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Kirstie Hillyer: All-Everything

She’s been All-Intermountain League, and she’s been All-State in Colorado.

Now, Bayfield High School senior Kirstie Hillyer can add All-American to her All-Everything résumé.

Hillyer, a 6-6 Colorado State University verbal commit, was named to the The American Volleyball Coaches Association 2014-2015 Under Armour Honorable Mention All-America team Wednesday, two days before the middle blocker will play her final matches for the Wolverines at the state tournament this weekend at the Denver Coliseum.

She joined five other Colorado natives on the roll call, including two first-team All-Americans.

“It definitely means a lot to me, because it shows me how far I’ve gone,” said Hillyer, daughter of Laura and Rich Hillyer. “I never knew that I would go so far in volleyball.”

Hillyer has been on the BHS varsity squad all four years. She’s never lost an Intermountain League match, and her team is 4-for-4 in reaching the CHSAA Class 3A Girls Volleyball State Championships.

This season, she ranked third across all classifications in Colorado with a .506 hitting percentage, and she finished in the top 15 in total kills for a well-balanced Bayfield attack.

“I think it’s just a reflection of her hard work. A lot of people who do not know Kirstie probably make assumptions about her because she is 6-6. That’s so rogue and rare,” BHS head coach Terene Foutz said. “They don’t know how hard she works. It’s really hard for her to do things physically. I put her in the back row, because she needs to learn it, and she’s willing to learn it. She needs to develop an all-around game as much as she can before she gets to Fort Collins.”

She’s the first All-American from Bayfield, and she understands where her journey has brought her.

“When I first started, I’m from little old Bayfield, I’m not going anywhere, this is just for fun,” Hillyer said. “Then, it kept going and progressed and progressed and progressed, and I’m at where I’m at.”

First, though, Hillyer and the Wolverines will play in the state tournament Friday and Saturday in Denver trying to add one more accolade to her already sterling résumé – a state championship.

kgrabowski@durangoherald.com

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