Redshirt freshman Nikki Klingsporn has been a starting setter her entire career. That is until last year when she came to Wisconsin, where the Badgers already had two accomplished setters on the squad in Jackie Simpson and Katie Lorenzen.

"Nikki knows that she came into a tough situation," head coach Pete Waite said. "Jackie (Simpson) was established as a setter, and [Klingsporn] was used to being a starting setter her entire career. In eighth grade she was playing on the high school team as a starting setter. It is very hard for her to sit, but she also knows that this is an opportunity to improve her game.""

With two setters already on the team, the decision to redshirt was an easy one. Instead of riding the bench for a year and losing a year of eligibility, Klingsporn used the redshirt season to get accustomed to college and the fast pace of Division I volleyball.

"Being able to watch [Simpson and Lorenzen] last year and learning things from them like the tempo of the game really helped me out," Klingsporn said of her redshirt season.

Even though Klingsporn was the youngest setter on the team, she came in and immediately proved that she belonged in the same class as Simpson and Lorenzen.

"Coming in last year she really pushed both me and [Lorenzen] to step in and battle," Simpson said. "Even though she was redshirting, she was always making her presence known and just being a good floor leader."

And while Klingsporn spent last year watching and learning from Simpson, the senior setter acknowledges that she has also learned from her younger teammate.

"Hopefully I've been able to give some good advice and be a good example," Simpson said. "But we also have very different styles of play. She's obviously a much smaller setter, but she makes up for her size by playing amazing defense. That's actually something I've been able to take away from her, just how good she is at defense and dumping as well."

Now with her redshirt season behind her, Klingsporn is competing with Simpson everyday in practice to prove to Waite that she deserves to get some court time.

So far in this young season she has seen the court in five matches, including three starts where she led Wisconsin to sweeps over Gardner-Webb, American and Columbia.

Although Klingsporn is at the early stages of her collegiate career, Simpson said Klingsporn has the court presence of a veteran player.

"When [Klingsporn] steps out there, you would think she is the starting setter," Simpson said. "She just has that court demeanor. She's used to being a leader, and I don't think that being a freshman stops her from doing that."

Through the team's first 13 games, Klingsporn is averaging a respectable 9.53 assists per game. However, in her three starts she is averaging 12.22 assists per game, which is comparable to Simpson's 12.59.

Besides working on getting better has a setter, Klingsporn brings an added weapon to her game: her jump serve.

"Jump serving is one thing that I really like to do," Klingsporn said. "I find that I'm pretty successful at it too."

So far, she has four service aces this season — the same number Simpson has in 25 more games played.

For now, though, Klingsporn knows her place on the team and is just going to continue to work hard in practice.

"I know my role right now is backup setter," Klingsporn said. "But I think that it is good that we push each other everyday to get better."

Next season the Badgers will lose Simpson to graduation, and Klingsporn’s role will likely change; she will have a chance to become a starting setter once again.

But Waite is already confident in her ability to replace Simpson, one of the most successful setters in school history and second-team All-American in 2006, now.

"If [Klingsporn] needed to set for us next week, I would be confident in her," Waite said. "She does a lot of good things in practice, and she practices really well with her hitters. It is just a slightly different style, but she does a nice job."