By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com

For a while, it didn't look like that was going to happen.

Miller started her search for a college late. Creighton was in the running for a while. She also looked at schools like College of St. Mary, Colorado School of Mines and Dana College.

But on Wednesday, Miller signed to play volleyball at Missouri-Kansas City.

"I think it's great," Miller said. "That's what I was hoping for in the first place, but again I was late in the process so we were looking at D-2 and D-3. I got this chance and I took it right away.

"It was a tough decision, but I'm really happy with Missouri-Kansas City. I like the coach and I really liked the girls when I visited."

Miller will be playing libero or defensive specialist for the Kangaroos, who were 5-27 a year ago. She said the program is on the rebound under new coach Geno Frugoli, who was top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Baylor before taking over at Missouri-Kansas City in January of 2007.

"They just got a new coach from Baylor so he's kind of starting the program over," Miller said. "He's brought in a couple of good girls and he has a really good recruiting class coming in."

Miller was a serving specialist as a freshman, but then became Senior High's libero when the position was added before her sophomore season.

"When it first started, I didn't get to serve and that was my favorite thing to do," Miller said. "I love it now. I love having the pressure of passing the ball."

Miller was the primary serve receiver for the Class A state runner-up Islanders last year. She had 660 of Grand Island's 1,617 serve receives during the regular season to go along with 550 digs. She is also a 12-time letter winner at Senior High, having also lettered for four years in basketball and soccer.

"I was fortunate with Alex that she could dig and serve receive," Grand Island coach Bill Root said. "We saw a lot of liberos who could do one or the other. If a libero can do both, that takes care of a lot of things."

Root said all college teams are now looking for great liberos.

"I think it's one of the hottest positions in the country," Root said. "If you have a great one, it helps tremendously. If you don't have a great one, it's almost better not to have one."