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BLACKSBURG -- It’s one of the most common similes in sports: teams are like a family. There have been many legacies and sibling combinations that have passed through Virginia Tech athletics over the years and the Hokie volleyball program is no different. This season, one can even argue, family means twice as much.

The Hokies feature two sets of sisters in the McKinzies, Amanda and Abby, and the Mitchell twins, Rhana and Rhegan. They come from different parts of the country and have unique backgrounds, but their reasons for coming to Blacksburg were all the same: the campus, the community, and even without them, the family atmosphere of the team.

“The campus in general is amazing. It has a great atmosphere and everyone is really nice,” said Rhegan, a sophomore setter. “When we came on campus it felt like home. It’s kind of cheesy, but when I stepped on campus I said, ‘This is where I want to go.’ I visited other places and it didn’t feel the same.”

For the McKinzies, Abby had been to Tech volleyball camps and had seen the school dozens of times, but she never thought about coming to Blacksburg during the heat of her recruitment. Playing with her older sister this season almost didn’t happen until Amanda tossed the idea out to her.

“She’s like, ‘I’m running out of time and I have to pick’ and I said, ‘Well, have you ever thought about coming to Tech?’ and she was like, ‘No, not really,’” Amanda said. “I guess it was never an idea until I mentioned it at the last second.”

“It was my sister’s idea,” Abby said. “My sister was like ‘Have you thought about Tech?’ I guess I didn’t want it to seem like I was following her, but she said, ‘Give it some thought. Think about how cool that would be.’”

Both sets of sisters didn’t necessarily go through normal upbringings.

Rhegan and Rhana’s father, Sam, was a 13-year NBA veteran who entered the coaching ranks shortly after retiring in 2002. In 2007, he was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year with the Toronto Raptors. With their father on the road so much, the Mitchells took to their mother, Anita, a former basketball player, who pushed her daughters toward volleyball because it was a little less aggressive.

“My mom is amazing,” Rhana said. “She’s our mom, but we treat her like she’s our best friend.”

Together they grew up in Peachtree City, Georgia; a tight-knit community where folks could freely drive around in golf carts. It was where the Mitchells would spend their days eating ice cream and playing tennis. It was that community-like atmosphere that drew them to Tech in the first place.

“When we were looking at schools, we knew we didn’t want to go to a city,” Rhana said. “We wanted to go to a place where things revolved around the college, and we got that here and everyone was really nice. Blacksburg is Virginia Tech.”

Bill McKinzie worked for Kellogg’s and his family moved with him around the globe and the United States. The family lived in Mexico, England and Texas before settling down in Michigan when Amanda was 10.

Before this season, the only time that Abby and Amanda had been on the same team was in 2012 at St. Philip Catholic Central High School. That season marked the school’s fourth consecutive state championship, the fourth in Amanda’s four years. She was named Michigan’s Miss Volleyball that season and was being recruited by multiple Power Five programs. But there were myriad reasons that Virginia Tech stuck out to her.

“I thought Cassell was a pretty cool place to play, and the campus was the most beautiful of the schools that I visited,” Amanda said. “Everyone seemed friendly around here. Not just coaching staff, but anyone I talked to. Just super friendly.”

It was that friendliness that brought both sets of sisters to Blacksburg. They know that there will come a day when they won’t be on the same team, with Amanda graduating this season and Rhana entering her senior season next year. But all of them have appreciated this season and the years to come.

“We always get that question of ‘What’s it like playing with your sister?’ but it feels kind of normal, honestly,” Amanda said. “In the game, we have a job to do so we’re not really focused on thinking ‘Oh, I’m playing with my sister,’ but it’ll probably hit us toward the end of conference play. It’ll be bittersweet.”

“We always said we were going to school together and it’s been great,” Rhana said. “We really like the school and the environment, and we’re really comfortable here.”

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