Chaparral volleyball has two sets of sisters

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1999 | 10:25 a.m.

Coaches often say that to win, a team must come together like a family.

If that's true, this year's Chaparral's girls volleyball team should be among the state's best, as the Cowboys feature not one, but two sister duos among their starting lineup.

"I've been lucky," said second-year Chaparral coach Jennifer Berg. "The talent seems to run in the family here."

Berg certainly knows a thing or two about coaching sibling tandems, after having twins Julianne and Marianne Hafen on her squad last season. Although those two graduated in the spring, a pair of junior varsity call-ups have the Cowboys loaded again, this time with four sisters: Katie and Diana Nihipali and Annie and Molly Hammons.

And though sibling rivalries often run high, Berg says both Katie Nihipali and Annie Hammons -- now seniors -- were ecstatic about the possibility of spending their final high school season alongside their sophomore sisters.

"The older sisters were really happy when their younger sisters moved up to varsity," Berg said. "They don't bicker like other sisters. They complement each other well."

For the Nihipalis, volleyball has run in the family as long as they can remember. Their father and several cousins played collegiately, as did older sister Keala, a 1995 Chaparral graduate.

So while they've never played organized volleyball together before, Katie and Annie said it has been easy adjusting to one another's style on the court.

"I always wanted to play with her," said Katie, an outside hitter. "I click better with her than anyone else, since we play together at home all the time."

Diana, known to everyone by her longtime nickname "Bubs," agreed. "We get along great, and we can tell each other if we're doing something wrong out there."

Like the Nihipalis, the Hammons never played on the same team, but that hasn't stopped them from clicking thus far.

"I pretty much know where she's going, and I know her voice better than anyone else's," said Annie, the team's starting setter.

Added Molly, "She's always right behind me talking to me, and if I do anything wrong, she says it's all right."

Although the postseason is still a long way off, the Nihipalis and Hammons know that they could wind up celebrating a unique double-sibling championship, family style.