DEEP RUN — Will and Whitney Graves do just about everything together, and that won’t change after high school.
The South Lenoir twins separated by roughly a minute at birth have both decided to continue their athletic careers in their respective sports at N.C. Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount.
Whitney, the older of the two, will play volleyball while Will, a three-sport athlete in high school, will play baseball for the Battling Bishops.
“We’ve always been together our whole lives, so I guess it was kind of hard to separate,” Will said. “We’ve got something that not many brothers and sisters have.”
Tuesday’s signing came as somewhat of a surprise to Whitney, while it was a dream fulfilled for Will.
Whitney, who plays only volleyball, said she never felt like she was college athlete material prior to her senior season. But after blossoming for the Blue Devils last fall, she’ll now help anchor the defense and the back line for the Bishops.
“I didn’t know I was going to get the opportunity to go play college volleyball,” Whitney said. “If you would have told me that at the beginning of volleyball season this year I would have said, ‘There’s no way,’ but where there’s a will there’s a way.
“I’ve always dreamed of it but I never thought it would be a reality.”
For Will, playing baseball collegiately has always been a goal. The small but speedy athlete was also a slot receiver for the football team and a guard on the Blue Devils’ basketball team, but said baseball has always been his favorite and most successful sport.
He’s currently an outfielder and pitcher for first-year coach David Combs, and said he’ll be an outfielder and possibly a second baseman for the Bishops.
“It’s always been a dream to go play college baseball,” Will said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do; now I finally get the opportunity to do it.”
Wesleyan wasn’t the only school that wanted the twins, they said. Both had the opportunity to play at Methodist University in Fayetteville.
But in the end, each chose Rocky Mount.
“For me, it was the volleyball coach (at N.C. Wesleyan),” Whitney said. “She’s real personable and kind of made it feel like it was going to be like a family there.”
“It was more of a family-oriented school,” Will said of Wesleyan. “The team looked like they were out there having more fun before the games.”
The twins actually had thoughts of going their separate ways after graduation — Whitney to N.C. Wesleyan and Will to Methodist.
But it didn’t take long for the siblings to realize things would be better if they stuck together for four more years.
“It was actually very easy to stay together,” Whitney said. “It was harder to try and go away from each other.”
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.