With Big Ten play looming right around the corner for the No. 22 Michigan volleyball team, the Wolverines found themselves facing three teams with a combined 2-18 record entering the Michigan/Adidas Invitational this past weekend in Ann Arbor.

Some may have seen it as a vacation. But the Wolverines took no time off.

Michigan (8-1) kicked off the weekend by blanking Youngstown State 3-0 on Friday night in front of the maize and blue faithful in Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines then repeated their performance on Saturday afternoon by defeating Chicago State 3-0, and holding their second straight opponent to a negative hitting percentage.

Michigan’s 2-0 record pitted the team in a final contest against Miami (Ohio). Like the rest of the weekend’s competition, the RedHawks were no match for the Wolverines.

Miami kept all three sets close, but the Wolverines still smashed their way to a 3-0 win. With the victory, Michigan remained unrivaled throughout the entire invitational. Though the whole team had contributed to the victory, it was senior setter Lexi Zimmerman who pushed the team the extra distance and won the tournament’s MVP award.

Zimmerman’s unpredictable decisions helped her finish the match against Miami with 28 assists and nine kills. She is now the only Wolverine who has played every set this season.

“Lexi is an elite setter,” Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. “She is one of the elite one-two-three setters in the country. That’s what she does — that’s why she’s in that category. We are blessed to have her. It’s fun to watch. We don’t want her to ever graduate.”

Instead of taking a vacation, Rosen capitalized on the opportunity to unload his entire bench throughout the tournament, providing playing time to less experienced players and giving underclassmen the chance to become more acclimated to Division I volleyball.

Six different Wolverines had more than five kills in their final match against the Redhawks. Likewise, the match against Chicago State was the only time this season that junior outside hitter Alex Hunt did not lead Michigan in kills. Rather, junior middle blocker Courtney Fletcher stepped up and tallied 11.

“We started the year out very 'Al dependent' in Alex Hunt,” Rosen said. “And that is okay. She is really good. We want to use her. But we have to get some other kids involved in the offense and build some balance and depth in our offense.”

Even more striking is that in Michigan’s final game it was neither Hunt nor Fletcher who led the Wolverines in kills. Instead, it was Zimmerman and right side Claire McElheny with nine each.

“We can't become so one-dimensional that other teams take Alex out of the game and now they take Michigan out of the game,” Rosen said. “If they are going to key on her we need other people to step up and take care of the offense… Granted, when it comes crunch time I want the ball in her hands. Just like you want your best basketball shooter shooting at the buzzer. I want her taking the swing. I think today that we were much more balanced.”

Hunt wasn’t even behind Zimmerman and McElheny. Freshmen middle blocker Jennifer Cross and outside hitter Lexi Erwin each recorded eight and tied for second. The spread-out scoring shows that Michigan continues to build depth and consistency in its lineup.

“We were able to get everyone in positions where they can help us,” Rosen said. “I think that having that kind of depth can help us because we started out a couple weeks ago with a kind of thin lineup."