The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/299859
OLYMPIC SPORTS in program history U-M has navigated the conference season without a loss. In the 11 conference matches, U-M outscored Big Ten opponents by a combined score of 69-8 this season. Just two opponents managed to score more than one point against the Wolverines: Ohio State, which lost 5-2 to Michigan March 21, and Northwestern, which lost 4-3 to Michigan April 5. The Wolverines racked up six 7-0 shutouts in Big Ten play: at Penn State March 23, at Iowa March 28, at Nebraska March 30, versus Illinois April 6, versus Minnesota April 12 and at Purdue April 20. Senior Brooke Bolender — who defeated Purdue's Krisztina Kapitany 7-5, 6-3 in the final regular-season match — goes into the postseason with 110 career individual wins and is just one win shy of tying the program record (Denise Muresan won 111 matches from 2008-11). Bolender is also the second-ever member of the women's tennis team to win four Big Ten titles in her career. Mimi Nguyen (2010-13) was the first player in program history to see four conference crowns in her career. With the Big Ten Tournament just around the corner, the Wolverines didn't want to rest on their regular- season accomplishments. "I still don't think we are quite there," said Bernstein, who has five Big Ten titles in seven years at Michigan. "I think we still have a little more in us as we go to the Big Ten Tournament. "One of our goals is to get it done in the conference tournament. That has been something we haven't been able to do. We just need to keep playing as a team and competing hard every single point. I think the biggest thing we need to do is keep the one match at a time mentality we had all season long." After the conference tournament, the Wolverines will be looking to keep another impressive streak alive. The Wolverines have advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the last four seasons. Before the current streak, Michigan had never made it that far in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the third round just once (1997). The NCAA Tournament regionals will be held on campus sites May 9-11. The championship rounds were set to run from May 15-20 in Athens, Ga. SOFTBALL ON A ROLL IN BIG TEN PLAY If there was any doubt about the Michigan softball team when it prepared to kick off Big Ten play, the Wolverines have definitely put those concerns to rest. In one of Michigan's final warm-up tournaments before the beginning of conference play — the Judi Garman Classic March 6-8 in Fullerton, Calif.— the team went a disappointing 2-3, including losses to No. 5 Arizona State (2-0) and No. 11 Washington (7-1). Since then, the Wolverines have been virtually unstoppable. As of April 21, U-M had won 22 of 23 games, winning those contests by an average score of 9.1-1.0. During the streak, it