VOLLEYBALL
Team plans to fine-tune form
For the first weekend this season, the MSU women’s volleyball team only has one match to worry about.
SPORTS
Pigskin Prognosticators
Last week was a fun week in college football, especially with the Wolverweenies going down. Both Death Ro (11-4) and McSkinny (9-6) went 3-2, but Death Ro was the one who sold out and went with Michigan.
SPORTS
Heisman watch
Here’s a look at the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy: Front-runners: Ken Dorsey senior quarterback, Miami After two solid performances, Dorsey put up numbers that were closer to Heisman standards in a 44-21 win over Temple.
SPORTS
Turnovers key for Irish and Spartans
Coming into the season, the MSU football team was expected by many experts to be undefeated when the men from South Bend, Ind., came to Spartan Stadium.Instead, it’s Notre Dame (3-0) that boasts a perfect record.“They’re not beating themselves,” MSU head coach Bobby Williams said.
SPORTS
Top-20 runners prep for Spartan Invitational, regular-season events
The men’s and women’s cross country teams today have their first chance to prove they belong in the nation’s top 20. MSU hosts eight colleges this afternoon in the Nike/Playmakers Spartan Invitational, the teams’ first regular-season event.
SOCCER
Women ready for first Big Ten games of season
The women’s soccer team opens its Big Ten season this weekend, facing off against Illinois and Iowa at home, and MSU head coach Tom Saxton couldn’t be happier. “Last weekend was good for us.
SPORTS
Classic honors Munley, runners
MSU athletes kept pace alongside Mid-Michigan runners Tuesday night at what the program touted as “not your traditional track meet.” And the second annual Spartan Classic Track Meet was anything but traditional, as MSU varsity and club athletes and community members joined to celebrate running, physical fitness and the life of a fallen Spartan. The event, the first track meet at the new Ralph Young Field, featured distance running, long jump and the inaugural Munley Relays, named after John Munley, an MSU swimmer who died while jogging in April 2001. Johnny Allen, assistant director of IM Sports and the event coordinator, said he hoped the event would unite the community and MSU with running and would honor Munley. Munley was a four-time letter-winner swimmer for MSU when he died at 22.
SOCCER
Indiana streaks into U
A successful UMass Classic last weekend has the MSU men’s soccer team riding a 4-1 record into a pair of games against teams from the Hoosier State this weekend. Although unranked and below .500 so far this season, Valparaiso upset No.
SPORTS
Players will whine, but booing understandable
There’s nothing more exhilarating for an athlete than taking the field in front of thousands of supportive, cheering fans. It gets the blood flowing, the adrenaline pumping and reminds you how great it is to be playing the game you love. But on the flip side, there’s nothing more painful than hearing those same fans rain down boos of displeasure. It’s like Brutus stabbing Caesar in the back.
VOLLEYBALL
Miller relaxes into star role
When she came to MSU in 2000, Emmy Miller faced a gigantic challenge - playing volleyball.Miller was a three-year letter winner at Okemos High School and played for Lansing Area Volleyball Association and USA Michigan teams before becoming a Spartan.But all that experience didn’t prime her for collegiate ball - not mentally or physically.“Her freshman year, she was just really overwhelmed,” head coach Chuck Erbe said.
SPORTS
Special teams look to make up for blunders
Most observers of the Spartans’ 46-22 loss to California found it hard to find a bright spot - head coach Bobby Williams is no exception.“It’s really hard to find anything positive from that football game,” he said at a weekly press conference Tuesday.
SPORTS
New Pistons, same old style of play
Chauncey Billups doesn’t know his way around Detroit yet, but he’s already learned what Detroit basketball is all about.“We got great talent, we’ve got a great coach and we’ve got a great opportunity,” said the point guard, who is about to start his first year as a Piston after signing a six-year contract in July.
VOLLEYBALL
3 Spartans on pace to set career records
Despite only one match scheduled for this weekend, the No. 21 MSU women’s volleyball team could experience more than one triumph that night.A number of milestones are just a fingertip length away for some Spartans, including head coach Chuck Erbe.Erbe, in his 10th season as coach, will be gunning for his 200th victory in Friday night’s match against Northern Illinois (6-3). With a win, Erbe will become only the second coach in MSU volleyball history to eclipse the 200-win mark.Only Annelies Knoppers, the Spartans’ volleyball coach from 1974-1984, has more wins in Spartan history with 250.
ICE HOCKEY
Team picked second in both CCHA polls, adopt rule changes
Both the CCHA’s media and coaches, voting in polls released Tuesday, picked the MSU hockey team to repeat last year’s second-place league finish.Archrival Michigan was named by both polls as the preseason favorite, but this could also be the first year since Lake Superior State won in 1995-96 that a team other than MSU or U-M claims the conference title.The CCHA playing field has seemingly been leveled, thanks to early defections from the league’s perennial powers.
SPORTS
Men start off season with third place finish
After coming off of top-five finishes and a berth in the NCAA East Regional last season, this year’s men’s golf team has big shoes to fill - and it’s already turning heads.The No.
BASKETBALL
Cleaves to meet fans at shopping center
Former Spartan basketball star Mateen Cleaves will be signing autographs from 5-7 p.m. Friday at Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township. Cleaves, who is about to start his third NBA season, will meet and greet fans at the grand opening of the Sprint store, 2959 Preyde Blvd., in the new shopping center, located on Lake Lansing Road near U.S.
SPORTS
Field Hockey roll in Big East/Big Ten play
The MSU field hockey team left the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in Syracuse, N.Y. unharmed this weekend, capturing its fifth and sixth consecutive wins of the season.
SPORTS
McCallie helps fight against illness
On a cool, cloudy Sunday afternoon, MSU women’s basketball coach Joanne McCallie led senior citizens, sorority sisters and other community members on a walk around campus for a good cause.“Last year, it was such a sunny day.
SPORTS
Golfers hit the links as fall season opens
The MSU women’s golf team fired an 18-over par 306 in it first competitive round of the fall season Sunday.The Spartans are competing in the NCAA Fall Preview, an exclusive event designed to pit 18 of the nation’s top teams against each other at the beginning of the fall season.
SOCCER
Women lose first game, conference play to open
The MSU women’s soccer team split two games this weekend, upsetting No. 19 Kentucky 2-0 on Friday, then falling 1-0 in the 90th minute to Dayton on Sunday.MSU’s victory over Kentucky extended the Spartans’ record to 4-0.