Washburn, Wis., is a town of under 3,000 people. It sits a stone’s throw from Lake Superior, over 300 miles from Madison.

“Washburn’s a very, very small town,” Badger outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto said. “All we have is a Dairy Queen. We don’t even have a McDonald’s or anything like that. It’s very small. It takes like a minute to get through the entire town.”

For Meierotto, the change from growing up in tiny Washburn to attending college in Madison could not have been more drastic.

“It was huge. This place is humungous compared to Washburn,” she said. “There are a lot more things to do socially. Coming in from such a small school to a really big school was a big change for me, too. Everything’s really different, but I definitely like it.”

At Washburn High School, Meierotto led the Castle Guards to four conference championships, as well as the 2000 State Division 3 Championship. She was named all-conference each of her four years. In addition to volleyball, Meierotto was a standout in basketball, softball and track.

When the time came to make the all-important decision of where to play college ball, there was only one factor.

“I wanted to be close so that my family could come watch me play,” Meierotto said, “and that was pretty much the biggest factor as far as picking a school.”

Volleyball has always been a family affair for the Meierottos. Aubrey’s father Mike also served as her coach.

“My dad taught me a lot. I look back now, and it was probably one of the best things for me — having my dad as a coach,” she said. “Things could get really personal as far as him coaching me, but it was like two different worlds: at home, then at the gym. He didn’t take things home; everything pretty much stayed in the gym. It was just a really fun experience. I was really lucky to have that.”

Those lessons from dad have obviously paid off, as Aubrey Meierotto has enjoyed a breakout season in 2003. She opened the 2003 season by setting a new school record for service aces in a three-game match, landing seven against New Hampshire. Through UW’s first 13 matches, the hard-hitting 6-foot-1 sophomore is averaging 3.49 kills per game, second best on the team. She totaled a new career high in that department Friday against Northwestern with 24. In the same match, she posted a career-high six blocks. Of the four tournaments the Badgers have taken part in this year, three have concluded with Meierotto’s name on the all-tournament team.

She credits the improvement to increased playing time and some hard work.

“A lot of it had to do with the offseason,” she said. “In the offseason I worked on blocking and passing. When I’m getting in games and actually playing, it gives me a lot of experience, so that helps a lot, too. It’s a combination of both.”

Even more impressive than her pure numbers is the fact that Meierotto has posted them while gritting her way through chronic knee problems. The pain was so severe in 2001 that she was forced to redshirt.

“My knees are always going to be bad,” she said. “Right now I have tendonitis pretty bad in both of them, but freshman year it was horrible, and two-a-day practices were definitely something new to me. Every year, though, I’ve been getting stronger in my legs. That’s making it easier for me to get out there and play.”

Learning to deal with the pain has helped Meierotto continue to play day in and day out.

“That and a bunch of pain killers,” she said. “That’s how it is, I have to ice every day after [practice] and heat every day before [practice].”

Early-season numbers aside, the most memorable moment in Meierotto’s career took place last year in University Park, Pa. In the Badgers’ five-game victory, she came up big with what was a career-high 18 kills.

“The reason last year was the most memorable moment was just because we beat them in Penn State and that was the first time it had ever happened. This year I don’t know if I’ve had a game that tops that. I guess Georgia Tech was pretty nice, if we would have just pulled that one out. That was really exciting.”

Given Meierotto’s strong start in the 2003 season, there will be plenty of opportunities to top that memory.