Yin and yang: Georgia volleyball’s Muoneke sisters find balance on and off the court

To most, she is untouchable. As a senior hitter with 408 kills this season, Bianna Muoneke is Georgia volleyball's leading scorer and the heart of the Bulldogs. But to teammate and younger sister Arianna Muoneke, the blood between them runs deeper than red and black. “Most of the time I do see [Bianna] just as a player,” said Arianna Muoneke. “I see her as the captain, of course. The star of the show, if you will. But there'll be other occasions where I see her do a little celebration, and I see her as a sister.” Arianna Muoneke is a freshman on Georgia’s roster this year, following her sister out of Cypress, Texas, to play on the same team for the first time. Her older sister was a large part of her decision to become a Bulldog. But squatting up to 300 pounds in the weight room, Arianna Muoneke has often stolen the show herself, squatting teammates across her back on the sidelines during games and pumping up the crowd while Bianna Muoneke keeps her composure on the court. “It feels awesome that she's kind of coming into her own too,” Bianna Muoneke said. “Obviously, I came here and I paved the way. [But] she’s going out there and making a name for herself. That’s really important for me as a sister because I don't want her to feel like she's in my shadow at all.” Although both Muoneke sisters play outside hitter, they have very different approaches to the position. No. 3 in the country for kills per set, with 17 in Georgia’s Nov. 1 loss to Vanderbilt, Bianna Muoneke is a calculated attacker while her sister is more defensive but aggressive. “I feel like I play really clean volleyball,” Bianna Muoneke said. “When [Arianna] plays volleyball, it's like how she is in life. She is just kind of going out there, ‘if I mess up, whatever, I’m just going to keep going.’” The sisters agree that Bianna Muoneke is more Type A while Arianna Muoneke is more Type B, and because they share a court, a locker room, a weight room and a living space, these differences can sometimes be a point of friction between them. “I [am] OCD about almost everything,” Bianna Muoneke said. “Sometimes it's hard because I get on her about house stuff…take out the trash, wash your dishes, like older sister stuff. And then she gets annoyed, and we have to come to practice and it's like, ‘oh, you were just getting on me about the dishes.’” But despite these small disputes, the sisters find a balance on the court and enjoy playing on the same team. Sports run in the family, as their father, Gabriel Muoneke , played basketball at Texas. However, he enjoyed going to Texas volleyball games so much that when he had daughters, he put them in volleyball instead. Now their parents come to every game they can, excited to finally have the opportunity to support both daughters from the same sideline. The Muoneke sisters are opposites in plenty of ways: offensive and defensive, Type A and Type B, calculated and aggressive. But at six feet tall, standing side by side in Bulldog red and black, they see eye to eye. “We're pretty different human beings, but we balance each other out,” Arianna Muoneke said. And as if on cue, Bianna Muoneke helped finish her thought, “We're yin and yang.”