Some might consider Homecoming a distraction, coming as it did last week while the Lady Wildcat volleyball team was wrapping up their playoff berth. But not junior captain Emily Hillman. She was crowned Homecoming Princess in a ceremony just after her varsity team defeated Creekview. “It was very exciting,” she said about the honor she received by student vote. But she does have her eyes on a bigger prize. “We all want to get to state,” she said of the team. “Our district is slow, but we know what’s coming in post-season. We want to do well.”
Before every game, she says, the team chooses a word to help them focus on what they need to win – themes like Energy and Determination. And Emily learns all she can from her role model, senior Caroline Henton. “Besides being a great player, whenever the team needs encouragement, she’s there to get them excited to play.”
Off the court, “Hilly,” as the team calls her, loves country music and attended the recent Dallas concert of Brad Paisley. Her favorite movie is “Glory Road,” about a basketball coach who brings together the white and black players on his team. “And no one knows that I really like poetry – I even write some,” she added, saying her favorites are Shel Silverstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She says her friends expect her to go to a prestigious university because she has good grades, and her brothers hope she’ll follow them to Baylor (Chris is a freshman and Trip is a senior), but she’s not sure where she’ll go and says she hasn’t ruled out playing volleyball at a smaller school (“I’m not very tall.”)
She’s proud that “the best thing about our team is that we have zero drama. We’ve all seen teams that fell apart. We know what we want, and we know what we don’t want.”
Looking ahead, Emily thinks the Wildcats have plenty of playoff appearances in their future. “There’s a lot of talent in the younger girls coming up in Lake Highlands.” Those younger girls are fortunate to have her leading the way.
