Michigan Set for Senior Day Racing against Louisville

April 30, 2015

Allison Boss
Allison Boss

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Saturday, May 2 -- vs. Louisville (Belleville Lake), 9 a.m.

The 12th-ranked University of Michigan rowing team closes out the regular season Saturday (May 2) with racing against Louisville. The races will be held starting at 9 a.m. at Belleville Lake in Van Buren Township, Michigan.
U-M is coming off a weekend trip to top-ranked Ohio State, racing against the Buckeyes, No. 17 Syracuse and Michigan State. The Wolverines finished in second place in three of the four varsity races (1V8, 1V4, 2V4), finishing just a boat and a half behind the top-ranked Buckeyes in the first varsity eight and first varsity four.

Michigan will close the season racing against the Cardinals for the second straight year. Last season, the Wolverines swept the morning session against Louisville in a double dual against the Cardinals and Michigan State on May 3, 2014. The 1V8 won its race despite missing Jessica Eiffert in the stroke seat due to injury. Michigan's 2V8, 1V4, 2V4, 3V4, 1N8 and 2N8 boats all earned wins against Louisville as well.

Racing will be begin at 9 a.m. with the novice eights, followed by a combined race of Michigan's 2V4 and 3V4 against the Louisville 2V4 crew at 9:20 a.m. The 1V4 crews will race at 9:40 a.m., followed by the 2V8 at 10 a.m. and the 1V8 at 10:20 a.m.

The Wolverines will honor seniors Allison Boss, Jessica Eiffert, Hannah Sherman and Alex Spaulding at the conclusion of racing in a ceremony at the Michigan Boathouse.

"We've gone through four years together on this team, so just feels right that we'd graduate together as a team," said Sherman.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (subject to change)
9 a.m. -- Novice Eights
9:20 a.m. -- Second/Third Varsity Fours
9:40 a.m. -- First Varsity Four
10 a.m. -- Second Varsity Eight
10:20 a.m. -- First Varsity Eight

PROBABLE LINEUPS

Varsity Eight Crews
1V8
Hannah Sherman (coxswain), Felicity Cain, Louisa Freeman, Jessica Eiffert, Kendall Brewer, Alex Spaulding, Karla McDaniel, Kaitlin Wright, Sarah Hudnall.

2V8
Francesca Derteano (coxswain), Abby Vare, Tessa Yurko, Adena Coste, Lexie Beemer, Libby Murray, Allison Boss, Kinsey Vear, Susie Stevens.

Varsity Four Crews
1V4
Emma Knorps (coxswain), Mallory Jammett, Emma Burke, Laura Foster, Kara Puidokas.

2V4
Nadia Roohparvar (coxswain), Kathleen Peng, Mariel Ziperski, Hannah Moscati, Rae Oleshansky.

3V4
Noa Rothstein (coxswain), Kelsi Harden, Kalia Krichko, Lauren Gilbert, Halli Travers

Novice Eight Crews
1N8
Alexis Jones (coxswain), Hannah Bashore, Jackie Dallier, Haley Zapolski, Colleen Gaffney, Hannah Hodges, Bhillie Luciani, Georgia Williams, and Olivia Flessland.

2N8
Michelle Kraus (coxswain), Rebecca Martin, Madeleine Grossi, Rebecca Sorgenfrei, Kaitlyn Mills, Hanna Zlotnick, Emily Svitek, Bridget Hennessy, and Brita Sharef.

QUICK HITS
· No. 12 Michigan will host ACC crew Louisville for the second straight year, closing out the regular-season schedule at Belleville Lake. Louisville won an American Athletic Conference title last season, earning an automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Rowing Championships. The Cardinals are in their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

· Louisville competed most recently in the Clemson Invitational on April 19, an event that included No. 1 Ohio State, No. 17 UCLA and No. 20 Cornell, as well as Tennessee, Michigan State and host Clemson. The Cardinals had a strong showing in the fours, finishing second in the 2V4 (7:30.3) and third in the 1V4 (7:32.2). Louisville's 2V8 was narrowly edged by Ohio State and UCLA, as the Cardinals finished in 6:39.3, just 2.4 seconds behind the winning Buckeyes. Louisville's 1V8 crew finished fifth in 6:45.5.

· Michigan's 1V8 crew moved up (2.5 secs) to 13th fastest in the nation according to the latest cMax rankings, which uses a mathematical model that compares finishing times with other crews considering: 1) general race conditions (distance, current, wind, etc.), 2) date of the race (more recent races count more than races earlier in the season), and 3) whether the team was "pressed" in the race. Last week, the 1V8 crew -- Hannah Sherman (coxswain), Jessica Eiffert, Kendall Brewer, Alex Spaulding, Tessa Yurko, Kaitlin Wright, Sarah Hudnall, Felicity Cain and Louisa Freeman -- put the pressure on Ohio State (2nd, cMax), staying within a boat length of the Buckeyes (6:19.80) until the finish line, as the Wolverines clocked in at 6:24.40.

· Michigan was ranked No. 12 in the latest USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll, one of four Big Ten teams in the polls, joining Ohio State (No. 1), Wisconsin (No. 9) and Indiana (No. 12). Weekend opponent Louisville is receiving votes.

· Fans can follow racing live beginning at 9 a.m. on the Michigan Rowing UStream channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/umichrowing or get live updates on Twitter by following @umichrowing.

· Michigan has placed in the top two at the Big Ten Championships in 11 of 15 years that the conference rowing meet has been held, including last season's second-place finish. Michigan has claimed five Big Ten team titles (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2012).

· Coach Rothstein is in his 19th season at the helm of the women's varsity rowing program. Rothstein's teams have finished in the top five of the NCAA Championships a total of eight times, including two runner-up finishes (2001, '12).

· Senior port/starboard Jessica Eiffert earned Pocock All-America first team honors as well as All-Big Ten second team honors last year and leads Michigan's first varsity eight along with senior coxswain Hannah Sherman, who was a CRCA All-Central Region second team selection last season.

Communications Contact: Jeffrey Weinstein (734) 763-4423