Taylor and Kianna Carroll weren’t sure if they would go to college together.
“Even though we wanted to stay together, we weren’t sure if one school would recruit the both of us, so we were kind of looking into separate schools,” Kianna Carroll said.
At first, it didn’t look like the sisters would get their wish.
“There were a lot of schools that showed interest in one and not the other,” Taylor Carroll said.
Then, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania reached out.
“It just worked out that Lehigh wanted the both of us,” Kianna Carroll said.
And so on Thursday morning at South, both sisters officially signed their letters of intent to play volleyball for Lehigh next year. In addition to playing together, Lehigh gave the sisters everything else they wanted from a college.
“We wanted a really strong academic school, so that was our number one thing, and then we also wanted to be able to play together in college,” Taylor Carroll said. “Lehigh is also a very competitive school, so it had everything.”
Just a few years ago, however, the thought of playing in college was a distant one for the Carroll sisters of West Nyack.
“My freshman year, I would’ve never thought that we’d be playing in college,” Kianna Carroll said. “We looked into it more sophomore year.”
Taylor Carroll said things really picked up in their junior year.
“Sophomore year we were working towards it and junior year we started getting the interest that we really wanted and we worked really hard our junior year to get to this point,” she said.
Even though they’ll play together in college, there’s a chance they won’t spend time in the classroom together. Kianna Taylor said she plans on studying engineering, and Taylor Carroll said she’s not sure yet what she wants to major in.
The sisters were joined by their parents, Maureen and James Carroll, Thursday morning along with their coach, John Pardy. After signing their letters, Pardy and Taylor Carroll unveiled her New York State All-State 1st Team selection banner, which will hang in the school.
The girls aren’t the only ones excited they’ll play together in college.
“I thought it was really important for them to be together,” Maureen Carroll said. “When they were looking at different schools, I didn’t think they realized how attached they really are. If they split up, it would’ve been a big shock to them. They do everything together. It would’ve been like losing a limb.”
