It’s hard to imagine that any volleyball team in America would have the all-time school leader in both kills and digs relegated to a role of coming off the bench. But that’s exactly the situation Michigan senior Jennifer Gandolph finds herself in.

And the fact that Gandolph has put the betterment of the team before her individual goals is just one example of the unique program that Michigan coach Mark Rosen has quickly put together.

Before Rosen came from Boise State to take over the team in 1999, it had made just one NCAA tournament appearance in its history. But under Rosen, Michigan has missed the tournament just once.

“When I came here, the players obviously believed they could win, but getting to the NCAA tournament was really only a distant possibility,” Rosen said. “It was really much more of a goal to reach for. Now we are at the point where making the NCAA tournament is much more of an expectation.”

Fifth-year senior libero Sarah Allen takes it further.

“We really consider a season almost a disappointment if we don’t make the tournament, and that just shows how much this program has changed,” Allen said.

Michigan avoided that disappointment yesterday, when the Wolverines were awarded a berth in the NCAA tournament.

When Rosen and his wife, assistant coach Leisa Rosen, were brought in to run the volleyball program in 1999, they looked to recruit players “that had the mentality that they wanted to get to the top,” said Rosen.

“The first class we recruited really raised the level of the program because they were really driven to succeed and to help the program become respected around the country,” Rosen said.

That class included Allen and fellow fifth-year senior Lisa Gamalski, both of whom are proud of the visible progress the program has made. The easiest way to see the progress is to take a quick look at the crowd that invades Cliff Keen Arena for the team’s matches.

“My first year the average crowd was around 500 people, and now we get 1,400 out to every match,” Allen said.

Fellow senior Alicia Bosworth has also noticed the difference in the atmosphere when Michigan plays at home.

“People used to leave after the second game, and now almost everybody stays for the entire match,” Bosworth said.

The team’s success is the main reason for the larger crowd, but that success has also brought an influx of talent to the school. While this talent has helped the program win more matches, it has come at a price for Gandolph, who has seen her starting spot taken by the younger players.

“It’s a little frustrating because, my first three years, there was really no competition, and I was very clearly the best outside hitter on the team,” Gandolph said. “But this year, I have to take a little bit of a back seat to the younger players, who are playing better.”

But Gandolph understands that it is for the good of the team, and that has always been her main priority — her individual accomplishments have been icing on the cake.

“When I came to this school, I obviously had individual goals for myself, as does every athlete,” Gandolph said. “But that wasn’t why I came here.

“I was here to help develop and build a program and to leave my impression on it. Even though I haven’t been playing as much this year, it is still definitely one of my favorite years here.”

Rosen loves to talk about Gandolph, and he calls her the “consummate team player.”

“She is unbelievably hard-working, and her dedication to the success of the team is like that of nobody else,” Rosen said.

Gandolph’s attitude has rubbed off on the rest of the team — an attitude Allen describes as “dependent upon winning.”

“When I first got here, and the team would lose a match, it would kind of be like oh well, whatever,” said Allen. “Now, we expect to win every time we step onto the court.”