The Wolverine

OLYMPIC SPORTS PROFILES volleyball program as a freshman in 2010 and immediately asserted her- self as a dangerous middle blocker. She finished the year with 111 total blocks, 261 kills and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. Jennifer Cross entered the Michigan reared its head last year. "As a freshman, she had a great year, cess after a great fresh- man year, learning how to follow that up. And she struggled with that. After the 2011 season, the Wolverines were depleted by gradu- ation, especially up front. They needed Cross to " gan head coach Mark Rosen said. "She really excelled. Her sopho- more year was really tough for her. She had some injury issues. And she had to figure out how to take that next step. "That's a tough pro- " Michi- But the proverbial sophomore slump Jennifer Cross Storms Into Her Junior Season spring," Cross added. "As a team, we had When school let out for summer vaca- tion, Cross committed to staying in Ann " a really, really good spring because we had such a small number of people. We only had six players actually playing at one point. We got really close and really good — just playing as a unit. of the most amazing things she was gone through. She trained seven to eight hours a day with players who had reached the highest levels of interna- tional volleyball play. "I think it helped tremendously, said. "It was more about learning from my teammates and their experiences. The volleyball was awe- some, too. It was a re- ally high-performance environment. "I was lucky to play such a high level of volleyball in the sum- mer, which is gener- ally when it's more just physical stuff. " she nadian coaching staff raved about Cross and called her the best mid- dle on the team. Unfortunately, Cross Rosen said the Ca- " During one scrim- mage against Dayton in the spring, Cross played in the middle the entire time — for two matches — never tak- ing a break or even moving to the back line for a breather. "Dayton's players went, 'Man, that kid is amazing, return to her freshman year performance — and did she ever. "She worked her butt off this spring," Rosen said. "She was really good. She was the only middle we had in the gym because of gradu- ation, so she got a ton of reps. It would have been really easy for her to say, 'I'm just too tired. I can't do this much,' but she fought through it. She was a warrior. " good, but it's hard to be a front row middle and never get a rest. That was how she approached it. "I was extremely motivated this " '" Rosen said. "Not only is she suffered a bad ankle sprain before Team Canada traveled to the Pan-American Games. The injury held Cross back during preseason preparation, but she is back to nearly 100 percent. On Sept. 15, she tal- lied 11 kills and seven total blocks in a 3-2 win over Duke. Rosen said she was dominant at times. "We're really excited Cross worked out all summer with the Canadian National Team before a sprained Arbor and working with the Wolver- ines' strength program, something she hadn't done the year before. It was a big step and would have pre- pared her nicely for the 2012 season. But those plans were derailed by a ter- rific opportunity. The native Canadian was invited to spend the summer with the Senior Canadian National Team. "I was like, 'Go!'" Rosen said. Cross said the experience was one ankle kept her from competing with the squad. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS "And she has been critical for us, be- cause we have so many young play- ers. Watching videotape, you can see her constantly talking to other players about what to look for. "She's a very experienced volleyball about how hard she has worked," Rosen said. "She had some big hurdles to overcome, and it would have been easy to throw up her hands and say, 'This stinks.' She didn't. She has done everything right. player. She understands the game at a very high level, and she's doing a very good job of taking the younger players under her wing. " — Andy Reid OCTOBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 83

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