The first time Colorado State University head coach Tom Hilbert saw Kirstie Hillyer, he wanted her in his group at a volleyball camp he was running in Bayfield.
Hillyer was a lanky eighth grader then preparing for her freshman season at Bayfield High School.
“She was obviously a kid with the type of frame that could develop, so we watched her for a year or so, had her up on campus and took a chance on her,” Hilbert said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “When we recruited her and got her committed, she was still in the developmental stages. She’s really developed into a fantastic player.”
Hillyer first verbally committed to the Rams at the state tournament her sophomore season two years ago and honored that commitment Wednesday by signing her National Letter of Intent.
Wednesday was the first day eligible high school players could sign with colleges, and Hillyer wanted to make good on her commitment as early as possible.
“It’s this huge weight lifted off me knowing all these years of waiting to sign are actually done,” said Hillyer, daughter of Rich and Laura Hillyer. “I’m so excited about it.”
Even though she’s been betrothed to CSU for the better part of two years now, Hillyer still occasionally wavered on her commitment.
“There were a couple times that I second-guessed it,” she said. “Then I would think about the program and how great it is and why I wanted to go there.”
The Rams currently are ranked No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll and have won five consecutive Mountain West Conference championships.
Hillyer will be joining a program that has produced 13 All-Americans and 25 NCAA tournaments.
“The team is definitely more like a family then playing as individuals. They play for each other instead of themselves,” Hillyer said. “The family-like atmosphere was a major component.”
To the family she’s leaving at BHS, though, Hillyer will be an inspiration.
Some of her Wolverine teammates already are working on their own recruitments, and BHS head coach Terene Foutz will miss working with her.
“It’s rare, and it’s precious to me as a coach. There’s many coaches who won’t have the opportunity to coach a student athlete of this caliber,” Foutz said. “I’m grateful for having had the opportunity. It was a wonderful partnership. She’s in great hands.”
Hilbert thinks Hillyer is two years away from contributing to CSU as a middle attacker but could see the floor as a right side attacker within a year.
“She has a great deal of arm speed. She moves fluidly,” he said. “She plays very high and very physical. That’s only going to get better.”
The fact that Hillyer comes from a small community like Bayfield may even have helped her get to CSU.
Hilbert has built his program on players from some of the state’s hidden corners where he sometimes conducts camps.
“We have to do that. If Kirstie Hillyer was growing up in Los Angeles, she’d be taken by the Pac-12,” Hilbert said. “We find players that are No. 1, are a fit, and I think a lot of kids from more rural areas are a good fit at CSU. We need them to be of a good physical stature, and she certainly has that. She’s also a nice kid that gets good grades, and those kinds of character elements are important to us.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
