Binghamton volleyball’s two star outside hitters share a relatively uncommon commonality: the last name, Hovie. Kristin, a senior, and Allison, a sophomore, have been teammates at BU for the past two seasons, starting opposite each other at one of the most crucial positions on the court.
The siblings, who share a unique bond, both hail from Neenah, Wisconsin, over 850 miles from the Binghamton campus. Kristin came to the program first, starting in the 2011 season.
“I went on a recruiting visit, came up here, toured the campus, and I really liked it,” Kristin said. “I got to know the coach who was recruiting me, which was the assistant coach at the time … but I ended up liking it. Amanda [Dettmann] … was getting looked at by the same person, and we called each other up one day and were like, ‘Hey, we both got offers, do you want to go there?’ We were like, ‘Hey let’s give it a shot,’ and we did it. We were roommates, and so far it has been great.”
Kristin found success for the Bearcats from day one. As a freshman, she started 25 games, led BU with 281 kills and was named to the America East all-rookie team. Avoiding a sophomore slump in 2012, she finished with 351 kills, averaging 2.85 per set — good for seventh-best in the conference — and was part of a BU squad that captured the conference championship. Her success caught the attention of younger sister Allison, who was finishing her senior year in Neenah and preparing to kick off her own collegiate career.
“It is kind of funny how it worked out,” Allison said. “Binghamton wasn’t on my radar until end of junior year. I knew how prestigious the school was, how well Kristin was doing here and how great the campus was. I came for a few visits to visit her, fell in love with the campus and then I was like, ‘I could kind of see myself here, too.’”
The two took the court together for the first time as teammates in the green and white on Aug. 30, 2013 against St. John’s University at the Colgate Classic.
“I remember just being freaked out my first game as a freshman, starting,” Allison recalled. “Just a little freaked out. I think that it actually helped me personally having someone familiar on the court that I played with before in a match. I think it almost made me calm.”
For Kristin, having her sister start alongside of her brought her back a few years.
“It didn’t feel weird at all,” Kristin said. “We had played high school together and we’re really close. It felt kind of natural just kind of having her come right in.”
Together, the sisters have formed a dynamic duo for BU. Allison followed in her sister’s footsteps with an equally impressive rookie campaign: She started all 28 games, finished ninth in the conference in kills and was also named to the AE all-rookie team. That same season, Kristin — who was hampered by an injury through eight games of the season — started 20 games alongside her sister and finished with 177 kills, fourth on the team. This season, both have come out strong, starting eight games together. Each has 77 kills on the year.
The Hovies not only spend countless hours together on the court, but on the road as well. Especially this season, when Binghamton isn’t scheduled for a home contest until mid-October, they’ve spent a considerable amount of time traveling. The team’s trip to the LMU Invitational, which opened the season, stood out to both sisters.
“On the way to California and on the way back, the seats were done in alphabetical order, so Hovie-Hovie, I got to sit next to her on all the plane rides,” Allison said.
“Neither of us can really nap either, so we would both just sit there talking to each other,” Kristin added.
Though the sisters were able to extend their time playing together by an extra two years, Kristin is set to graduate in the spring, which will leave Allison as the only Hovie on the Bearcats team for the first time in her career. However, neither wants their time playing together to end.
“I didn’t realize what I didn’t have when I came to school at first, to put it simply,” Kristin said, “because I never expected to play with her again so I had kind of already gotten away from the idea.”
Allison, on the other hand, hadn’t thought about the prospect of being alone in Binghamton until recently.
“I actually started thinking about that at the beginning of the year, like ‘Wow, this is the last time that I’m ever going to play with her again,’” Allison said. “It’s going to be sad. An outlet, a person that I go to, will be gone. I started thinking about it and it makes me kind of sad.”
For now, the Hovies have the remainder of this season to wreak more havoc on their opponents and jump up their kill counts. They and the entire Bearcat squad are set to return to action this weekend when they travel to the UMES Invitational. First match is set for 3 p.m. Friday against Bethune-Cookman at the Hytche Athletic Center in Princess Anne, Md.