It is rare that two sisters are blessed with prodigious athletic prowess. Serena and Venus Williams come to mind as an example of such a sister-sister combination. Cavalier fans who have attended a Virginia volleyball game this season know that the Cavaliers have their own version of the Williams sisters in action on the court in Memorial Gymnasium.
Emily and Sarah Kirkwood both start for the Virginia volleyball team, which has started the season with a stellar 11-3 record. Emily, a sophomore, is the only returning starting setter for the Cavaliers this year. She started all 34 games last year and set a school record with 81 assists in a game against North Carolina. This year, Emily's play has been enhanced by the presence of her younger sister.
"If I know that my setting is off, then I can say to Sarah, 'Sarah, it's off, so you're going to have to help a little bit,'" Emily said. "Or if I know Sarah's not getting her hits in the way she usually does, then I'll try to help her out and let her adjust."
Sarah, a freshman outside hitter, has developed into a dominant player for the Cavaliers. She leads the team in kills with 269 and in aces with 22.
"It definitely relieves stress during matches," Sarah said of playing with her sister. "Whereas other people probably are holding in negative thoughts when the team is struggling, it's ok if I turn to Emily and blow off some steam."
The Kirkwood sisters have played on the same volleyball teams since they were young. It was not always easy being sisters on the court.
"It's more positive now than when we were younger," Emily said of her on-court relationship with her sister. "When we were younger, we would get mad and yell, and then there would be tears, and it would freak out the team. But now, we help each other out with certain skills and confidence."
Sarah said Emily's presence on the Cavalier team made Virginia an even more attractive choice for her.
Coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton was looking for an outside hitter for this year's recruiting class, and she had to look no farther than her starting setter's younger sister.
There can be drawbacks to having two siblings on the same team. Shelton sees the pros and cons of the Kirkwood tandem every day in practices and games.
"It helps in terms of them communicating and connecting on the court," she said. "But sometimes I think it hinders Emily's connection with some of the other players on the team. Because she is so familiar with Sarah, it is so easy for her to set Sarah when the pressure is on than for her to set the ball for someone else."
One might expect there to be a sibling rivalry between two competitive sisters playing on the same team, but the Kirkwood sisters said that isn't the case with them.
"It helps a lot that we play different positions, and we have to work with each other with what we do," Emily said.
Luckily for Emily and Sarah, volleyball is a team game, so the sisters never have to play against one another like Venus and Serena. Due to their different positions on the court, Emily and Sarah's statistics cannot be compared. What is safe to say is that the performance of these two sisters has been an integral part of the success of the Virginia volleyball team.
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