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Sports
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 — 13
Pertofsky credits her success to her teammates’ support in win over Indiana
Sophomore right-side hitter May
Pertofsky led the Michigan volley-
ball team (4-3 Big Ten) to a 3-1 win
over Indiana (3-13) on Saturday with
17 kills on the day, only one shy of
her career-best. Junior outside hit-
ter Paige Jones had an outstanding
match the day before, but Pertofsky
stepped up in the second game to lead
the Wolverines when Jones fell back.
“This team does that really well,”
Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
“They just rely on each other, they
have confidence in each other. They
trust each other, and so if someone is
a little off, somebody will step up in
another way.”
Pertofsky, however, credits her
stellar performance to the rest of her
teammates and the role they all play
in each other’s performances.
“The biggest thing is I know my
team has my back,” Pertofsky said. “I
could swing as hard as I could and if
I get blocked, or if they get a touch or
something like that, I know my team
is going to be there for me.”
Pertofsky started the day with six
kills in the first set, helping the Wol-
verines to a 30-28 win. Two aces from
Pertofsky in both the third and fourth
sets helped lead the team to win both
of those games as well. She also hit
a .593, the second highest for Michi-
gan, behind only junior middle block-
er Kayla Bair. Pertofsky also had an
impressive performance Friday, rack-
ing up the second-most kills for the
team with 13, but she was outshined
by Jones, who had a program-record
37 kills. Pertofsky’s outing came off of a
two-week pause for the Wolverines, as
they were quarantined due to COVID-
19 contact tracing the previous two
weeks and missed games against Min-
nesota and Rutgers. Despite previously
playing just seven games, compared to
Indiana’s 16, Michigan was still able to
record a pair of wins this weekend.
“We’ve been hit pretty hard,” Perto-
sky said. “I think we’re one of the three
schools that has been hit the hardest
with COVID and restrictions and stuff,
so that’s definitely sucked a lot, but
every time we have the opportunity to
come into the gym, we work as hard as
we can and we stay connected.”
Although Wolverines have had
many pauses in their season, they
place an emphasis on focusing on
what is controllable.
“We talk about that in our pro-
gram a lot — don’t worry about or
don’t get focused on the things we
have no control over,” Rosen said. “I
think this team has a lot of potential,
and we knew that at the beginning
and we felt that at the beginning, but
now once we can have some time in
the gym and some consistent com-
petition, I think we’ll see that. And I
thought this weekend we kept getting
better.”
Without Pertofsky’s performance
and her resiliency, Michigan may
have taken a step backwards this
weekend. Instead, it did the opposite.
BECCA MAHON/Daily
May Pertofsky played a pivotal role in Michigan’s win over Indiana.
SAMI RUUD
For The Daily
Puzzling final possession cements Michigan defeat
INDIANAPOLIS — Regardless of the
result, Juwan Howard was steadfast in his
plan. Following a 3-pointer from senior
guard Chaundee Brown, the Michigan
men’s basketball trailed Ohio State by just a
single point with 47 seconds left. Assuming
the Wolverines could get a stop on defense,
Howard drew up a play in the huddle — a
berth to Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament final
resting on the outcome.
A stop, a score and Michigan would
complete a double-digit comeback that
seemed unfathomable just minutes before.
The Buckeyes’ point guard C.J. Walker
obliged with the former by stepping on his
own baseline and turning the ball back over
to the Wolverines with 28 seconds to go.
Howard, with a timeout remaining and his
team riding a surge of momentum from the
last few minutes, let his team go.
“I did not want to call a timeout, didn’t
want to let their team get set up,” Howard
said. “Teams don’t know what you’re gonna
run when you have the ball in your hands for
the last possession.”
Michigan started the possession in an
empty set — spacing the floor on the perimeter
and giving graduate point guard Mike Smith
ample space to initiate the final play. As the
seconds ticked away, it became clear that
the Wolverines would hold for the final shot.
With go-to options Isaiah Livers and Franz
Wagner on the bench — Livers, due to injury
and Wagner, having fouled out — the ball was
entirely in Smith’s hands.
Just eight seconds remained when
freshman center Hunter Dickinson set a high-
ball screen for Smith. Ohio State switched
defenders, leaving 6-foot-7 forward Justice
Sueing on Dickinson and forward E.J. Liddell
on Smith. Rather than dump it down-low to
Dickinson, who had scored six of Michigan’s
last 11 points, Smith kept it and put up a
stepback 3-pointer over Liddell’s outstretched
hand. The shot richotected on the back rim
with virtually no time left for an offensive
rebound opportunity. The Wolverines had
lost.
“We had the play, we had the ball, we had
the shot, unfortunately we just missed it,”
Howard said. “But I’ll take that shot any day.”
Added
Dickinson:
“Everybody
was
confident in it. If we had the opportunity to
go back, I would not be hesitant at all with
letting Mike shoot that next one. We were
all confident in Mike. and I told him after the
game, I’d let him shoot that one again if he had
the chance.”
Smith is a proven scorer, having averaged
22.8 points his last season at Columbia and
shooting 45.8% from 3-point range this
season. He also was coming off arguably his
best game in a Michigan jersey, a double-
double performance against Maryland on
Friday. And yet, with all that said, one can’t
help but question the final play.
Howard and Michigan might have felt
comfortable with Smith taking the last shot,
but feeling comfortable about that shot being
a stepback three seems unlikely — especially
trailing by just one point. The Buckeyes
had been unable to deal with Dickinson all
afternoon. If given the ball on the block, there
was a high chance he would’ve scored or
gotten fouled. At least, a better chance than a
contested 3-point attempt.
To bleed the clock down to the last possible
moment leaves no second chance opportunity,
no margin for error.
Howard’s belief in his players has been
well-documented, and one confounding
possession
shouldn’t
necessarily
be
extrapolated into something larger, but with
all that hung in the balance on Saturday
afternoon, it stung nonetheless.
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Down by one in the final posession of Saturday’s game, the Wolverines couldn’t complete their comeback.
Livers’s presence missed in loss
to Buckeyes
As the Michigan men’s basketball team
made its way out onto the court for its
Big Ten semifinal matchup against Ohio
State, no player received louder cheers
than Isaiah Livers. As fans in attendance
cheered from the stands, the Wolverines’
captain extended his hand and waved to
them before the start of a top-10 matchup.
But Livers wouldn’t be playing.
Just hours before tip-off, Michigan
revealed that Livers had sustained a stress
injury in his foot and would remain out
of the lineup, indefinitely. Outfitted with
a boot, Livers was forced to watch the
biggest game of his team’s season from the
sidelines.
“It’s not just something that happened
one day,” Livers said. “A stress fracture is
an injury that happens over time. It was
something that I was just battling and we
were rehabbing.”
When Livers received the news of his
injury, he felt a whirlwind of emotions.
Averaging 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per
night, Livers returned to Ann Arbor with a
vision: winning a national championship.
Now, it appears that his senior campaign
may not feature the storybook ending he
intended.
“I kinda felt like Zavier Simpson and Jon
Teske, how their season got shortened last
year around this time,” Livers said. “You
just hate to see it.”
With so many emotions running
through his head, there was only one
person Livers wanted to speak to:
“Juwan Howard, who really helped me
once I got the news, he was the first person
I talked to on the phone,” Livers said. “It
says a lot about his character, he was there
for me, he understood. It was comforting,
especially hearing his voice. I had no words.
But he did all the talking for me, I didn’t
have to speak.”
As the game tipped off in Indianapolis,
Livers was replaced in the starting lineup
by junior forward Brandon Johns Jr. While
Johns performed admirably in relief, the
absence of Livers loomed large, especially
in a first half that saw the Wolverines put
up just 27 points, a season low.
“Obviously, Isaiah’s a great talent, one
of the best players in the country and so
missing him was obviously gonna be a big
hill that we had to climb over, but I think
the team did a really good job of next man
up,” freshman center Hunter Dickinson
said.
While Livers did not touch the floor, he
still remained an active and key voice on the
sidelines for Michigan.
“At the end of the day, Isaiah is very
disappointed he’s not out there to help his
teammates,” Howard said. “(But) being
on the bench, having his presence, his
leadership, his voice, he is helping.”
The Wolverines nearly pulled off a
13-point comeback in the game’s final six
minutes, but ultimately lost, 68-67, after
graduate guard Mike Smith missed a step-
back three at the buzzer. While the loss
signifies the end of Michigan’s Big Ten
Tournament run, its NCAA Tournament
tale is still waiting to be written.
And if Livers has it his way, he’ll be out
there to help author it.
“I don’t want people to write me off yet,”
Livers said. “Still gonna rehab and work my
butt off to get back with this team because
I know we’re going to make a run and I’m
gonna be there for it.”
TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer
United States Paralympic hopeful Leo Merle joins Michigan ASAF
Earlier this month, Michigan’s
Adaptive Sports and Fitness (ASAF)
program scored a significant addi-
tion to their ranks with the news that
track and field athlete and 2021 U.S.
Paralympic team hopeful Leo Merle
would be joining the team.
Merle will be the second interna-
tionally competitive track and field
athlete to join the program, the first
being the decorated Cathryn Gray.
Now, with two elite athletes repre-
senting the track and field arm of the
program, it’s seemingly only a matter
of time before the accolades follow.
Merle arrives with a considerable
reputation. He’s the current U23
national record holder in the 5k for
his para-athletic classification with a
time of 16:58.
“I have times that are faster than
that, but because I wasn’t declared
a para-athlete just yet, they don’t
count,” Merle said. “I don’t have any
qualms with that, but I know I can
run faster.”
Despite the fact that he’s now
in contention for a spot on the U.S.
Paralympic team this summer, Merle
started competitive running relative-
ly late. Only in his junior year of high
school did Merle really begin to take
running seriously. Luckily, Merle
is an adept learner. As a teenager,
he picked up competitive shooting
after posting a perfect score on the
very first occasion he held a shotgun.
Within a few years, he was competing
at international competitions, being
coached by a world champion and
looking into potential Olympic oppor-
tunities for 2016.
Ultimately, Merle chose to drop
competitive shooting to focus on his
academics and running. However,
the pace at which Merle became an
elite competitor at the sport is a testa-
ment to his intelligence, diligence and
overall athletic ability.
After graduating from high school,
Merle enrolled at the University of
California, Santa Cruz in his native
state of California. There, he com-
peted as a Division III track and field
athlete for four years, participating
in countless events and posting com-
petitive times. However, one thing
set him apart from his competitors
— Merle has cerebral palsy, a disor-
der that affects mobility, posture and
balance.
“I didn’t know about the broad
spectrum of para-athletics until my
junior year (of college) when I started
doing the research and signing up for
nationals and whatnot,” Merle told
The Daily. “I didn’t have any special
accommodations and I didn’t really
think anything of it.”
In 2019, as a college junior, Merle
competed in Minnesota at the U23
U.S. Nationals. There, he had his
first-ever physical evaluation for clas-
sification as a para-athlete.
“As I was letting them know what
I was running for the 15k and the 5k,
they kind of just stopped and were
like, ‘Okay, there’s some people you
should start talking to to get more
information about (para-)athletics,’ ”
Merle said.
At that very same competition,
his first as a para-athlete, Merle went
on to set the U23 national record for
the 5k among T-38 (a disability sport
classification for those with cerebral
palsy) athletes.
“I didn’t realize the actual speed
that I had,” Merle said.
Once taken into the fold of
para-athletics, Merle set his sights on
qualification for the U.S. Paralympic
Team that will compete in Tokyo this
summer. Merle is in constant contact
with his coach from the U.S. Paralym-
pic Team, who prescribes his training
regimen and modifies it based on how
Merle is feeling and progressing.
As one would expect, training for
this once-in-a-lifetime event hasn’t
come without obstacles. In January,
Merle slipped on an ice patch while
leaving the library one night. While
falling, Merle tweaked a muscle that
kept him from running for almost
two months.
“I was so mad,” Merle said. “This
was when I was supposed to be ramp-
ing up, not sitting on a stationary
bike. I was thinking that if this really
affects my ability to race the time I
need to race, that’s really messed up.”
In some ways, however, the injury
was a blessing in disguise for Merle.
In a visit with a Michigan Physical
Therapist, Merle was introduced to
and given the contact information for
the ASAF program.
“One of the things that she men-
tioned that I’ve always had a fasci-
nation with and wanted to do was
expanding education about adaptive
sports and physical disabilities for
athletes and people in general,” Merle
said. “I’d be bummed if I didn’t make
the U.S. team for the Paralympics, but
at the end of the day, the larger impact
I want to have is to extend that invi-
tation.”
In addition to the injury setback,
Merle has had a lot on his plate
while training for Tokyo — Merle is
the president of his first-year dental
school class in the Michigan School of
Dentistry.
“It’s definitely a lot of time man-
agement,” Merle said. “As of right
now, I would say that I’ve been doing
a pretty good job of it. The one thing
that I have to keep in mind first and
foremost is that school is priority
number one.”
The Paralympic trials are in June,
where Merle will finally find out
whether his many months of training
have earned him a seat on the plane to
Tokyo. Admittedly, Merle describes,
there’s work to be done before then if
he’s to be selected. Historically, Merle
is a distance runner, competing in
events like the 5k, 8k and 10k. Howev-
er, for the T-38 physical classification,
the longest distance event available to
him to compete in at the Paralympics
is the 1500 meter.
“It’s a pretty large switch for me
compared to some other athletes who
have already been doing this,” Merle
said. “I’ve had to start doing a lot more
weightlifting and a lot more speed
work which I haven’t really done.”
Despite having to significantly
transform his running style, Merle is
already running times nearly 30 sec-
onds faster than the Paralympic stan-
dard for the 1500 meter of 4:45, with
a personal best of 4:19. However, to
meet the standards specific to the U.S.
team, Merle will have to cut a further
seven seconds off that time in order to
be at the threshold. Ultimately, Merle
aims to have a personal best of around
4:10 by the time June rolls around.
“I’ll need to cut about a handful
of seconds per race, which sounds
impossible,” Merle said. “But from
when I ran my personal best, I’ve got-
ten a lot stronger, I’ve gotten a little bit
older so I’ve had a little bit more mus-
cle development, so my body is going
to be able to respond much more
quickly.”
Going forward, Merle’s role as
part of the ASAF program will be
twofold. Given his potential status
as a Paralympian, the hope is that by
joining ASAF, Merle will bring noto-
riety and attention to the program.
At races and competitions, Merle
will now compete under the banner
of Michigan ASAF and wear pro-
gram-branded gear. In turn, ASAF
will support the costs of Merle’s
registration and travel to and from
events.
“We want to make it clear that hey,
we’re brand new, but we still have
people that are world-class at what
they do,” Merle said.
Additionally, those within the
program believe that the addition of
Merle will make it clear to Michigan
that ASAF and the strong foundation
it has built represents an opportunity
for the University to support the pro-
gram and establish itself as a leader in
adaptive sports.
“With Leo joining the program we
now have a roster of accomplished
athletes who have bright futures
ahead of them,” Erik Robeznieks,
Michigan ASAF Program Manager,
said. “It would be a missed oppor-
tunity if these athletes didn’t get the
support, access and opportunity that
is afforded to able-bodied athletes at
the institution.”
Robeznieks cites a plaque com-
memorating Michigan Olympians
that hangs in the Michigan Varsity
Track and Field Center as an embod-
iment of his hopes for how Michigan
should back ASAF:
“Given the caliber of athletes in
our program, and with support from
all levels of the system, we have the
opportunity to be leaders and the
best,” Robeznieks said. “For the Uni-
versity of Michigan, it is difficult to
conceive of better timing to start sup-
porting ‘Michigan Olympians and
Paralympians.’ ”
In addition to competing under
the banner of Michigan ASAF, Merle
will work with program staff and
Services for Students with Disabil-
ities at Michigan to provide and
expand education about adaptive
sports to students and community
members. For Merle, this role is the
more significant of the two.
“You can inspire a lot of people
by being an athlete who competes at
the Olympics or Paralympics,” Merle
said. “But by making a local impact
and expanding education, those peo-
ple can then go on to wherever they
go in their lives to leave an impact
that is equal to or greater than mine.”
SAMI RUUD
For The Daily