Anyone who still believes that saying about old dogs being unable to learn new tricks obviously hasn't had an eye on the Michigan men's tennis team. With the young team looking to better last year's third-place finish in the Big Ten, junior Ryan Heller has run with the team's focus of improvement and greater consistency.

Though he's just in his third-year, Heller is one of the dinosaurs on the eight-man team.

"We have no seniors - I'm feeling kind of old, even as a junior," Heller said, with a laugh.

The 2005 team graduated four seniors and returned three juniors - Heller, Brian Hung and Steve Peretz - and one sophomore, Matko Maravic. This summer, knowing the team would welcome four freshmen into the fold, Heller went to an annual leadership conference - the Michigan Symposium for Student Athletes.

"It helped prepare for this year, especially with all the young guys," Heller said.

Starting out surprisingly strong, the relatively elder statesman has led these youngsters by example. Heller advanced to the main draw of the ITA All-America Championships in early October, making his first appearance in the singles bracket.

"I think I had one good tournament where I was happy with my results - the ITA (National Indoor Championships)," Heller said.

He won three straight qualifiers on his way to the ITAs, losing in the first round but going home from the tournament with an overall 4-2 record. He acknowledged that there were a few poor matches mixed between better ones during preseason, but this fall has been encouraging for Heller.

"Last year, I didn't have a good fall at all, and I think it might have destroyed some confidence going into the spring season," Heller said.

Heller attributed part of his improved play and confidence to his work under second-year coach Bruce Berque.

"I've shown-a lot of improvement, I think," Heller said. "My volleys have really come along and I've been working on consistency off the baseline. I'm confident in my game, (and the coaches) are always telling me what I need to work on, helping me with my confidence."

Berque agrees: "Ryan's improved in a couple of key areas that might seem like they're small areas of his game, but I think they have the potential to really translate into a lot more wins for him this year."

Physically, he's not exactly Marat Safin (Heller is listed at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds), but that hasn't been a problem.

"He's not a real big kid, but, for his size, he's very strong," Berque said. "Most of the (bigger) players he plays, he's not overpowered - he puts himself in position to win matches."

Previously troubled with consistency and mistakes on short balls and volleys, Heller should be able to rack up more wins this coming spring, Berque said.

Heller might have been able to win another couple of matches this weekend at the Big Ten Singles Championships, but because only 25 matches can be counted per season, both he and teammate Maravic chose to forgo competing in East Lansing after the ITA Championships, instead of missing a regular season match during the spring.

"If I didn't do well in ITA's, I guess I'd be pretty upset, and I'd probably still go to Big Tens," Heller said. "But it looks like I made the right choice."