Getting to play the sport you love competitively with a brother or sister is something very few people get to experience in life. For identical twin sisters, Angel and Bella Ferary, that’s all they know.
From a young age, the two have been side-by-side, playing sports with one another. These two have never left each other’s side from track and field for Mount Paran Christian School to club beach volleyball.
“We played together on every team that [the two of us] competed on,” Bella Ferary said. “We just always liked to stay together because we don’t know life without each other.”
The two developed a goal to sign for the same university, but this was a lot harder than imagined. Georgia State would come calling, leading the Ferary twins to commit to the Panthers in 2018.
“[Signing for the same university was a goal], and that’s what made it hard. Trying to commit to the same school was difficult because many ones needed one of us,” Angel Ferary said.
Georgia State would come calling, leading the Ferary twins to commit to the Panthers in 2018.
“Being able to go to Georgia State together, in-state was a dream,” Angel Ferary said.
Upon committing, the Feary sisters dialed into becoming Panthers, attending every home match before officially joining the program. Their better understanding of the team made the transition of joining the other girls on the sand easy as can be.
“[The team] were all very welcoming and nice. We started out [training] in small groups, so we actually didn’t know the full team until the second month we were there,” Angel Ferary said.
To kick start their first season, the sisters didn’t find themselves on the same line. Bella saw herself paired with sophomore Elise Saga and later super senior Kate Novack. Angel hit the sand with junior Bailey Hatchett.
If you have ever played sports competitively with a sibling, you know the one constant is arguing. For the Ferary sisters, arguing during practice became the deciding factor in not playing next to each other.
“Our coach knew we wanted to play together, but we needed to work out some little kinks, like arguing or conversations [between us] that weren’t very nice to each other,” Bella Ferary said.
The two matured quickly, leading to head coach Beth Van Fleet to give them a shot at playing together. The freshman sisters got put on the fourth line together against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. They would go on to win handily, 21-9, 21-15, and as they say, “prove themselves.”
Since then, the pair has amassed a 15-3 record with big wins over schools like Texas Christian, South Carolina and Stetson. The sisters look to close out a strong freshman year and keep the momentum into their sophomore season.
If you get a chance to watch the pair play, don’t worry if you mix the two up, the coaching staff and players still struggle with the identical twins.
“[Everyone] mistakes us 100%; it takes our closest friends even a year to know which one is which,” the Ferary sisters said.
