6B Wednesday, September 15, 2010 // The Statement
Wednesda, September 15. 2010 // The Statemen-'rt 38
news in review
Five of the most talked-about stories of the week, ranked in ascending order of actual importance
Lady Gaga donned an outfit - The University said that two- A passenger-plane flying in
including dress, shoes, a hat and time all-American Wolverine Venezuala crashed Monday
bag - made of meat cuts at the Ron Kramer, who played tight ing at least 14 people, thou
MTV Video Music Awards Saturday end for Coach Vince Lombardi's least 33 other passengers s
night. The animal rights group PETA championship teams of the early vived. The airliner was carr
spoke out adamantly against the 1960's, died Sunday at the age passengers from the island
performing artist's fashion choice. of 75. Margarita to Ciudad Guaya
Umar Far
y, kill- lab --the
gh at Day bom
sur- court Sur
ying himself, f
of defender!
na. attorneys
ouk Abdulmutal-
alleged Christmas
ber - said in a federal
day that he will defend
oregoing the federal
s who were to act as his
s.
I
Two individuals died and about a
half dozen others were injured in
Afghanistan during protests fueled
by American pastor Terry Jones's
claims that he would burn copies
of the Koran to commemorate the
ninth anniversary of September 11.
Abuzz of uncertainty and skep-
ticism swept across volleyball
message boards, blog websites
and media outlets on August 24, 2007.
According to the national critics, the
Michigan volleyball husband-wife
coaching tandem of Mark and Leisa
Rosen was making a mistake.
The subject of such hotly-contest-
ed debate: then-freshmen setter Lexi
Zimmerman.
"On the Internet, all the blogs were,
like, 'What are the Rosens thinking,
starting a freshmen? They're going to
hurt her for life because she's going
to be so scared out there,' " Lori Zim-
merman, Lexi's mother, reminisced
about her daughter's first collegiate
match in front of almost 7,500 fans.
Disregarding her freshman sta-
tus, current senior Lexi catapulted
the Wolverines to a five-set victory,
in which she tallied 64 assists and 13
digs in her debut donning the maize
and blue.
And the number of doubters and
the negative attention the Rosens
received for their unprecedented
decision, well, that's all history now,
as Zimmerman is on pace to become
Michigan's all-time assist leader in
the next two weeks. And according
to Rosen, she will graduate "this year
being the best all-time player in the
history of Michigan."
Coming to Michigan her freshmen
year ranked as the top setter in the
country, Zimmerman said she real-
ized within 20 minutes of being in
the gym her first preseason day that
holding the number one position in
a recruiting class meant absolutely
nothing.
"I definitely came in knowing I was
going to have to work really, really
hard to step my game up because
the level was so much higher," Zim-
merman said. "And I was still blown
away."
Zimmerman has dedicated a signif-
icant amount of her life to volleyball
ever since Scott Harris, her club vol-
leyball coach, can remember.
"She was what I call the gym rat,"
said Harris, coach of the northern
Illinois-based Sky High Volleyball
club. "She was in the gym as much as
you wanted her to be. She couldn't get
enough of it."
Harris recognized Zimmerman at
an early age as "one of the most ath-
letic and dynamic setters" he had ever
seen. From a young age, she proved
herself as extremely talented and able
to improve at a rate that surpassed
most other players.
From the end of middle school to
her final season as a Wolverine, Zim-
merman has continued to set the
precedent for what it means to be
the best player in the gym. While it is
certainly hard to quantify 'the best,'
anyone who has been following the
Wolverines over the last few seasons
can identify the player who has been
at the heart of all the success.
To the surprise of no one, the
"little, skinny kid" - as Mark Rosen
described Zimmerman - has
remained among the country's top
setters, leading the nation last year
with 1,516 assists.
"The majors for athleticism -
speed, agility, hand-eye coordination,
balance, explosion - all those things,
she's off the charts," Rosen said.
"She's got the intangible qualities.
She's a great competitor, she plays
great under pressure.
"When's it's crunch time, she just
finds ways to win," he continued.
"That's the recipe, that's what you're
looking for in players."
Upon arriving at Michigan, Zim-
merman had a solid foundation for
the art of setting, with a high atten-
tion-to-detail mindset but with very
little latitude with which to play her
position. After quickly identifying her
as a "free spirit," Rosen allowed Zim-
merman a little latitude at first. Then,
after realizing she could still perform
well, allotted her more and more free-
dom with distributing the ball.
But even with a little latitude, Zim-
merman is still learning on the fly to
elevate her game. And that all starts
with practice.
When it comes to being able to
truly dedicate herself to volleyball for
the two hours a day when the team
practices - as the coaches tell the
whole team to do - Lexi does a great
job, according junior libero Sloane
Donhoff.
"When's she's in herefor twohours,
she'll go hard for two hours," Donhoff
said. "She'll come in here and she's
going hard all the time, everyday."
And for Zimmerman, who admits
to being a reaction player - she says
she sets the ball without really doing
a whole lot of thinking - the time in
the gym has proven invaluable. Rosen
and the coaching staff have focused
on helping her understand why and in
what circumstances to make certain
decisions.
This has proven to be a relatively
easy task, according to Rosen. Despite
MUSICAL CHAIRS
And the school without a chair is...
Michigan.
OK, well, almost.
By her sophomore year at Bar-
rington High School in Illinois, Zim-
merman had already caught the
attention of many other schools -
some had even contacted her as early
as the eighth grade. But the nation's
top setter of the 2007 recruiting class
still hadn't caught Michigan's atten-
tion.
Enter Stanford University.
As a player on one of Sports Perfor-
mance's Under-14 teams - the volley-
ball club Zimmerman played for prior
to switching back to Sky High her
sophomore season - she received her
first piece of contact from any Divi-
sion I school.
"Getting letters from coaches, it
kind of opened my eyes and made
me realize that I could continue
with (volleyball), which is awesome
because it's definitely something I
love doing," Zimmerman said. "If
there's someone that wants me to play
for them, I'm there."
Once the letters and questionnaires
started arriving on the Zimmermans'
doorstep, the discussion about Lexi
possibly pursuing volleyball in the
0 123 4 5 6 7 8 9,10
quotes of the week on the cheap
"BP is happy to slice up blame, as long as they get the small- decorating your diggs on a budget
est piece."
U.S. REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D-MASS.), on the oil company's investigation into
the spill, which lays the blame on multiple other parties.
"It's only a paradise for rats."
MOHAMMAD IMRAN, a Pakistani migrant in the United Arab Emirates speaking
about how he came to Dubai to make money, but will leave worse off because of
the downturn in the construction industry that left tens of thousands of imported
workers without jobs.
"We will stop printing the New York Times sometime in the
future, date TBD."__
ARTHUR SULZBERGER, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, at a
London media summit, in response to a statement that the paper will go out of iLAUSTRATIoN BY KATE EBERTS
print by 2015. T he first week of move-in is almost always the hardest on the wallet, especially when
moving off campus for the first time. On top of the normal purchases students have
to make, moving into a new apartment necessitates the purchase of everything from new
the rules furniture to new bedding. So, to help make sure you don't break your budget moving into
e ____your first apartment, here are a few tips.
Rule number one: don't be picky. Put your concerns for style and cleanliness on the back
No. 260: No. 261: No. 262: burner and you shouldn't have much trouble fulfilling your needs without spending too
Yes, RicksLinecom is We don't want to hear And if you are rush- much. With this in mind, the best place to find furniture is on the side of the road - the
stuff that has been rejected by the rest of the apartment-dwelling student community.
the best technologi- about your new tat ing, please under- Not satisfied with pilfering from the side of the road? There's a Home Goods just up
Cal advancement of during the 'interesting stand that no one Washtenaw. (Side note: I would not recommend using anything for the kitchen found on
the side of the road.) And, if you wait for just a week or two into the semester, there will be
the decade. fact about you' part of cares outside the some great sales at other big stores like Target and Meijer.
the first discussion freshman class.
Hove advice for life on the cheap? Let us know. E-mail onthecheupe umich.edu.
byCOURTESY OF THE LOS ANGELES TMES
The percentage drop in U.S. crime rates this past The rate of American manslaughters The percentage drop in motor
year. This figure comes despite expectations of last year, down from 9.8 per 100,000 vehicle robberies between
higher crime rates in periods of economic woes. in 1991. 2008 and 2009.