It happened four matches shy of her 1,000th career kill.

After 71 matches as a starter on the Michigan volleyball team,
junior Jennifer Gandolph finally felt like she fit in.

Playing against Penn State, Gandolph recorded a career-high 29
kills, and only then realized her place as a floor leader.

Though her team lost, it was a positive step for Gandolph.

"This year against Penn State was really the first time I felt
older, felt like a leader," Gandolph said. "I hadn't felt that way
before. I really felt like I found my role on the team."

Two weeks later, Gandolph became only the eighth woman in
Michigan volleyball history to record 1,000 kills in a career.

"I'm not a big stats person," Gandolph said. "It's something
that I kind of wondered about after my sophomore year.

"Playing from day one as a freshman, I would have hoped to get
there. That means that I am doing my job."

Gandolph does her job every match; she is one of the most
consistent players on the team. This season, she has recorded 10 or
more kills in all but three matches.

"She's become more consistent each year and this year has been
the most mature and most consistent one yet," coach Mark Rosen
said. "This year she has really stepped into a role and has become
a go-to player."

It was fitting that her realization of becoming a "go-to" player
would occur against the same team she had hoped to play for as a
child.

"Penn State had always been kind of a dream for me," Gandolph
said. "But when I was actually visiting there, it wasn't right for
me and it was really far from home.

"I wanted my family to be able to see me play a lot."

Gandolph said that Michigan was a much better fit for her
because of her teammates and the new coaches, Mark and Leisa
Rosen.

Coaches have played an integral part in her development as a
player.

After middle school ended each day, Gandolph would walk to the
local high school and watch her mother coach junior varsity
volleyball. Then, in the winter of seventh grade, Gandolph began to
develop a love of volleyball because of the coaching she received
on her club team.

"I wasn't very good at all, but my coach saw potential in me,"
said Gandolph about her early playing days. "I realized then, it
was different from anything that I've done and it was something I
picked up pretty quickly. Right then, I noticed that I loved it and
wanted to play it for a long time. I totally give credit to that
coach, I'm so glad that he saw potential in me."

Naturally, Gandolph has considered becoming a coach when her
Michigan volleyball career eventually comes to an end.

"I've always thought about coaching, maybe starting out at my
high school," Gandolph said. "I've thought about becoming a high
school athletic director. I've been around sports my whole life, so
that's all I really know."

She really enjoys working with some of the younger players,
especially freshmen Danielle Pflum, who plays the same
position.

"She asks questions and I help her," Gandolph said. "We've
become pretty close, pretty quickly."

Already on pace to become Michigan's all-time career kill
leader, Gandolph can inch further toward that mark this weekend
when Michigan (4-2 Big Ten, 12-5 overall) hosts Big Ten opponents
Northwestern (2-4, 11-7) and Illinois (4-2, 13-3).

Asked about the possibility of becoming Michigan's all-time kill
leader, Gandolph said, "It's a goal, but it's the least of my
worries right now. It's not everything, it's just a name in a
book."

But Gandolph certainly isn't just another player on the
court.

To her team, she is much more.