family and her
teammates
are
powerhouse

tennis
players
Serena
and

Venus Williams. The Williams
sisters have done a lot to change
the face of tennis and foster a
sense
of
inclusivity
through

the representation of African
American females as elite tennis
players. Their inspiration clearly
rubbed off on Minor who, after
finishing her degree, wants to
play tennis and volunteer in clubs
where kids don’t always have the
same opportunities and resources
she had growing up.

Jasmine told the story of how

other young African Americans
reacted when they interacted
with Minor on the tennis court.

“Even if you go to a Michigan

women’s match you’ll see all

these little Black kids that come,”
Jasmine said. “They crowd
around Bri. They go straight to
her above anybody else, and it’s
not because of how good she
is. It’s because they finally see
someone who looks like them. …
And that’s a big deal.

“I don’t think people realize

what it’s like to go your whole life
and not see someone who looks
like you.”

Added Kristina: “It’s hard to

imagine what you’re capable of if
you’ve never seen anybody do it
before.”

By
becoming
a
national

champion, Minor gained not
just the title, but the platform
to increase the representation
of African American women
in tennis even further and to a
young audience.

“Just being able to represent

that group is just really something
special to me and I hope I can
pave the way for younger African
American female tennis players,”
Minor said, “and really younger
tennis players in general, just like
Serena and Venus did for me.”

These
goals
should
be

important to tennis as a whole.

In college tennis during the

2015-16 season, less than 400 of
the almost 9,000 female tennis
players were Black, excluding
Historically Black Colleges and
Universities.

The numbers for male tennis

players are even lower; only 218
of 7,842 male tennis players in the
2015-16 season were Black.

But minority representation in

tennis is slowly improving. Minor
hopes to positively contribute to
this change.

“This is uncharted territory

for her, I think for all of us,”
Kristina said. “There’s definitely
something bigger surrounding
what Bri has done.”

Watching the Williams sisters

taught Minor that she could
play tennis regardless of her
background if she was willing
to work hard. Now, she has the
chance to transfer that message
to the next generation.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Junior Brienne Minor looked up to the Williams sisters growing up, and now, after winning a national championship, she has her own chance to inspire others.

MAYA SALINAS
Daily Sports Writer

Two weeks in January

It’s March 29, 2018. The Michigan

hockey team is in the Frozen Four,
two games away from winning
the 10th national championship in
program history.

Think back to March 16, 2017.

Three early Penn State goals handed
the Wolverines a quick exit from the
Big Ten Tournament, a merciful end
to their worst season in three decades.

Think back to April 10, 2017. After

33 storied years behind the Michigan
bench,
coach
Red
Berenson

announced his retirement, leaving
behind a program firmly entrenched
in a rebuild and with no one in
charge of construction.

Last weekend, a 6-3 win over

Boston University in the NCAA
Northeast Regional Final made
it
clear
that
the
Wolverines’

rebuilding phase was over. But the
victory wasn’t quite an emphatic
declaration that “Michigan is back.”
In reality, that’s a statement that the
Wolverines have spent the last two
months making.

It’s a statement that began with

two weeks in January.

***
The first day of 2018 marked the

Wolverines’ nadir. In the opener
of the Great Lakes Invitational, a
mediocre Bowling Green team fired
four goals past sophomore goaltender
Jack LaFontaine within the game’s
first
24
minutes.
Michigan’s

comeback effort fell short, and it
settled for a disappointing third-
place finish in the tournament.

Coming off a third-place GLI

finish in 2017, Michigan was 8-9-1
and 1-3 in conference play. This
season appeared different at first, but
for all the promise the Wolverines
showed in a road win at defending
Big Ten champion Penn State and
a win and a tie against then-No. 4
Minnesota, their record on Jan. 2 sat
at just 8-8-2, and 3-5-2 in the Big Ten.
Nothing seemed to hint at anything
other than last season’s fate.

“We weren’t at a happy point

in our season,” said sophomore
forward Jake Slaker. “But we still
had a lot of games left, and we knew
we could turn it around.”

Looming next on the Wolverines’

schedule, however, was then-No.
2 Notre Dame, which had yet to

lose a Big Ten game. Michigan
met the Fighting Irish at Yost Ice
Arena coming off just two days of
rest and without freshman forward
Josh Norris, sophomore forward
Will
Lockwood
and
freshman

defenseman Quinn Hughes, all of
whom were then competing for the
United States at the World Junior
Championships.

Five minutes into the game,

Notre Dame scored a power-play
goal. Five minutes later, it added
another. The Fighting Irish machine
was operating exactly how it was
supposed to. Until suddenly, it
wasn’t.

Senior forward Tony Calderone

slid a goal past Notre Dame
goaltender Cale Morris to halve the
Wolverines’ deficit in the first period.
Michigan outshot the Fighting Irish
by almost double during the game’s
final 50 minutes, producing odd-
man rushes and grade-A scoring
chances at will. In the end, Notre
Dame held on to win, but only thanks
to a Herculean effort in the crease
from Morris.

“We really had a great game,

but we didn’t have Norris, we
didn’t have Hughes and we didn’t
have Lockwood,” said Michigan
coach Mel Pearson after Tuesday’s
practice. “And I thought we coulda
shoulda won the game. I think
we outchanced them in scoring
opportunities, we just didn’t finish at
key times.”

Added
sophomore
goaltender

Hayden Lavigne: “That was kind
of where we realized — I don’t even
think it was the whole weekend, it
was the first game where we could
compete, and we probably deserved
to win it.”

Not only did the Wolverines take

this newfound confidence with them
to South Bend for the series’ second
game that Sunday, but Norris and
Hughes — only a day removed from
World Juniors — rejoined the fold.

The
freshmen
fit
into
the

lineup seamlessly, teaming up for
Michigan’s lone goal in the third
period. A second straight 2-1 loss
wasn’t the result the Wolverines
hoped for, but at the risk of using
the admittedly fuzzy term “moral
victory,” that’s exactly what it was.

“(Hughes and Norris) played

extremely
well,”
Pearson
said.

“Another one-goal game, a tough

loss. But I think then, you could see,
we’re not far off. You don’t walk out
of the rink feeling like there’s no
chance.”

Out of nowhere, seeds of hope

showed signs of sprouting. Norris
and Hughes were growing up on
the fly. Lavigne brought steadiness
between the pipes. And for the first
time all season, Michigan seemed
to truly embrace an underdog
mentality.

“Everybody picked us to lose that

weekend, and we kind of just said
in the locker room, ‘Screw that,’ ”
Slaker said. “Like it’s our time to start
turning around.”

It was nothing-to-lose confidence

mixed with a healthy dose of urgency
— even in two losses, the Wolverines
felt they had put forth their best
performance of the season.

“That was our first weekend

where we played two really solid
games,” Slaker said. “Even though
we lost, we were really happy with
our game, and we knew we were
playing a good team.”

But Michigan still had to win at

some point — and it would have to do
so in a place where it rarely does so.

***
The similarities were eerie.
Last season, Michigan traveled

to Minnesota the second week of
January. It may not have been the
Wolverines’ very last chance to
reverse their season’s trajectory. But
it was a golden opportunity to gain
momentum, at the very least — they
had won only one of their last six
games at Mariucci Arena.

Instead, two losses to the ninth-

ranked Golden Gophers — neither of
them particularly close — were just

two more forgettable episodes of a
forgettable season.

One year later, on the second

week
of
January,
Michigan

received a chance for redemption;
an opportunity to do what the
Wolverines of a year before could
not: turn around their season in
Minnesota.

However,
that’s
not
exactly

what Michigan was thinking as it
prepared that week, practicing on
the Olympic-sized ice rink of the Ann
Arbor Ice Cube about 15 minutes
from Yost Ice Arena in preparation
for
Mariucci.
The
process
of

rebuilding a program isn’t one that’s
accomplished in one weekend, nor is
it done by looking too far ahead — the
Wolverines just wanted to take it one
game at a time.

It’s one of the most exhausted

cliches in sports — “one game at a
time.” But Michigan, heading into
what it knew would be, in one way
or the other, a tipping point in its
season, truly seemed to practice
what it preached.

“Get the first game and then

worry about the second,” Slaker
said. “That’s kind of been always our
motive throughout the year. If we
have a two-game weekend, we focus
on the first one and we don’t even
worry about the second.”

The Wolverines knew that the

first one would be a battle. Mariucci
Arena has broken plenty of superior
teams before. The wider Olympic
ice propels the pace of the game
into hyperspeed, and the Golden
Gophers’ unprepared, inexperienced
opponents inevitably run out of
breath trying to keep up. Minnesota
is tailor-made for its home arena,

and for Michigan to have a chance,
it would have to eliminate almost
every mistake from its game.

At the Cube, the Wolverines

drilled
themselves
on
puck

protection, eliminating turnovers in
dangerous areas that had plagued
them for the entire season. They
stressed immaculate defensive zone
positioning, countering the Golden
Gophers’ ultra-talented skaters in
space.

“Everything was just faster and

harder,” Calderone said. “Everyone
was just competing more, and you
could just see a completely different
team.”

Meanwhile, a potent mix of

nervous energy, quiet self-assurance
and fuel from being overlooked
powered them through that week’s
practices. On their bus ride to
Mariucci before the series’ first
game, that mix was easily apparent
— Pearson described it as one of the
quietest pregame buses of the year.

“We knew what we were up

against, and it was just an extra level
of people being focused and dialed
in,” Slaker said. “Little bit of nerves
and a little bit of excitement. People
just had their headphones in, doing
their pre-game rituals, just dialing
it in.”

Added Pearson: “This isn’t really

a quiet team. So when they’re quiet
like that, you know something’s
going on.”

Sure enough, something was.

Senior forward Dexter Dancs gave
Michigan the lead with a snipe just
15 seconds into the game.

Despite the blazing start, the

first contest eventually became the
battle the Wolverines anticipated.
Minnesota controlled the game’s
tempo, and Michigan spent much of
the game trying desperately to hang
on.

But the Wolverines did — even

through surviving a 27-19 shot deficit,
surviving a six-on-four situation
in the game’s final moments — and
pulled off a crucially-needed, 5-3
victory.

“I don’t think anyone really

expected to sweep,” Lavigne said.
“But we went in there and we won
the first game … and that kind of led
us on to believe — second game, you
know what, this is our game as well.”

The series opener opened the

floodgates — if Friday was Michigan

at its most intense and sharply
focused, Saturday saw a looser, freer
group take the ice.

The end result was the same, but

it never felt as close as it did a night
before. Norris and junior forward
Brendan Warren both scored in the
first three minutes, Lavigne made
17 of 18 saves and the Wolverines
allowed just two shots in the third
period, claiming their first sweep in
Minneapolis since 1977 with a 3-1
win.

“We played hard at Minnesota,”

Pearson said. “It’s a tough place to
play — an Olympic sheet, there’s
some adjustment there, but we
played a very solid defensive game.
Just coming off the Notre Dame
series and winning the game now we
had some mojo, we were starting to
get some swagger to the game and
some confidence.”

You know what happened next.

Riding that swagger and confidence,
Michigan returned home to face
Penn State, and behind two lights-
out displays from Lavigne, the
Wolverines held the nation’s top-
ranked scoring offense scoreless in
even-strength play on their way to a
second straight sweep. Since Jan. 7,
Michigan has lost just four games.

“We just started to see that we

could win, we just had to get better
in a little bit,” Pearson said. “Ask a
little bit more from everybody else,
and I think that’s what happened at
Minnesota and then you got some
confidence going home. Play Penn
State, and all of a sudden you’re
rolling. It’s like that snowball rolling
down the hill, it just starts growing
and growing, and there’s no stopping
it.”

Two months after the Wolverines

swept the Golden Gophers, a full-
blown
avalanche
tore
through

Massachusetts, laying waste to
Northeastern and Boston University.

At the heart of that avalanche is

the original snowball that began
rolling down the hill during those
two weeks in January.

The ingredients are simple, if a

bit predictable. Stable goaltending,
disciplined
defense,
balanced

offense, talented youngsters starting
to blossom, grit and confidence —
lots of confidence.

And they’ve taken a once-

rebuilding, once-left-for-dead team
all the way to St. Paul.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Michigan coach Mel Pearson and his team turned things around in January.