Michigan 2020 Hall of Honor: 'Best All-Time Player' Zimmerman Elevated U-M Volleyball
10/18/2021 9:00:00 AM | Volleyball, Features
A four-year letterwinner, a three-time All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and the only Michigan volleyball player to earn AVCA All-America recognition in each of her four seasons in the maize and blue, Lexi Zimmerman will be inducted into the Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor during a Friday, Oct. 22 ceremony as a member of the Class of 2020 along with Sarah Cain (women's gymnastics), Kelli Gannon (field hockey), Ty Law (football), Jim Paciorek (baseball), and Tripp Welborne (football).
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Lexi Zimmerman was the complete package as a University of Michigan volleyball player, combining greatness in athletic ability and leadership.
Zimmerman appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" and was the nation's No. 1-ranked setter recruit as a senior at Barrington High near Chicago. And she lived up to the advance billing for the Wolverines, earning either first or second team All-America status in her final three seasons while thrice making first team All-Big Ten.
She also was a two-time captain, leading from day one as the starting freshman setter quarterbacking the offense and setting a single-season assists record of 1,685 that still stands. Zimmerman also set the school career record with 5,903 assists and 140 matches played, 2007-2010, and was selected the Detroit Athletic Club's College Athlete of the Year for the state of Michigan in addition to being the Wolverines' Female Athlete of the Year.
During her senior season, head coach Mark Rosen said Zimmerman was departing as "the best all-time player in the history of Michigan."
Zimmerman, for all she accomplished, was not anticipating her election into Michigan's Hall of Honor, which celebrates inductions Friday (Oct. 22).
"It was definitely a huge surprise," said Zimmerman. "When I saw that I had a missed call from the athletic director (Warde Manuel), my first thought was, 'Oh, no, what did I do? Did I forget something in the locker room (laughter)?' But what a great honor. It's definitely a humbling experience. What an amazing group of people."
She is the second volleyball player so honored, joining Diane Bartnick, a program pioneer some 40 years ago. Zimmerman's inclusion became a topic of conversation among her college teammates.
"We had a volleyball Zoom call," she said, "and it was so good just to spend time chatting. We've all kept in touch because we were all pretty close in college, and somebody said, 'Let's have a virtual reunion!' So, there were 20 girls on there, and it was awesome.
"The people are and were so special. I think they all know that 100 percent, I don't get that without all of them pushing and fighting for the same thing I was fighting for. So, absolutely, it brought a lot of pride to the program. But it wouldn't have gotten to that point without the whole team."
When she was playing, Zimmerman said, "I get to do what I love with people I love." That "love" continues one decade later.
She was recruited by numerous top programs, but the "team culture" created by Rosen and his wife, associate head coach Leisa Rosen, "hooked" her.
"I also went on visits to Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois," said Zimmerman. "I was looking to the Big Ten, but after those I was supposed to (unofficially) visit Duke and UNC (North Carolina). But I knew after 10 minutes on campus at Michigan, after talking to the coaches and getting to know Ann Arbor. I knew this was where I wanted to be. I was hooked. This was home, and I cancelled the rest of my visits."
When asked about the impact the Rosens had, Zimmerman laughed and asked, "Do you have an hour? They really created a family atmosphere, which was also unique among the college programs that I was looking at. It's brilliant that they focus on team chemistry and team culture, and trying to build that deliberately, and being focused on what we stand for and what we're fighting for. It's about building a very positive, growth-oriented culture."
The teams during her four seasons went 100-40 and made it to the NCAA Tournament every season, reaching the Elite Eight in 2009. No other four-year run in program history has netted 100 victories.
Zimmerman played with fire and emotion.
"I was definitely always a passionate player," she said. "I think that stemmed from the unique chemistry of the team as well. It's kind of vulnerable to get emotional with people around you, and you're really fighting together for that one common goal.
"So, I think that the only reason I felt comfortable to bring that full, authentic self to the game was that group of folks I was surrounded with. We went into the gym every day and fought for the same thing."
Zimmerman was a natural setter.
"Setter is a very connecting position," she said. "After the serve happens, the passer will pass the ball, and then the setter gets the second contact. And you're always trying to better the ball and make your teammates look good. And my attackers will try to make me look better.
"I was a little bit unique in that I was an offensive setter. So, I would try to aggressively set to score points, and having a supportive team around me that engaged, that was really helpful. It's a different type of offense than a lot of other programs, and I know for a fact that had I not been at Michigan, I probably wouldn't have been able to run that kind of offense. But Mark and Leisa were on board, the team was on board, and it really allowed me to be my best self."
That two-way confidence between a freshman setter and her teammates and coaches made their team success possible.
"I was sort of lucky that I didn't know any better and that I should've been kind of terrified stepping in as a freshman," said Zimmerman. "Since volleyball starts in the fall, we're kind of the first people on campus in the summer. I came in with a super-solid class with four seniors (co-captains Kate Bruzdzinski and Lyndsay Miller along with Sarah Draves and Stesha Selsky) that were very supporting and starting. So, they reinforced the messaging that, 'You can do this, and keep working.'"
It helped that Zimmerman was used to working with older players. She would follow her older sister, Victoria, who played volleyball at Indiana and Utah State, to practices, and get into games with players four years older.
Scott Harris, her coach on the Sky High club teams, called her a "gym rat" because she arrived so early that the heat was not turned on yet in the gym. Lexi would wear gloves until it warmed up and often stayed so late that Harris or someone would shout: "We're turning the lights off! You have to leave."
The end result of being such a hard worker, strong leader and talented player was Zimmerman "elevating" teams to a higher level.
"There's no question that she's had the most impact on elevating our program of anybody in the history of the program," Rosen told the Michigan Daily in 2010.
What did accomplishing that mean to her?
"Like I said before," Zimmerman noted, "they all really believed in me. It was a partnership that was just really special. They just didn't try to force me to fit into a system. When we came into the gym, they just watched us play, and tried to figure out what we could all be as athletes. I couldn't have asked for anything better."
She also loved the intimacy of playing at Cliff Keen Arena.
"Cliff Keen has a very special place in my heart," said Zimmerman. "It was so tight, and hot, and packed. It had so much history, you could feel it. You could feed off the crowd, and it would get louder. Sometimes we had to use hand signals because it was so loud. It was a place that created its own energy.
"At some other gyms, which are too big with the fans too far away, it seemed like the fans were star watching. But not at Cliff Keen. It was very alive and an organic thing."
Leadership came naturally for Zimmerman, and she said being a captain remains her greatest source of pride.
"I remember when Mark told me I had been voted a captain," she said. "We had a one-hour meeting just to talk about what that meant. I went into it terrified, and we talked about the responsibilities and the weight of Michigan, and all of these expectations. He just said, 'You've got to lead with who you are, and don't try to build your leadership style off what works for other people. Figure out what works for you and lead with that.'
"That really took a lot of this fear away because, 'I can be me. I can do that.' I just had to learn to be a better version of myself, and that was by leading by doing, working hard, 'Do, don't say.' That worked. Each leader brings their own authenticity and style."
She played for USA Volleyball and professionally in Puerto Rico before "transitioning out of volleyball with a body ready to break" into her current profession.
Zimmerman lives in Denver, and works in sustainability database management systems for Underwriters Laboratories.
"It's pretty broad and really varied but all under the umbrella of sustainability or non-financial metrics," she said. "It's kind of a journey and we can do good work on a larger scale."
She studied environmental science at Michigan, and was three-time Academic All-Big Ten. Zimmerman later attended a two-year master's program at the University of Cambridge (founded in England in 1209) for sustainability leadership.
The passion she had for volleyball has now taken root in matters such as "carbon foot-printing."
She also continues taking on athletic challenges. Lexi joined her sister in a group that climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2015. It is the highest point on the African continent at 19,340 feet, and the 3.7-mile climb covered a desolate, rocky terrain that featured a massive ice sheet near the summit. She did 5- to 10-mile hikes wearing a weighted backpack in the Rocky Mountains near her home to prepare.
It took five days to climb up it, and two days to return to the base. It was Lexi's first backpacking trip and they slept in tents during the journey that was a serious test of endurance.
"Volleyball is a fast-twitch sport," said Zimmerman. "So, this was very different."
They reached the summit right after sunrise.
"It was really cool and an awe-inspiring experience," said Zimmerman. "It's an amazing vista above the clouds -- totally beautiful. And sharing that awesome experience with my sister -- we're very close -- and her friends was awesome. I was so thankful that I made it."
Lexi got involved in volleyball because of her sister, too. You could say she reached the summit in that sport as well.
