The Michigan women's volleyball team's orders this weekend, should they choose to accept them, sound like Mission: Impossible.
The challenge facing the Wolverines is a trip to East Lansing, and a match against No. 9Michigan State, in front 3,000 hostile fans in Jenison Field House.
A large crowd is expected, because the Spartans receive their Big Ten championship rings from last season.
Michigan (0-2 Big Ten, 5-8 overall) should be familiar with this type of assignment. It has already faced five top 25 teams this season. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, there were no daring escapes or last-minute plot twists to bail them out of the end of those matches, and they lost all five.
Those matches were played against non-conference opponents, and were intended to toughen-up Michigan before starting Big Ten play.
The Wolverines were disappointed in their start to conference play, however. They built two-games-to-one leads against both Iowa and Illinois, but lost each match in five games.
Michigan State (3-0, 9-4), which went to the NCAA semifinals last season, is favored to repeat as Big Ten champion. The Spartans swept both matches against Michigan last season.
The result was a three-goal outburst and a 4-3 victory, Michigan's first in Big Ten play this year.
The win evened Michigan's record to 4-4 overall, while the Spartans fell to 8-3.
Now the Wolverines have an opportunity to go over the .500 mark for the first time since Sept. 21, with a non-conference match against New Hampshire on Sunday at noon. Michigan's chances of winning are good.
In eight games this season, the Wildcats have looked more like mildcats, scoring a total of 10 goals and being shut out three times. New Hampshire is 1-7 this year, with its lone win coming against Virginia Commonwealth, 5-1.
New Hampshire is led by senior attacker Kristen Diamond, who has scored five goals and delivered an assist for 11 points.
Michigan is led by junior attacker Julie Flachs, who scored the game-winning goal on Wednesday to push her season total to seven. She leads the team in goals and has 14 points this year.
The Wildcats lead the series between the two schools, 1-0, beating the Wolverines 6-1 in 1991.
-by Richard Shin
The Wolverines will take on Washington today at 3 p.m. PT and Portland on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT. Both games will be played in Seattle.
The Wolverines haven't played since Sunday, September 29, when they beat Indiana for their first Big Ten win of the season.
In order to avoid any incidences of jet lag, the team took off for Seattle early yesterday morning. The Wolverines arrived Thursday afternoon and had a chance to rest and get ready for this weekend's games.
After arriving in Seattle, Michigan met with its coach Debbie Belkin who flew out west earlier in the week to recruit.
"Washington is a physical team," sophomore Nicole Savage said. "We will have to play a more offensive game than we have in the last couple games if we want to win."
Defeating Washington will not be an easy task, however. The Huskies, as well as Portland, are ranked among the top 15 teams in the nation.
Michigan will be without freshman midfielder Stephanie McArdle this weekend due to a hyper-extended knee suffered in the game against Indiana last Sunday. McArdle should be back in action next week.
The Wolverines (5-2-2) are taking a break from their Big Ten schedule. Michigan resumes conference play Oct. 11 at home against Penn State.
- by Kevin Goldfein
Michigan men's golf coach Jim Carras has reason to be upbeat for this weekend. The Wolverines will send their top lineup this season onto the course. Kyle Dobbs and Brent Idalski, who did not compete last weekend, return for the Michigan Invitational.
"I am very optimistic about this tournament," Carras said. "Not only do we have our five strongest players competing, we are on our home course."
Shooting with Dobbs and Idalski in the team competition will be sophomore Michael Harris, junior Isaac Hinkle and senior David Jasper.
Sophomore Mike Emanuel, juniors Keith Hinton and Kevin Vernick will compete along with seniors Adam Anderson and Justin Hicks in the individual competition against some tough competition.
Top teams such as Texas Tech, Ball State, Kent State, Indiana and Minnesota will bring their squads in to Ann Arbor with victory in mind.
"We have not finished ahead of Ball State this year and Kent State was ahead of us last weekend, so we know they will be tough," Jasper said "This is also the first time this year that we will see (defending champion) Minnesota."
Despite all the quality competition, Carras is very confident of his team's chances this weekend.
"This is a real opportunity to show that we are a top team in the district," Carras said. "We have a chance to be very good and I will be utterly disappointed if we do not finish in the top three."
-by John Friedberg
Ball State, Drake, Illinois, Indiana State, Iowa, Kentucky, Marquette, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue and Western Michigan will particpate in the tournament.
The tournament format allows each player three singles matches. Seven of the eight Wolverines will compete, with the exception of junior Jen Boylan, who is still recovering from a knee injury and is taking two to three weeks off. Six Wolverines will play doubles as well, excluding freshman Tenley Hardin.
"This is a great opportunity to play a lot of matches, and to see how our competitors have changed since last season," Ritt said.
Senior Sarah Cyganiak is expected to do well, and may be seeded in singles. According to Ritt, Cyganiak and junior Sora Moon will be seeded in the doubles portion of the tournament, possibly even first.
"They (Cyganiak and Moon) are a very good team," Ritt said. "When they get on a roll they are very difficult to beat."
In practice, the Wolverines have been working on some of the weaknesses that were apparent in the William and Mary Invitational Sept. 20-22, such as footwork.
This tournament will be a chance for the Wolverines to gain more experience.
"Everyone has been putting in a lot of time and effort," Cyganiak said, "we're now ready to play and compete."
-by Nita Srivastava
Head coach Mark Rothstein leads the Michigan's women's crew team again this year. Rothstein came to the program as a novice coach in 1991 and has been the head coach of the club team since 1992.
"We are driven to develop the program to the highest level," Rothstein said. "We're really looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead of us."
In its last year as a club sport, the Wolverines took the gold medal at the well-respected Women's Henley Regatta in Henley, England.
Rothstein, along with assistant coach Emily Ford, will be leading some experienced rowers in competition. Juniors Jeannette Stawaski, Kate MacKenzie and Lisa Labadie are joined by transfer students Emily Green and Laurel Lacour. This summer, Lacour and Stawaski were invited to the U.S. National Team Pre-Elite camp.
These fine rowers will be joined by a group of talented freshmen in Erin Fitzgerald, Lindsey Jones, Marcie Klein, Laura Marabito, Scarlet McCarthy, Jeanine Seeger and Jamie Stilson.
The Wolverines have high expectations going into their first regatta in Pittsburgh Saturday.
"We expect to make an impact immediately," said Rothstein.
-by David Eklund