SPORTS 11

Thursday, July 11, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wetterstrom, Glavinic, Smith aim to replace departed stars

In the cyclical nature of college 
volleyball, good players come and 
go. Coaches recruit their next 
batch of talent, rosters adjust and 
teams move on.
But program cornerstones don’t 
come along nearly as often, and 
even the best teams struggle to fill 
the shoes left by such departures.
For the Michigan volleyball 
team, the close of the 2018 season 
marked the end of outside hitter 
Carly Skjodt and libero Jenna 
Lerg’s storied careers. Skjodt 
finished her tenure with the 
seventh-most kills in program 
history, while Lerg moved into 
second place on the program’s all-
time digs list.
The void left by their production 
won’t be easy to fill, to say the 
least.
Even 
so, 
that’s 
just 
what 
Michigan spent the spring trying 
to do. The graduation of Skjodt 
and Lerg opens up starting spots at 
outside hitter and libero, creating 
healthy competition within the 
program.
That was on full display when 
the Wolverines made their 10th 
trip to the Grand Rapids Sports 
Hall of Fame Showcase, an annual 
spring 
tournament 
featuring 
Michigan, Michigan State, Central 
Michigan and Western Michigan. 

The Wolverines dispatched the 
Chippewas and Broncos in the 
afternoon before taking the court 
against the Spartans.
Last 
November, 
Michigan 
swept the season series with a 
pair of four-set victories against 
its in-state conference foe. In 
their first glimpse of Michigan 
State’s 2019 roster, the Wolverines 
triumphed in five-set fashion in 
front of a full house.
“We went to battle,” said 
Michigan coach Mark Rosen on 
the Rosen Report, his monthly 
video. “It was a great match. I 
thought both teams were very 
evenly-matched … It was a great 
way to finish our spring. Instead 
of playing some fun no-meaning 
match, it was a match that felt like 
a Big Ten match — good opponent, 
good atmosphere, a lot of pressure. 
Our players responded well.”
Rising senior outside hitter 
Sydney Wetterstrom stood out all 
spring long and, fittingly, delivered 
a strong performance against the 
Spartans despite a shaky start.
Wetterstrom missed 11 matches 
in her junior season, but proved to 
be a reliable offensive option when 
available. 
She 
recorded 
eight 
double-digit kill performances and 
posted a .220 attack percentage on 
the right side, earning her first 
double-double 
against 
Rutgers 
and a career-high .883 kill clip 
against Purdue along the way.

“(Wetterstrom) has played a 
lot but her role is different now 
because she’s a senior and the 
expectations are different of what 
she needs to carry,” Rosen said. 
“I thought she advanced so much 
throughout this whole spring. 
A great example was the match 
against Michigan State … She 
struggled in the first set but still 
found ways to impact the match 
in a really positive way with her 
passing and blocking. And then 
as she started getting into the 
match a little bit more, then all 
of a sudden we noticed she was 
making a pretty positive impact 
offensively and by the end she was 
playing great.
“That’s a skill to be able to 
recover that throughout the day. 
A lot of players start hot and keep 
that going or start bad and don’t 
ever recover it, but she was able 
to learn how to recover it. Good 
strides for her.”
This season, Rosen could call 
upon Wetterstrom to make the 
jump to outside hitter. Slotting 
her at the left pin alongside rising 
sophomore 
Paige 
Jones, 
who 
tallied a team-best 38 kills at the 
showcase, would allow rising 
senior Katarina Glavinic to be the 
Wolverines’ 
full-time 
opposite 
hitter.
After starting last season on 
the bench, the 6-foot-3 Croatian 
transfer from Seattle University 

played a key role in Michigan’s 
tournament run. She posted four 
block assists in the tournament’s 
opening 
round 
against 
Navy 
before recording a season-high 
five total blocks in the Wolverines’ 
upset of host Pittsburgh to reach 
the Sweet 16.
This spring, Glavinic picked up 
right where she left off.
“This spring (was) a huge 
development for (Glavinic),” Rosen 
said. “She’s taken her game to a 
whole other level and throughout 
the spring was probably our best 
point-scorer. In the match against 
Michigan State, she proved to be 
that. She started well and finished 
even better, and I thought she did 
a really nice job throughout the 

match. To see players like those 
coming along and developing, 
that’s what spring is all about.”
While 
Glavinic 
and 
Wetterstrom appear poised to 
contribute offensively in Skjodt’s 
absence, rising junior Natalie 
Smith made a strong impression 
at libero. She recorded a team-
high 30 digs at the showcase and 
represented Michigan on the 
Big Ten Volleyball Japan Tour, 
signaling her status as Lerg’s 
successor.
Skjodt 
and 
Lerg 
can’t 
be 
replaced overnight, but seeing 
strong 
springs 
from 
Smith, 
Glavinic 
and 
Wetterstrom 
is 
an encouraging sign for the 
Wolverines.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

Former Michigan star Carly Skjodt to join Pepperdine beach team

After a record-setting tenure at 
Michigan, Carly Skjodt is heading 
to the West Coast.
The 
two-time 
All-American 
will take a fifth year with the 
Pepperdine beach volleyball team 
as a graduate transfer.
“We are really excited to be 
Carly’s and her family’s home 
for her last year in the collegiate 
level,” said Waves’ coach Marcio 
Sicoli in a release. “I can’t wait 
to add her skills, personality and 
work ethic to our team culture. 
She will be a fundamental piece 
on the quest to our national 
championship goal.”
Pepperdine, 
which 
finished 
last season ranked sixth in the 
national poll, figures to be in the 
thick of the race for next year’s 

national title. Adding Skjodt is a 
huge boost to an already strong 
crop of returning talent.
For Skjodt, the opportunity to 
spend her fifth year playing on 
sand provides a new challenge 
before wrapping up her volleyball 
career.
“I chose Pepperdine for the 
opportunity to challenge myself 
and grow,” Skjodt said, “in the 
classroom, in the sand and in 
everyday life.”
In 2018, Skjodt put the finishing 
touches on a memorable career 
in Ann Arbor by leading the 
Wolverines to the Sweet 16 for the 
second time. She averaged a team-
high 4.20 kills per set on a career-
best 
.256 
attack 
percentage 
en route to a unanimous first 
team All-Big Ten selection. In 
the classroom, she became the 
program’s first two-time CoSIDA 

Academic All-District honoree.
Skjodt served as Michigan’s 
workhorse for most of the season, 
leading the Wolverines in kills 
in 24 of their 34 matches. She 
recorded 
29 
double-digit 
kill 
performances and eclipsed the 
20-kill mark seven times.
During her high school career, 
Skjodt was ranked among the 
nation’s top prospects in the 
2015 class. PrepVolleyball named 
her the National Senior Player 
of the Year, while she was also 
selected as the Gatorade Indiana 
Player of the Year and USA 
Today All-American after leading 
Carmel High School to a state 
championship.
With her indoor days now in the 
rearview mirror, Skjodt’s name is 
a staple throughout Michigan’s 
all-time record book. Her 1,395 
career kills are good for seventh-

most in program history, while 
her 4,102 attack attempts are 
third-best among any Wolverine.
When 
it 
mattered 
most, 
Skjodt’s presence made all the 
difference for Michigan. Her 108 

postseason kills and seven aces 
are both third-most in program 
history as well.
Skjodt will presumably spend 
most, if not all, of next spring in 
the Waves’ starting lineup.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Fifth-year senior Carly Skjodt will switch from playing indoors to outdoors next year.

EVAN AARON/Daily
Rising senior Sydney Wetterstrom will have big shoes to fill at the outside hitter spot.

