Jaedan Brown rebounds, feeding off
energy in win against Kristina Novak
JACK TIRSCH
For The Daily
Jaedan Brown closed out the
first set of her singles match
against No. 19 Oklahoma State’s
Kristina Novak with an emphat-
ic ace, adorning her serve with a
yell towards the crowd.
The junior was dominant
in her match, defeating Novak
in straight sets by the score of
6-2, 6-1. Brown tallied another
singles win against an oppo-
nent from a ranked team while
improving her individual record
to 3-1 on Saturday.
After an agonizing loss in
her singles match last weekend
amid a Michigan victory over
the Cowgirls, Brown came out
with a different mindset for the
rematch. She looked to sharpen
the fundamentals in her game to
rebound from the loss. She was
promoted to No. 1 singles this
weekend in a rematch between
the two teams.
“I think I went in really
loose,” Brown said. “Coming
off of a big win against them
last week helped me take all
the pressure off, so I was just
swinging and hitting it really
well. The energy was great.”
Michigan fed off of the ener-
gy from the crowd at the Varsity
Tennis Center and maintained
the competitive atmosphere as
crowd chants rained down over
the Wolverines. Brown clearly
absorbed the vibrancy through-
out her match, generating great
momentum in her favor.
“When you have your team-
mates around you constantly
encouraging you, that makes it a
lot easier,” Brown said.
Brown preserved this live-
liness throughout her match
with a powerful shot down the
line to break Novak and secure
a commanding 5-2 lead in the
first set. Brown continued her
strong level of play into the
second set by breaking Novak’s
serve yet again, this time with
a deep cross-court shot to take
a commanding 3-0 lead.
“You can’t give up when
knowing
that
(opponents)
aren’t
going
to
give
you
errors,” Brown said. “I felt like
my serve was pretty on today.
I also mixed it up using my
slice a couple of times, com-
ing into the net, just to throw
them off.”
Steamrolling her way to vic-
tory, Brown held nearly every
serve and broke most of the
opposing serving opportuni-
ties. Consistency was key for
Brown as she only conceded
three games to Novak’s effort.
Brown continuously moved
Novak around the court by
utilizing both her backhand
and forehand shots, as well
as coming up to the net when
necessary.
Brown was also able to use
her teammate Kari Miller’s
match
against
Novak
last
weekend to her advantage,
trying to replicate how her
teammate emerged victorious.
“I was just trying to take
what Kari did,” Brown said.
“She had a successful week-
end last time against (Novak),
so I just tried to take what she
said about her and what the
coaches said and treat it as a
new match.”
Jaedan Brown’s effort was
essential en route to Michi-
gan’s 6-1 win over Oklahoma
State, capturing victories in
back-to-back meetings against
the Cowgirls.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
‘A scary sight’: Hunter Dickinson delivers against Ohio State
JACK GLANVILLE
Daily Sports Editor
Up just five points with 13 min-
utes left, junior center Hunter
Dickinson caught the ball in the
high post while turning to face up
Ohio State center Felix Okpara —
no double team in sight. Sweeping
the ball low to his left hand, Dick-
inson dribbled left. Bumped once
off of Okpara, almost to the low
block. Bumped twice off of Okpa-
ra, at the rim. Dickinson layed it
up and in.
Sauntering down the floor, he
celebrated with an arm stretched
downward and a hand parallel
with the hardwood. His message
was clear:
The 6-foot-11 Okpara was too
small.
Dickinson notched a signature
performance — finishing with 26
points and 11 rebounds — against
the Buckeyes at Crisler Center on
Sunday. That performance was, in
part, due to Dickinson’s ability to
exploit mismatches in the post.
“Hunter recognizes, as well
as his teammates, when the big
fella had it going on the inside,”
Michigan coach Juwan Howard
said. “We had to continue to keep
feeding him the ball. I’ll never for-
get, on a timeout, Terrance Wil-
liams was like, ‘Let’s keep going
to Hunter.’ And I said, ‘You know
what, I agree. We’re going to keep
going to Hunter.’ ”
Matched up with either Okpa-
ra or forward Zed Key, Dickin-
son handled both of Ohio State’s
defensive
options
with
ease.
Okpara proved too skinny, and
Dickinson simply went through
him. Key proved too short at
6-foot-8, and the towering 7-foot-
1 Dickinson went over him —
unleashing a barrage of hook
shots that the forward never had
a chance of contesting.
“(Dickinson)
reads
the
defense,” Howard said. “When
he’s not doubled, he’s going to
make his move one-on-one. If he
gets doubled, he’s going to throw
the ball out.”
That ability to read the defense
made Dickinson’s performance
against the Buckeyes so impres-
sive. Staying calm under pressure
and demonstrating a knack for
making the right plays, Dickinson
remained poised throughout the
contest. That showed as he played
all but four minutes yet finished
with only one turnover. And the
way he facilitated the Wolverines’
offense from the post made that
statistic all the more impressive.
That ability to facilitate was
on display when, with seven min-
utes left, freshman guard Dug
McDaniel fed Dickinson in the
high post. Turning to survey the
court, Dickinson found himself
in a familiar position. This time,
instead of releasing a mid-range
jumper or taking his defender off
the bounce, he zipped a skip pass
to graduate guard Joey Baker
in the opposite corner. Baker
knocked down the three, giving
Michigan a 12-point cushion with
the momentum-boosting shot.
“There were times late in the
second half when (Dickinson)
had a chance to go one-on-one,
but he still was throwing it out
to the perimeter,” Howard said.
“That’s just the nature of being an
JULIANNE YOON/Daily
unselfish player, wanting to make
the right play. That just gives a lot
of credit to the kind of competitor
that Hunter is, but he’s also dialed
into team, team, team.”
Just two minutes later Dick-
inson flashed that unselfishness
again, throwing an almost iden-
tical pass, this time to sopho-
more guard Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin
missed the wide-open 3-pointer,
but it was the right pass and the
right shot — textbook basketball.
“When a guy like Hunter plays
his best it’s a scary sight,” Bufkin
said. “It’s always huge for us when
he plays great.”
After failing to effectively lead
a younger Michigan squad early
in the year, Dickinson is turning
a corner. Sure, he still averages
18.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per
game, but only recently — against
Northwestern and Ohio State —
has he put together the perfor-
mances that Michigan needs to
make a tournament push and flip
the script on its lackluster season.
At his best, Dickinson is one of
college basketball’s elites. One of
the Big Ten’s bonafide stars. And
Sunday against Ohio State, one
scary sight, indeed.
Michigan serves revenge to
Harvard at home
KENDALL MCCASKILL
Daily Sports Writer
Following the No. 4 Michigan
men’s tennis team’s loss in the
doubles point against the Harvard
men’s tennis team, the Wolverines
found themselves in an unfamiliar
place.
Looking to redeem their 4-3
loss from last season against No.
18 Harvard and its subsequent
defeat in doubles play, Michigan
was ravenous for the win. But its
appetite was only satiated when
it clinched a home win over the
Crimson.
“Especially early in the season,
it’s huge for us against a team like
Harvard,” fifth-year Patrick Malo-
ney said. “We lost 4-3 to them last
year, so we kind of came into that
match looking for revenge, losing
the doubles point even added on to
that and made it even tougher.
Maloney and senior Ondrej Sty-
ler entered the court as an unde-
feated doubles pairing hoping
to continue their five-set streak.
Instead, aces and tough serve-
receive from Harvard startled the
pair, losing both their match and
the team’s double’s point, the lat-
ter for the first time all season.
“We didn’t play well. At all,”
Michigan coach Adam Steinberg
said. “It was the worst doubles
we’ve played all year and the guys
know it.”
Based on their last meeting’s
performance and without the
cushion of doubles point, Michi-
gan knew it needed to show
improvement given their point
deficit.
It did just that.
By extending their rallies and
aggressive singles play, Michigan
put itself back into the competi-
tion. The Wolverines entered
into three-set matches in four
out-of-six of their singles. Junior
Jacob Bickersteth dropped the
first set against Harvard’s Mark
Ktiri, but with great determina-
tion to avenge his losses against
the Crimson, he pushed for a third
set. With crafty line shots and
continued grit from Bickersteth,
he secured the match for the Wol-
verines.
“Sometimes it’s a hard les-
son but it’s one that we needed,”
Steinberg said. “I told them that
after the doubles, listen ‘you’re
7-0, you’ve won every doubles
point, but now you’re going to be
challenged, and they did great.’ ”
Fifth-year Andrew Fenty simi-
larly served up his revenge follow-
ing his singles loss in his meeting
last year with Harvard. Fenty
quelled out his opponent with
quickness, winning the match
6-4, 6-1, giving another win to the
Wolverines.
“It was a character win today,”
Steinberg said. “We have to find
ways to win when we lose dou-
bles point too. They can lean on
it just like this, and think hey,
we’ve done it before against a
really good team.”
Despite the adversity Michi-
gan faced early in the match it
was able to take command of the
match, fueled by the team’s grit
and determination to take back
the win.
“Getting dug into that hole
early on but it tested us mentally
and physically,” Maloney said.
“And we’ll look back into this
match a couple of months from
now and be happy it happened.”
As the Wolverines continue
their undefeated campaign in
the weeks to come, they will
need to lead with the same
mentality they used to secure
revenge over Harvard.
MEN’S TENNIS
Michigan upsets field to win Big Ten Match Play title
Ranked eighth out of nine
teams in the field, the Michigan
men’s golf team entered the Big
Ten Match Play Championship
with a slim chance of winning.
Playing at the Hammock Beach
Ocean Course in Florida, the
Wolverines faced a steep uphill
climb, with matches against No. 7
Penn State, No. 2 Michigan State,
No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 North-
western.
Led by a clutch performance
from sophomore Hunter Thom-
son, Michigan stunned the com-
petition, knocking off each of the
top three seeds to win its first Big
Ten Match Play title since 2014.
Play
began
Friday
morn-
ing against Penn State but was
delayed due to weather, result-
ing in the match being reduced to
nine holes. Following the resump-
tion of play, Penn State’s James
Allen put the Nittany Lions ahead
with a comfortable 3-and-1 win
over Michigan junior Jude Kim.
The Wolverines fought back,
however, erasing the deficit as
Thomson and junior Will Ander-
son both grinded out late-match
comebacks. Thomson won his
match while Anderson tied his.
A halved point between junior
Ben Hoagland and Penn State’s
Morgan Lofland left the overall
score at 2-2, putting Michigan’s
fate in the hands of sophomore
Yuqi Liu. He stepped up in a big
way, winning a narrow 1-up match
that came down to the wire and
advancing his team to the next
round.
After a short turnaround, the
Wolverines took on rival Michi-
gan State, ranked second in the
field. Michigan got off to a hot
start behind Thomson, who domi-
nated 6-and-4. Andersen added to
the momentum as he cruised to
victory, 4-and-3.
Needing one more point to
clinch the win over the Spartans,
Kim found himself down three
with only seven holes to play. He
turned the tide at the right time,
winning six holes in a row to claim
a point to upset Michigan State
3.5-1.5.
“Anytime you play Michigan
State, obviously, we get their best
and they get our best,” Michigan
coach Zach Barlow said. “It was
nice to finally come out on top this
time. … The guys were fired up
for it and honestly we just played
really good golf.”
Semifinal play against Indiana
saw more polar scoring across
the board, with no ties. Kim and
Liu both lost, but Anderson and
Hoagland grabbed crucial wins
to keep the Wolverines in conten-
tion. With the score sitting at an
even 2-2, the outcome of the match
fell on Thomson’s shoulders.
Although only a sophomore,
Thomson is Michigan’s highest-
ranked player and led the team
in scoring average last year as a
freshman. He had his hands full
against the Hoosiers, winning
two of the last three holes and
still needing a huge putt on the
last hole to close out his opponent.
Reliably, Thomson held his nerve,
finding the bottom of the hole and
winning 1-up to send his team to
the finals.
With a Big Ten Match Play title
on the line, Northwestern await-
ed Michigan on Saturday after-
noon. Despite having played three
rounds in the last 36 hours, the
Wolverines put their heads down
and jumped out to a lead behind
wins from Liu and Kim, who
redeemed their semifinal defeats.
Unsurprisingly, the Wildcats
didn’t go quietly. Anderson and
Hoagland’s matches both came
down to the final hole but neither
came out on top. Northwestern’s
late comeback brought the score
to 2-2, once again putting Thom-
son in the spotlight as he squared
up against the Wildcats’ James
Imai.
The final match went back and
forth. Thomson and Imai traded
blows across the front nine, with
neither ever leading by more
than a hole. The match was all
square heading into the turn, and
remained unchanged until the
15th hole, when Thomson took
the lead with three holes to play.
He demonstrated solid compo-
sure, staving off Imai on holes 16
and 17 before sinking a must-have
putt on 18 to win the champion-
ship for the Wolverines.
“(Thomson’s) ranking hasn’t
quite caught up to who he truly
is yet,” Barlow said. “He’s got a
lot of big time tournaments, a
lot of big time years ahead for
Michigan. … For it to come down
to that and especially a putt, he’s
worked on putting so much lately
it’s crazy.”
Thomson is currently ranked
309th in college golf. And yet, he
won all four of his matches this
weekend and propelled his team
to victory. His underdog status is
mirrored by the Wolverines and
their low ranking coming into
this weekend.
Michigan’s underdog status
doesn’t come as a surprise consid-
ering its best performance last fall
was a third-out-of-13 finish at the
Island Resort Invitational in Sep-
tember. They played consistently
lukewarm golf throughout the
fall, leading many to believe the
same would remain true in 2023.
“It was a total team effort,”
Barlow said. “We have worked so
hard this offseason. … They got
stronger and everything from lift-
ing to cardio to their short game,
they’ve really put in the work this
offseason, and I couldn’t be more
proud.”
Evidently, the Wolverines have
more potential than was thought
prior to this weekend. They domi-
nated MSU and earned gritty
wins over Penn State and North-
western to win a title that few
people foresaw them claiming.
Though the consistency of
Michigan’s play remains to be
seen, this weekend definitively
proves that it has both the fire-
power and the mental strength
needed to win against heavily-
favored opponents.
MEN’S GOLF
PETER HAGAN
For The Daily
ANNA FUDER/Daily
RILEY NIEBOER/Daily
MEN’S BASKETBALL
10 — Wednesday, February 8, 2023
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports