BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — As sisters, McAllen High volleyball players Carter and Taylor Helmcamp experience an amplified version of the setter-hitter relationship.
Whenever they want to work, they can head out in the yard and play pepper. After a particularly trying practice, they have someone under the same roof to vent to. If one isn’t playing well, the other is always there to offer feedback.
And if they end up out of sync during the match, one will always be the first, and harshest, to criticize the other.
“We really don’t get mad at each other that much,” Carter said. “But one game, we both just snapped.”
The players and coach Paula Dodge couldn’t pinpoint the specific match, but they remembered the circumstances. The two just weren’t clicking, and Carter said it seemed like it was only getting worse as the match went on. The actual words exchanged are hardly different than with any other setter and hitter, but the tone and the body language come through loud and clear.
“If someone you’re not related to says, ‘OK, set it higher.’ Or, ‘OK, just hit a little bit faster,’ that’s no biggie,” Taylor said. “But if it’s your sister, it’s like a threat, almost. It’s kind of easier to snap at each other.”
And, just that once, they escalated to the point that Dodge felt the need to call a timeout and regroup her team.
“Coach brought us in and told us we need to stop,” Carter said. “You need to clear your heads. Stop talking to each other like sisters.’ We went out there and just played. Started fresh.”
“Now we laugh about it,” Dodge said. “They understand. You get the adrenaline flowing, and the score is close, and things are happening. Other than that, they usually don’t get after each other.”
Indeed, the Helmcamp sisters are typically on the same page — one of many reasons McAllen High enters the 2015 season as one of the top teams in the Valley.
The duo also started what has become a trend at McAllen High. This season, a pair of Lady Bulldogs seniors will help their freshmen sisters get acclimated to the lower levels of the program: senior Hanna Bishop with her sister Allyson, and senior Alexis Giusti with her sister Samantha.
“They’re very supportive of each other — all of them,” Dodge said. “If they need something for lunch, or they need somebody to go get something, they help each other out a lot. It’s very fortunate that I see them working well together, and laughing together, and taking care of each other.”
For both the Giustis and the Bishops, the younger sister credited the older for piquing her interest in the sport. Allyson’s first exposure to volleyball was watching Hanna’s matches, and she and Samantha both started playing around fifth or sixth grade.
“Lexi always did it first, so I kind of just followed in her footsteps,” Samantha said. “She was a setter, so I said, ‘OK, I’ll set, too.’”
Hanna and Allyson also took to setting, so Hanna was able to teach her younger sister different techniques as they passed back and forth in the front yard.
Likewise, Alexis showed Samantha certain hand adjustments. When it came time to make the jump to high school, Alexis told Samantha the importance of standing out from the crowd and listening to instruction.
“The best advice I can give her is always say, ‘Yes, ma’am,’” Alexis said. “And if coach Dodge says to jump, you say, ‘How high?’”
Allyson said the transition could have been a scary one, were it not for Hanna’s help. Hanna thinks her sister will eventually surpass her. With a two-year head start and Hanna leading the way, Allyson has a leg up in the process.
“I do try and help her out, but she doesn’t really like my criticism, because she thinks she knows more than I do, I guess,” Hanna said with a smile.
As a four-year varsity player and a three-time all-district selection, Hanna knows she’s given her younger sister a lot to live up to.
“There is a lot of pressure since she made varsity her freshman year, but I’m just going to work my hardest and show what talent I have,” Allyson said. “I look up to my sister. … She’s worked very hard these past four years. I plan to work just as hard, and I hope to get up to her level, or higher, one day.”
That gap was never an issue for the Helmcamps, who both hit varsity for the first time last season — Taylor’s sophomore year and Carter’s freshman. The simultaneous ascent seemed fitting for two sisters who say they’ve been playing sports side-by-side their entire lives.
Although they played different positions — the result of Taylor being the taller of the pair — there was always something they could teach each other. Taylor helped Carter with her hitting, and Carter helped Taylor with her serving.
When Carter shifted from libero to setter, the two started working together more directly. The ability to talk through plays or fix their timing away from the court became even more valuable. And going through the strenuous practices became more manageable.
“Just going home and having someone who has been through it with you, it really brings our bond closer,” Taylor said. “We kind of just lean on each other.”
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