There is another player on the court — outside of setter Lexi Zimmerman and outside hitter Alex Hunt — who is making waves for the No. 13 Michigan volleyball team. Freshmen Jennifer Cross was a key player in Friday night’s 3-1 win over No. 20 Northwestern at Cliff Keen Arena.

With 16 kills, five block assists and two service aces, Cross had a remarkable game. She even overcame her 2010 season high of 11 kills, which she set against UNLV on Sept. 3, and was then named Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week. In the first set, Cross had 10 total attacks, six of which were kills, while only one was an error.

Cross’s error ended the first set with a final score of 23-25 and gave the Wildcats a 0-1 lead. But, Cross did not seem phased due to her performances in the following three sets.

The second set ended with Michigan on top 25-22. Out of Cross’s seven total attacks in set two, four were kills and, once again, Cross only registered one error. In the third set, Cross had seven total attacks and four kills, but did not record a single error.

The Wolverines once again came out on top in set three winning 25-21. Her final kill of the game gave Michigan a 25-24 lead over Northwestern, and put Cross in the position of serving match point.

“I knew that someone needed to pick up the slack and it might as well be me," Cross said, "I tried to take care of me and control what I can control. The refs had some interesting calls and you can’t get wrapped up in that. Play how you play; control what you can control and play volleyball."

Cross had more kills than any other player on the team Friday night. Even Alex Hunt, who recorded 28 kills against Minnesota, had just 12 kills on Friday. Although Cross is a true freshman, she showed she was capable of stepping up in situations where Michigan needed points.

In the fourth set, Michigan had three errors in a row — a service error by Hunt, an attack error by Molly Toon and an attack error by Hunt — which tied the game at 24. Cross put the ball down and got a kill to give Michigan match point.

Not only did she step up when the team needed points, but she was hitting consistently. Out of her 26 total attacks for the night, more than half of those resulted in kills. She had just two errors throughout the game.