Hitting is Aubrey Meierotto’s favorite aspect of volleyball. That is not terribly surprising, because hitting is what the 6-foot-1 outside hitter does best. Her role on the Wisconsin volleyball squad is quite simple: to put balls away.

“Aubrey’s the kind of player we look to to terminate the ball,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. “She’s got a great arm swing and hits the ball at a pace that not many people in the country can hit. She’s got an attitude about her that’s aggressive and confident. She’s a real leader on the court for us.”

Thanks to her whip-like right arm, Meierotto has settled nicely into her role of terminator at Wisconsin. That trademark swing has produced its fair share of impressive kills over her three-year Badger career.

“It is a great feeling,” Meierotto said of recording a kill. “When you connect well with your setter and you put a ball away, it’s one of the best feelings ever.”

That feeling is one Meierotto and Wisconsin have gotten used to in recent years. After fighting through the knee pain that forced her to red shirt her first season, she averaged 2.24 kills per game in mostly reserve duty in 2002.

In her first career start, she hammered 18 kills as Wisconsin won in Penn State for the first time ever. Last year, she moved into the starting lineup on a full-time basis and led the Badgers with 3.62 kills per game, totaling double-digit kills in 23 matches.

While a kill may bring a slight smile to Meierotto’s intense game face, one thing that certainly does not is getting blocked.

“Oh, you don’t like it when you get blocked,” Meierotto said. “For me, when I get blocked, I get kind of upset at myself. The next ball I want to hit twice as hard.”

Although a talented server and one-on-one blocker, Meierotto is best known for her swing. The daughter of a coach, Meierotto refined that swing over years of practice.

“I think it started when I was younger,” Meierotto said of her swing. “My dad started coaching when I was in sixth grade, so I was always hitting balls up against the wall and that sort of thing. Over time, my arm swing just got faster and I was hitting harder.”

Those years of repetitions have allowed the Washburn, Wis., native to develop into one of the hardest hitters in both the Big Ten and the country. Her arm’s swing also ranks as one of the fastest Waite has seen in his coaching career.

“I’d say she’s in the top five and I’ve been coaching for almost 20 years,” Waite said. “That’s pretty exciting. We’ve known that since she was a high school player. She was very slender and she didn’t look like she had any muscle to her, but she really uses her body torque and a fast arm swing to generate that power.”

Thanks to a more balanced attack, UW has not had to rely on Meierotto as heavily in 2004. With more sets going to middles Sheila Shaw and Taylor Reineke and outside hitters Maria Carlini and Jill Odenthal, Meierotto is taking an average of 7.25 swings per game, down from 8.86 per game in 2003. After leading the team a year ago in kills per game, she ranks fifth on the squad this season, averaging 2.52 kills per game.

“I’m getting somewhat less swings,” Meierotto said. “I don’t feel like I’m the person who has to always score because we have many other people who can do it.”

While Meierotto’s swings have been somewhat reduced, her leadership responsibilities have increased greatly. Named co-captain prior to the season, Meierotto has shouldered the burden of providing on-court leadership for a Badger team with seven freshmen on its roster.

“We have a lot of young people on our team now,” Meierotto said. “I have to be more of a vocal leader, more of an intense player, where in the past I was more of a quiet player. I never really had to come out and be the yeller or be the motivator on the court.”

As a red shirt junior, Meierotto is in the minority as one of just four upperclassmen on the extremely youthful Wisconsin roster.

“You definitely do feel old,” Meierotto said. “The great thing about the freshmen we have is they’re all awesome girls. I get along with every single one of them. They’re all amazing people. So, I think more than anything, it’s been more of a fun experience than an awkward experience.”

This weekend will be an extra-special one for Meierotto, when the No. 2 Golden Gophers of Minnesota come to town. Growing up in northern Wisconsin, Meierotto was well-exposed to the Minnesota program and played club ball with many of the Gophers at Minnesota One Volleyball Club.

“I played with a lot of girls on that team, so it’s definitely a big match for me,” Meierotto said. “But, it’s also a big match for our program because they’re highly-ranked and Wisconsin-Minnesota is always a battle. It’s definitely a match I look forward to.”