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Gotterba Twins Square Off in WVU-Pacific Tilt
September 10, 2016 10:52 PM | Volleyball
STOCKTON, Calif. – When the West Virginia University volleyball team (5-4) squares off with Pacific on Monday at 10 p.m. ET at the Spanos Center, Gianna Gotterba will celebrate a career milestone. For the first time ever, the junior libero will face her twin sister, Pacific libero Katrin, in their hometown of Stockton, California.
With the team traveling to the Bay Area to give the California natives a chance to play in front of family and friends at the Cal Classic in Berkeley, coach Reed Sunahara decided to make a special side trip to Stockton, allowing the Gotterba sisters the chance to play each other.
“I can only imagine the feeling, since I’ve obviously never done it,” said Gianna. “It’s going to be weird looking across the net and seeing my sister. I’ve never competed against her. We’ve always played on the same team – same high school team, same club team. It’s going to be weird, but I’m going to treat it like it’s any another game. I’m going to think of it as just another volleyball game.”
The two grew up as teammates for Delta Valley and St. Mary’s High, with Katrin playing the libero position and Gianna serving as a defensive specialist and occasional hitter. The duo led the Rams to a league championship and to the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs as seniors in 2013. After starring together in the Global Challenge Tournament, the sisters separated for the first time ever in 2014 with Katrin staying in Stockton to play for the Tigers and Gianna traveling the 2,600 miles to Morgantown to become a Mountaineer.
Despite the distance, their stories have similar plotlines. After making her way into the starting rotation as a defensive specialist, Gianna made the transition to libero just weeks into her freshman season and never looked back. Despite missing the last three matches of the season with an injury, she accumulated 287 digs on the season, the fifth-most by a WVU freshman. Similarly, Katrin served as Pacific’s libero from the start of her collegiate career, compiling 452 digs to set a new freshman record for the Tigers.
Though being clear across the country from her sister can be a challenge, Gianna admits that the separation has helped her development as a player.
“I think it has (helped my development as a player). When we were in club, everyone always kind of knew us as the twins. We’ve definitely gotten our own personalities because back in West Virginia, some people don’t even know that I have a twin. We’ve definitely branched out and figured out who we are as players.”
The two continue to post stellar careers on opposite ends of the country. Gianna, a Big 12 All-Academic Team honoree as a broadcast journalism major, ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 3.98 digs per set this season. A business major, Katrin is averaging 5.00 digs per set in the West Coast Conference for the Tigers.
In addition to the excitement of playing against her sister, Gianna looks forward to what could be another once-in-a-lifetime chance: playing in front of her hometown crowd as a Mountaineer.
“It’s going to be crazy. My mom told me last night she had 60 t-shirts made. Our whole family is coming. It’s going to be great to play in front of a homegrown crowd because I’ve never, ever been able to do it before in college. My sister gets to do it every game she plays at home. It’s going to be a cool feeling, I think, and I’m going to try and ignore the nerves and make the most of this opportunity.”
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