Webster received so many e-mails from college coaches that she opened an account specifically for their calls.
"I think she got to the point when she was narrowing it down to the top six that she felt like most of them were pulling at her," her mother said. "They were, 'What about me? Can I set up an official visit?' That's when she said, 'I can't wait for this to be over.' "
But those feelings didn't last long.
"It was stressful, but I learned to handle it," Webster said. "You can't really do anything about it, and I think when you just begin to have fun and you make it fun, it's not as stressful as some people might think."
Webster had plenty of people to turn to, especially her mother, Wilkinson and her sister Brooks Webster, who plays volleyball at Alabama. She and her mother learned a lot from her sister's recruiting process.
Perhaps the most fun was making the visits.
After whittling her list to Texas, Florida, Alabama, Stanford and Washington, she visited each one this fall before orally committing to Texas two weeks ago.
"I don't travel the country a lot, so being able to go to places I've never been to, like Seattle, it was just amazing. I may never have a chance to visit these places ever again, and that's what made me take it all in and enjoy it," Webster said.
Her weekend trip to Austin Oct. 17 to 19 was her third time on the Texas campus. When she first visited in September 2007, they rolled out the welcome mat, just as every school did. She saw volleyball matches, met the teams and spent time with the players and coaches. She also saw football games and met Longhorns coach Mack Brown and the entire football team.
She wanted to go to a big-time sports school, but Webster was savvy enough to look past the sales pitch. Her second visit to Texas was on a weekday when she arrived under the radar and experienced campus life as an average student would.
"I was able to go to a class, and that really helped, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle a class with so many people, like about 200, but it wasn't bad. I was like, 'I can learn in this environment,' " said Webster, an honor roll student who is considering majoring in business.
After all of her research, Webster found everything she was looking for.
"I was looking for that feeling that everyone says you get when you know it's right for you," she said, "somewhere that I can fit in, and I found it."
