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Sports | Football 1000

SPORTS

Softball heads south for Florida tourney

MSU softball heads to Florida this weekend to play against Stony Brook, Maryland and Florida International before entering into bracket play during the Florida International Tournament. The Spartans will face season-starters Stony Brook and 3-2 Maryland on Friday before taking on 2-9 Florida International on Saturday. MSU has 13 extra base hits on the season and hopes to keep up that momentum throughout this weekend's play. Coming off of a 1-1 showing at last weekend's UNLV tournament, the Spartans athletes hope to keep their record-breaking performances.

SPORTS

PairWise Rankings bad news for 'U' hockey

A computerized ranking to determine the Bowl Championship Series in college football causes more headaches than it originally was intended to, and college hockey's PairWise Rankings are no exception. While the MSU hockey team enjoys a bye week, you, the fans, should be concerned not only about next weekend's series against Michigan, but the upcoming NCAA Tournament as well.

BASKETBALL

Izzo: Big Ten deserves credit

The Big Ten is portrayed in the national media as the black sheep of the major conferences, and Tom Izzo doesn't like it. With the Big Ten's best record, MSU (16-9 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) is nearly a lock for the NCAA Tournament.

SPORTS

Golfer earns Big Ten accolades for 1st time

Senior Sarah Martin earned the title of Big Ten Golfer of the Week. Martin, who helped take the Spartans to a 14.5-3.5 dual-match win at the Spartan/Wildcat Cup last week, took the title for the first time in her college career. Martin received the title, which she shares with Ohio State junior Kristen White, by tying for the Spartans' high score and by shooting a tournament-best score of 73 in last week's tournament.

SPORTS

Spartans tie school record against Pitt

The MSU gymnastics team tied a school record on Saturday by defeating Pitt in a 196.575 performance at Jenison Field House. The Spartans posted season-high team vault scores of 49.000 and 49.075, respectively, in the first and second rotations. Victoria Iakounina turned out a season-best score of 9.900 and took the event title on bars, while teammate Sarah Alexander took the beam title with a score of 9.900.

SPORTS

Tennis freshman goes distance

For all the homesick freshmen, put yourself in Pascale Schnitzer's shoes. A no-preference freshman on the MSU women's tennis team, Schnitzer moved more than 5,000 miles away from her home in Santiago, Chile, at the beginning of this semester to play tennis.

BASKETBALL

Turnovers key to win

What a difference a game makes. Michigan's improbable win against Wisconsin on Sunday suddenly thrust the Wolverines into the batch of Big Ten NCAA Tournament hopefuls.

SPORTS

Seniors help 'U' to 1st Big Ten win

In its final regular season meet, the MSU wrestling team captured a win Sunday afternoon, defeating Indiana, 19-14, at Jenison Field House. With just its second win of the season and first in the Big Ten, the Spartans (2-12, 1-7), took six individual matches, with three coming from seniors in their final home meet as Spartans. "It means a lot, actually," senior Arsen Alexsanyan said.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers find rhythm in shutouts

With a satisfied look on his face, head coach Rick Comley stood on the ice, clapping as his players acknowledged the crowd following their 5-0 shutout over Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night. After struggling since the beginning of the season to string together back-to-back wins, the MSU hockey team finally completed its first home sweep of the season.

BASKETBALL

Spartans control Big Ten destiny

Like an aging boxer short on money, the MSU basketball team refused to give up. And as the Big Ten season winds down to its final rounds, the Spartans are proving the beatings they took only made them stronger. After MSU's first Big Ten game, a loss to Wisconsin, the team was two games under 500 - its worst start since the 1987-88 season - and had lost each of its marquee nonconference matchups.

SPORTS

Colorado sports out of control

The situation at University of Colorado is beginning to resemble Enron in its scandalousness. Between the allegations of sex and alcohol being used to recruit players and the recent accusations of women being raped by team players, things are not looking good for head football coach Gary Barnett or the Colorado football program. So far, six alleged rape victims have come forward, with one of the most recent being former Colorado kicker Katie Hnida.

SPORTS

Wrestler heeds athletic calling

He grew up somewhat different than most wrestlers. Size was never to his advantage, and he had one other minor detriment. Junior wrestler Brandon Hallifield was born deaf - but no matter how hard it would be, his mother vowed he would have an ordinary childhood. "I was really determined," Diana Hallifield said.

ICE HOCKEY

Munn a roadblock for Icers

For the MSU hockey team (18-5-1 overall, 14-9-1 CCHA), wins at Munn Ice Arena this season have been tough to come by. Three games remain on the Spartans' home schedule, starting with today's matchup against Nebraska-Omaha at 7 p.m., and the icers are close to finishing below .500 at home. Currently, MSU has lost three straight games at home to carry an 8-10-1 record.

ICE HOCKEY

Lalonde comes in a quiet 2nd

Junior forward Mike Lalonde says his game of hockey is simple. He doesn't have to be the fastest skater, nothing about his game is flashy - it's the little things he does that make him the Spartans' leading goal-scorer with 18, tying him for the lead in the CCHA with Miami (Ohio) freshman Matt Christie. Overall, his 31 points rank second behind junior captain Jim Slater, who is the Spartans' candidate for the Hobey Baker Award, given to Division I hockey's top college player. Even with a handful of underclassmen searching for their role on the team, Lalonde, an assistant captain, doesn't feel the pressure from others to perform a notch higher - he puts plenty on himself. "I don't feel as much pressure as much as I put on myself to have a solid, clean game," Lalonde said.