“I think you can sum up our record into two words, and that is ‘Lexi Zimmerman,’ ” said Michigan volleyball coach Mark Rosen after Wednesday night's match against Michigan State. “She is carrying us like a quarterback for a football team, a shooting point guard for a basketball team, a pitcher for a softball team. She can change the game.”

But unlike Michigan football's star quarterback Denard Robinson against the Spartans this past weekend, Zimmerman found a way to lead her team past the in-state rivals in Ann Arbor, 3-1.

Zimmerman, a senior setter, recorded her third career triple-double, tallying 38 assists, 11 kills and 10 digs in the four-set win. She led her team the way she has all season, taking command of the court and taking advantage of open balls with precision and accuracy.

The first two sets, though, were dominated by junior outside hitter Alex Hunt, who recorded 11 total kills, eight digs and two services aces. Zimmerman also made a major contribution, providing six kills and 18 assists.

The Wolverines fell to the Spartans in the third set 27-25. During the intermission, Rosen echoed a sense of calm urgency.

“The biggest thing you have to do is stay calm,” Rosen said after the game. “You have to stay the course and be a little urgent earlier. In game three, we weren’t as urgent earlier in the game."

Entering the fourth set, the Wolverines were not in control of the game, playing more defensively than they had all night. When Michigan fell behind 18-14, the team began “second-guessing themselves," according to Rosen. But the Wolverines turned on their offense and rallied to tie the game 21-21. Pivotal kills by Hunt and freshman outside hitter Molly Toon took the game to match point, when Zimmerman promptly served an ace to secure the win.

Hunt entered the Michigan record books during the game, recording her 1,000th career kill and becoming only the 12th Wolverine in history to eclipse the mark.

“I didn’t know I was going to break it, but you can’t really think of stats during the game,” Hunt said. “I definitely like getting more hits and doing anything to really help the team.”

She had a total of 11 kills and was just two digs shy of her first career double-double.

“Alex is going to get terminator points,” Rosen said. “This year is certainly more on her because we don’t have the depth around because we have a lot of young players. She’s a great competitor in a silent, adaptive kind of way. We couldn’t do it without her.”