In the late ’90s, a teenage girl went to the UW Field House to watch a volleyball game with her father. That girl, Audra Jeffers, is now the top freshman on the Wisconsin roster.

“I was watching the team play, and it looked like something that I really wanted to try,” Jeffers said. “I just ended up falling in love with it.”

Inspired by her trips to the Field House, where she and her family generally watched two or three games a year, Jeffers began playing volleyball in eighth grade. By the time she graduated high school, the Hartland, Wis., native had joined the elite Milwaukee Sting club team, won the Asics National Tournament and competed in the Junior Olympics. Now, Jeffers is poised to make her presence felt at the college level.

“She’s got the ability to be an All-Big Ten player,” head coach Pete Waite said. “Next year it will be her freshman year, so I think a great goal for her is to be top freshman in the conference. And in the future, she has unlimited potential.”

A mobile 6-foot-2, Jeffers has all the tools to make an immediate impact. Waite said the possibility of Jeffers emerging as the Big Ten’s top newcomer is very real.

“She’s got the size; she’s got the physical ability; she’s got the determination,” Waite said. “She would never look individually at any of those things, but I know she has the talent to do that.”

Waite and the UW coaching staff recognized Jeffers’ talent immediately, but opted to redshirt the talented newcomer for the 2004 season. With a strong pool of middle blockers ahead of her, Jeffers would not be able to break into the starting lineup at the position she had played throughout high school. But Waite could not keep the talented freshman on the shelf.

He decided to move her to outside hitter, a position where she could utilize her length and athleticism — and more importantly, a spot where she could step into a starting role. Of course, the transition would take time.

“I think redshirting helped a lot,” Jeffers said. “I came in as a middle and starting swinging outside and right side, and it was just a whole new arm swing. That took adjusting, but I think I’m finally grasping it.”

Jeffers spent the ’04 campaign learning the nuances of her new position, adapting to the college environment and adding some much-needed muscle. In addition to participating in the team weight lifting regimen, Jeffers put in extra time to maximize results.

“We would go as a team, and then there’d be one day a week that I went on my own,” Jeffers said. “I feel a lot stronger.”

With her redshirt season behind her, Jeffers is ready to step into a productive role in her debut season. The freshman has impressed coaches during the spring season and will likely earn a starting job at either left-side or right-side hitter in the fall.

“I feel like I’m ready to play,” Jeffers said.

Coach Waite agrees. In fact, the UW helmsman believes Jeffers will eventually become an elite contributor.

“I’d say she’s very versatile,” Waite said. “She surprises you with her range even in the back row, for a player who’s six-two or six-three. She’s very agile, and she’s got quick feet. All those are good ingredients for a top volleyball player.”

“She’s about everything you’d ask for in any player on your team,” Waite added.

While the coaching staff has not decided which side she will play in the fall, Jeffers sees herself eventually settling down on the right side, where her experience in the middle will pay dividends.

“I think on the right side, because the right side allows me to come in and hit out of the middle,” Jeffers said. “Since I was always a middle, I’m really comfortable with that.”

Wherever she ends up, Waite is confident she will adapt to the role. The coach said he feels comfortable putting Jeffers in any of the front row positions.

“She’s just so coordinated for her size, and she proved to us in the fall that she could play any of those positions,” Waite said. “It takes a lot of coordination and agility to get that done.”

During her redshirt campaign, the versatile Jeffers also let her team in on another of her many skills.

“We were at a home where they had a piano, and she just sat down,” Waite said. “She did things by memory that none of us could do with years and years of training. Her fingers flew on the keys.”

Also a former choir singer, Jeffers has played the piano for nine years. When she takes the court in the fall for her first collegiate campaign, the newcomer may have Badger fans singing her praises. And, as Jeffers has shown, you never know who might be watching.