Tuesday Morning Brews: Teenage wasteland

Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. We’re back after a brief work-related absence to catch you up on all things Michigan sports. This morning we have results from the baseball and softball diamonds, in addition to conference and NCAA tournament action for women’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, and water polo.

Let’s get to it:

Softball sweeps Maryland, secures B1G Title. Carol Hutchins’ squad took care of business this past weekend, riding a three-game sweep to an 11-game win streak to conclude their regular season. The series sweep also secured the regular season Big Ten Title for Michigan, their second straight. The games against Maryland were never really close, as the Wolverines dominated 6-1, 8-0, and 12-3 over the weekend. The three wins improve Michigan’s record to 40-11 (22-1) on the season. The Big Ten Tournament starts on Friday.

Baseball sweeps Maryland for eleven straight wins. Baseball has an eleven-game win streak of their own, and the most recent three victories came from the Terrapins just like for softball. The weekend on the baseball diamond was marginally closer for the Wolverines than it was on the softball diamond. Michigan never trailed on Friday, but had to hold Maryland off down the stretch to secure a 10-7 victory. Saturday and Sunday were much more leisurely affairs; 10-4 and 13-1. The wins improve the team to 34-11 (14-3) on the year. They’ll next play against Michigan State this evening and Eastern Michigan tomorrow evening.

Women’s lacrosse bows out against Northwestern. Michigan was unable to realize revenge in their Big Ten Semi-Final matchup against the Northwestern. The Wildcats were responsible for one of the Wolverines’ two losses during the regular season. Michigan ultimately wasn’t able to keep up with Northwestern’s high-powered offense, losing 9-19. The Wolverines finish their regular season with a record of 15-3 (4-2), good enough for the eight seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Michigan’s first game will be Friday.

Women’s tennis sweeps Kentucky to reach Sweet 16. Women’s tennis passed their first two tests of the NCAA Team Championship, cruising past University of Illinois-Chicago and Kentucky. The Wolverines beat both UIC and Kentucky 4-0. The wins put Michigan in the third-round, the so-called Super Regional, for the eighth time in the past ten years. The two wins also gave Michigan 20 wins on the season, the 11th time that mark has been achieved in program history. Super Regional play will begin on Saturday.

Water polo secured their fourth consecutive Collegiate Water Polo Association championship the weekend before last, their ninth in program history. Michigan earned their title by beating No. 16 Harvard, 14-7, and No. 15 Princeton, 10-6. The conference title gives the Wolverines an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. Michigan will play No. 3 UCLA on Friday. The Bruins come into the matchup with a 23-6 (4-2) record on the season. That game will be played in Palo Alto, California.