One would think wrong.

The University of Hawai'i volleyball All-American hunkered down in summer school. She passed 12 units and expects to be a semester short of graduation when her senior season, which opens next Friday, ends in December.

Willoughby, one of the premier players in the country, passed on the opportunity to train and travel with the national program. Most of her miles this summer came by bike in Manoa.

"College now is the most important thing," Willoughby says. "It's not being on the national team or Olympic team, not any of those things because I have time for those. Right now, this is what I have to do."

It was the first time in two years Willoughby was not training. She's gone directly from volleyball to basketball to spring volleyball since her sophomore year, spending last summer with the national program.

She needed a breather to protect from burnout, she said. More, she needed time to study without distraction.

Willoughby called USA Volleyball in the spring and offered a deal: If it let her concentrate on school this summer she would put off graduation and come to Colorado in January, thinking all about Athens.

"The idea was that she would get ahead enough to allow her to come to Colorado Springs in January in an attempt to make the '04 Olympic Team," said Tom Pingel, Director of USA Volleyball High Performance National Programs. "Although the particulars have not been finalized, provided Kim can work things out at UH, we are still interested in her participation in January."

Willoughby's take on her status is similar: "Tom basically told me they know what I'm capable of and the bottom line is, 'Will you be ready to come here in January?' "

USA Volleyball has watched her since she was a freshman at Assumption High School in Louisiana. After breaking in at UH as WAC Freshman of the Year, Willoughby broke out the last two seasons, earning All-America and WAC Player of the Year honors.

Graduating comes first

She led the country in kills as a sophomore, with more than seven a game, and was second last year at 6.31. She goes into this season 27 kills off Teee Williams' Rainbow Wahine record. That's just one good match in Willoughby's world.

Her most compelling statistic might be her hitting percentage of .340-plus the past two years. It is abnormally high for an outside hitter, particularly one who sees double blocks regularly.

Like Williams, who went to two Olympics, Willoughby has always been on USA Volleyball's wish list. At 22, Willoughby's wish list has been altered.

Her priorities are plain and simple, she says. Graduation is first, an NCAA Championship second and the Olympics third.

"I've lost 10 games in three years," Willoughby says. "If I lose a couple more games, not a big deal. I haven't won a national championship. I want to, but if I don't, it's not the end of the world. But if I don't graduate, that is the end of the world. Where do I go without a degree? What do I do? I have nothing else to fall back on."

Willoughby characterizes the national program at this point in Olympic time as a bunch of diverse personalities "trying to get a job." She was uncomfortable with that last summer, insisting her goal was simply "to get better." Working with "professional" players for six weeks and then "going our separate ways" was not something she enjoyed.

Her independent workouts this summer were designed to improve every part of her game. Her goal this season is to "give up negative thoughts." Willoughby believes this senior year will determine her Olympic future. If she doesn't go to Athens, she will graduate, play some more and try again in 2008.

"I'm more of a person that goes with whatever's going on," Willoughby says. "I'm ready to pass every class, go hard everyday at volleyball, win a national championship. Whatever happens after that happens.