The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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74 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MARCH 2025 Baseball U-M got its season off to the best start imagin- able, going 4-0 in the Puerto Rico Challenge from Feb. 14-17, including a 5-4 upset win in the season opener over No. 2 Virginia in 11 innings. Graduate catcher Matt Spear won the game with a 2-run homer and an RBI single to bring home the win- ning run in the bottom of the 11th. The Wolverines' trip also included wins over Rice (5-2), Villanova (19-0) and Stetson (6-1). In the finale against previously undefeated Stet- son, Michigan was led by junior Mitch Voit of- fensively. Voit scored twice on 3 hits, including a double and a home run. On the mound, sopho- more Gavin DeVooght dominated early striking out 7 while scattering 4 hits and a walk. He earned his second win of the season, while senior Will Rogers earned the save allowing 1 run over four innings of work. Men's Gymnastics Michigan, ranked sixth in the country, recorded a season-high score of 326.400 but finished second out of three teams in a meet at McCasland Field House on Feb. 15. No. 1 Oklahoma walked out with a victory by scoring 327.700, while No. 14 Simpson College finished in third with a 285.550. The Sooners led for the entire event, but U-M had four event titles and seven podium finishes in a strong showing. The team is now on a bit of a break from compe- tition, but it returns to action on March 15 when it hosts rival Ohio State. After a road meet against Nebraska March 21, the Wolverines will host the Big Ten Championships April 4-5 in Crisler Center. Women's Gymnastics The No. 15 Wolverines moved to 8-2 (4-1 Big Ten) on Feb. 15 with a sweep of the individual event titles and a team victory at the Rutgers Tri-Meet over the Scarlet Knights and Kent State Golden Flashes in Piscataway, N.J., earning a score of 196.900. Graduates Carly Bauman and Jenna Mulligan, and freshman Sophia Diaz each had two event titles, while sophomore Kayli Boozer grabbed a share of the beam title. After coming home on Feb. 23 to host No. 2 UCLA, Michigan will next compete in the Big Ten Quad Meet in College Park, Md., on March 1, which will be televised at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. The schedule ramps up when U-M travels to Nor- man, Okla., on March 7 to take on the Oklahoma Sooners before returning home to host Alabama on March 15. Michigan will host the Big Ten Championships March 21-22. Men's Tennis The 20th-ranked Wolverines grabbed a 4-3 comeback win over SMU on Feb. 16 in the final match of the 2025 ITA National Team Indoors event at Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas. The victory moved the team's record to 5-4 for the 2024-25 season. Women's Tennis U-M's sixth-ranked women suffered a tough 4-3 loss to 14th-ranked Duke in Durham, N.C., on Feb. 16, dropping their record to 6-3. Senior Julia Flieg- ner moved her dual-match record to 7-0 on the year in the event. Softball The bats exploded in U-M's ninth game of the season, moving its record to 5-4 after an 11-1 run- rule win over Georgia State on Feb. 16 in Atlanta. Freshman first baseman Lauren Putz was the hero of the day, recording a 2-run homer in the third inning and a 3-run blast in the fourth to total 5 RBI on the afternoon. The Wolverines racked up 12 hits in the contest, including at least one from 9 different batters. Michigan will stay busy, playing a total of 23 more games on the road, including tournaments, before the team finally hosts its home opener with Western Michigan on March 25. Swimming And Diving The College Swimming and Diving Coaches As- sociation of America announced Feb. 3 that both U-M's men's and women's swimming and div- ing squads were selected as Scholar All-America teams. The men posted a grade-point average of 3.26 while the women had a GPA of 3.24. The Wolverines also hosted a first-chance meet on Feb. 15-16 with select individuals participating ahead of the start of the Big Ten Championships. The women will participate in the four-day con- ference championship meet starting Feb. 19 in Columbus, Ohio, while the men will head to Min- neapolis from Feb. 26 to March 1. Track And Field The U-M women set a pair of top-10 school marks set on the weekend of Feb. 14-15 at the Ti- ger Paw Invitational at Clemson, S.C., headlined by junior Trinity Franklin's seventh-place finish (14.79 meters) in the open shot put section, while fresh- man Abigail Russell placed ninth (14.75 meters). Sophomore Amare Harlan posted a personal-best time of 23.55 seconds in the 200-meter Orange section, good for 16th in the event. The men's and women's teams both will head to the Big Ten Championships, beginning Feb. 28 in Indianapolis. Water Polo Michigan sits at 2-3 on the season after drop- ping a 14-8 contest to No. 2 Stanford in Bloom- ington, Ind., as part of the Midwest Invitational on Feb. 9. Freshman Ari Karampetsou led the attack in the event, which included 9 goals over three games played against No. 20 Wagner, No. 12 Indiana and Stanford. Her play earned her CWPA Rookie of the Week honors on Feb. 12, her second of the season. Wrestling No. 19 U-M won six bouts, earning bonus points in four, to beat Michigan State 27-12 in its final Big Ten dual meet of the season at Jenison Field House on Feb. 16. The victory featured three straight wins at the upper weights to close out the dual, includ- ing a technical fall from graduate heavyweight Josh Heindselman. Sophomore 141-pounder Ser- gio Lemley also secured his first pin of the season. The Wolverines (6-5, 3-5 Big Ten) will wrap up their dual-meet slate with a Feb. 23 match against Central Michigan at Cliff Keen Arena before head- ing to the Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Ill., March 8-9. — Anthony Broome ❱ OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Winter/Spring Sports Roundup Graduate catcher Matt Spear hit a 2-run homer and had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead U-M to a 5-4 upset over No. 2 Virginia in the Puerto Rico Challenge Feb. 14. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS