SUPERIOR – During each game, sibling rivalry is exchanged for team rivalry when the Ewounik sisters take the court with the Superior Lady Bobcats.

Junior Nadeia Ewounik and sophomore Danielle Ewounik were born in North Carolina, though family roots were already in Mineral County. According to Nadeia, the family moved to Superior, her mother’s hometown, when she was six and Danielle was five.

The girls joined the volleyball team as part of a legacy. Nadeia and Danielle’s older sister was on the team and encouraged Nadeia to join when she entered high school. It was only natural for Danielle to join when she started at Superior High School.

“Last year [our sister] was a senior, I was a sophomore and Danielle was a freshman, so we were all sisters on the same team,” said Nadeia. “I guess we kind of followed in her footsteps.”

As sisters, the girls are slightly closer with each other than the rest of the team. While it was joked about how the girls have a little easier time arguing with each other, Nadeia said the two of them usually treat each other the same as anyone else on the team.

“It’s what a team does,” she said. “I kind of have to forget that she’s my sister.”

However, this does not impact how the two get along with the others. Nadeia said she and her sister treat everyone on the team the same. According to Danielle, the members of the team are all about the same age and have similar interests, as a result the girls are all fairly close.

“We all hang out with each other,” said Danielle. “We’ve grown up playing sports together.”

Both girls started volleyball in sixth grade. The sisters have both played volleyball since then. Both have come to know the other girls well and watched the team grow.

Danielle said she was impressed with how the Lady Bobcats did this season. With a fairly young team, which was inexperienced as a group, the girls did a good job and became an effective team. By the end of the season, the girls had forged strong relationships.

While still a ways off, both girls expect to attend college after high school. However, neither currently plans to participate in college sports and will focus more on academics.

“[We will] really focus on education, straight A students,” said Nadeia.

Danielle is undecided on what she would want to study, though has thought about some form of sports medicine. Nadeia, however, has no idea where she will go and thought it was funny her younger sister had as well formed an idea as she did when she has two full years to go before graduation.

“It’s funny because [Danielle is] younger than me and [has] more of a plan than I do,” Nadeia said.

While Danielle plans to stay in Montana, Nadeia has decided she will likely go away for college. She said there was so much to explore in the world and she would like to experience it.

Both girls will play basketball when the season starts. Nadeia and Danielle love the sports and enjoy playing with the teams, and each other, immensely.

“It’s just been fun, every day at practice,” said Danielle. “The games are fun.”

“We enjoy volleyball and sports,” added Nadeia. “We enjoy [playing alongside] each other.”