Michigan Names 3 Seniors as Captains for 2018 Women’s Volleyball

The University of Michigan has named 3 rising seniors, Maddy Abbott, Jenna Lerg, and Carly Skjodt, as captains for the 2018 season.

Skjodt returns as a captain for the second-straight season, being the team’s only non-senior captain in 2017. That year, she also led the team in scoring with 477.5 points while playing in all 118 of Michigan’s sets, averaging 3.67 kills/set that ranked her 7th in the Big Ten last season. She’s the only of the Wolverines’ top 3 scorers returning from last year’s 21-12 season that saw Michigan lose to Colorado 3-1 in a tough opening round matchup at the NCAA tournament. She also ranked 2nd on the team in digs (273, 2.31/set), behind only co-captain Jenna Lerg, and was named an AVCA Third-Team All-Amereican.

“I am a very competitive person,” she said in an interview with Michigan Athletics’ Austin Turner. “It is part of my natural personality to work really hard at everything I do, so I can’t help but be competitive. I think it is very important to have that drive. That leads me to do my best in every case possible.”

“Without success as an entire team, nobody is going to get anything,” she said. “It really speaks volumes about what we did as a program this year. It is special to me, but it really defines the season more so than anything.”

Lerg was also a full-time starter for Michigan last year, playing at libero and leading the team with 586 digs (4.12/set) and chipping in 18 aces. Abbott, the team’s backup setter, played only 16 sets in 9 games, but she did get a start in the season-opener against Albany where she had 38 of the team’s 40 assists, plus 2 aces, in a 3-0 win for the Wolverines.

Abbott ceded her spot at setter to then-sophomore McKenzi Wlesh midway through the USC game, and Welsh would go the rest of the way for the Wolverines.

“I think becoming a captain is an evolutionary process, and Maddy, Jenna and Carly are all great examples of that,” said Michigan head coach Mark Rosen. “Over the course of their careers here, each one of them has put themselves in a position and done the things that have given them the opportunity to serve our team in a leadership role. Carly was in that role last year as a junior, but for Jenna and Maddy, it has been a perfect progression for them as seniors to step into that type of role for our team.”

Michigan began their spring season earlier this month with games against Oakland and Bowling Green at home and Dayton on the road. They’ll continue for 2 more at Cliff Keen Arena on April 7th against Pitt and Northwestern before ending the semester’s schedule playing against Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan at Aquinas College.

2018 Michigan Volleyball Spring Schedule