For freshman Katherine Dykstra, the 2005 volleyball season will have to be enjoyed from the sidelines.

Dykstra will be on the bench, but not due to an injury or suspension. Rather, she will take a redshirt this season, her first year on campus.

As much displeasure that may come with having to sit out a complete season while still being able to practice, Dykstra is looking forward to the opportunity to fine-tune her game.

"It's going to be great," Dykstra said. "I love working in practice and it's just great to be up here playing with the team. I'm really excited for them to play. I'll just cheer them on and hopefully we'll go far."

For head coach Pete Waite and the rest of the UW coaching staff, the decision to redshirt Dykstra was mainly due to the fact that she has not played as much organized volleyball as most recruits have heading into college.

Surprisingly Dykstra only started playing volleyball as a junior at New Trier high school and is hoping she can continue to adjust to the game while redshirting.

"Well I haven't been playing volleyball for that long so I'm a few years behind and I haven't had the experience," Dykstra said. "So we figured that if I get a year of playing under my belt then hopefully next year I can come out strong."

As a redshirt, the Wilmette, Ill., native will be looking to follow in the footsteps of teammate Audra Jeffers.

Jeffers, who redshirted just a year ago, leads the team in kills with 4.25 per game this year and credits much of this success to her season on the sidelines.

In fact, Jeffers actually encouraged Dykstra to sit out and enjoy her redshirt season as she prepares for NCAA play.

"[Jeffers] encouraged it because she loved it, too, and now she's doing great," Dykstra said.

Dykstra hopes to replicate the success Jeffers has found and improve her game for next season while sitting out.

"I just want to get better in blocking and hitting," Dykstra said. "Just get stronger in those areas because I'm not going to play a lot of back row, but if I can pick up my hitting and blocking, then hopefully next year I can be a presence on the court."

Despite the fact that Dykstra lacks volleyball experience, she is an extremely gifted athlete with impressive credentials from her limited career.

The 6-foot-3 middle blocker heads to UW with an impressive resume and was ranked No. 68 in PrepVolleyball.com's Senior Aces last season. Also, though she only played high school volleyball as a junior and senior, she led the New Trier Trevians to the Illinois Class AA state quarterfinals in both of those years.

However, Dykstra claims that her play on the Fusion Volleyball Club last year most prepared her for the jump to the faster style of college volleyball.

"I feel like my last year of club helped me a lot," Dykstra said. "It helped me speed up my game and prepare me for [NCAA play], which is just another step up."

Competing in other high school sports also helped her prepare for the rigorous training and conditioning of the NCAA.

As the starting center of her basketball team, she led New Trier to a second-place finish at the state tournament in 2004. She was also an all-state selection in track and field as a sophomore, winning the Illinois state title in the discus throw.

Growing up alongside an athletically talented sibling didn't hurt, either. Katherine's brother Peter is a sophomore decathlete on the UW track and field team.

The two played a number of sports growing up and had a tight-knit relationship, doing practically everything together. Now that the two attend the same university, Katherine is ecstatic to have her big brother around again.

"I love it. I love having him around," the younger Dykstra said. "It's great having him around because then I can stop by and say hi and go out to lunch with him or something. It's great. We're really close."

Although having her brother on the same campus was a factor in her decision to attend Wisconsin, Dykstra always had her mind set on being a Badger.

"It helps [that my brother goes to school here]," Dykstra said. "It's always great to have family nearby and, since we got along so well as we were growing up, it was an incentive to come here, but I've always loved Madison and the campus and the coaches were great, so once I talked to them, my mind was made up."