Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 31, 1994 TAG: 9411120036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A time of forking out large sums of money, standing in endless lines and filling out countless forms.
Kyle Highfill remembers those activities vividly. She had a particularly tough time with all the forms, the ones that asked: ``List here any members of your family who have attended Roanoke College,'' followed by a 2-by-2 inch square.
``I had enough to fill pages. It was like, `See attached form,''' said Highfill, now a senior standout on the Maroons' volleyball team, enjoying its best season in 15 years.
With the help of relatives, Highfill has estimated she is the 33rd family member to attend Roanoke, and not the only top-notch athlete.
Susan Highfill, Kyle's aunt, had her number retired at Roanoke after setting a bevy of women's basketball records, including most points in a game, season and career from 1975 to 1979. She was among the reasons Kyle Highfill selected Roanoke.
``Growing up, I would say `I'm not going to Roanoke College. There's not a chance,''' said Highfill, a graduate of Cave Spring High School. ``Of course, I came here to watch Susan play basketball when I was little, and I remember walking up the front of the school to go to the alumni gym, and how weird it was now to walk up myself. I definitely looked up to Susan all my life. She was a great athlete.
``Senior year came around and this is the only place I applied. I'm not even sure what made the change except that I'm very family-oriented and I couldn't see myself going too far away.''
Highfill made an immediate impact as a freshman on Roanoke's volleyball team, which went 8-8. With Highfill carrying much of the load, the team went 10-15 the next year, then dropped to 7-13 in 1993.
This year, the Maroons have clinched a winning season and are poised to at least equal their best finish in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Under the guidance of first-year coach Dennis Mundy, Roanoke has improved to 16-5 overall and 5-4 in the ODAC heading into the conference tournament Friday and Saturday.
``There's so many factors [for the improved record]. We're just working together and working real hard,'' Highfill said. ``Whereas last year a ball would have dropped. This year, if a ball drops there's three people laying beside it. It's a different aggressiveness.''
The Maroons' personnel is solid with veterans Susan Brown and Paula Kennedy, and Crystal Wilson, a 6-foot transfer from Hastings College in Nebraska.
``We have 10 people on the team where we could put any of them out there and we could win the match, and that's a great feeling because you don't have as much pressure on you,'' said Highfill, who also plays varsity tennis for Roanoke.
She said the past three years were difficult because ``there wasn't much of a mental game there. Everyone kind of fell apart easily.''
Part of the Maroons' success is also due to a wider range of hitting power.
``Before, if we had one person who could hit up front, then when we'd have the rotation, she'd be on back, then we'd be a lot weaker,'' Highfill said. ``Now, we can split the team up and if I'm on front and Crys [Wilson] is on back row, we still have some hitting power all the way around. But it really is all 10 people on the team.''
The increased depth was apparent at the start of the season when the Maroons established a 7-1 record without Highfill, who missed the first eight games with a sprained ankle.
Roanoke lost its season opener in five games to reigning ODAC champ Guilford, but then blew through the Bridgewater Invitational. The Maroons won six straight matches without dropping a game en route to the tournament title.
Highfill said after that, teams started paying attention to the Maroons.
``[Bridgewater] invited us up because they just wanted someone to beat up on and then take their trophy home and we shocked them,'' she said. ``Now I think people are kind of after us.''
Roanoke opens play in the ODAC tournament as the fifth seed Friday against No.4 Guilford in Lexington. The Maroons have never won an ODAC title; their best finish was third in 1988 with a team that went 16-7.
``I always said that we had the talent to do all that we're doing this year and people would be like `Oh, yeah. Sure.' It's the same group of people. Things are just pulling together.''
After the volleyball season ends, Highfill's schedule doesn't get any lighter. She is majoring in religion with a minor in education and will student teach next semester. Highfill also will squeeze in time to travel to Lexington to watch her fiance, Adam Williams, who wrestles at Washington and Lee during the winter.
Highfill will play her second season of varsity tennis in the spring while putting the final touches on wedding plans for June, just after graduation
Highfill earned Academic All-District last season and is vying for Academic All-American honors this season. She has a 3.76 cumulative grade point average. She also was a second-team All-ODAC selection last year.
``Yeah, it's busy, but it's also been a lot of fun,'' Highfill said. ``I've never regretted coming here. I love this school.''
by CNB