Sister act

Jade and Sirena Vorster reunite on the volleyball court

When the Lady Flames volleyball team opened their season against San Jose State Aug. 29, it was not just the first match of the year for the team — it was a reuniting of family members on the court.

For the first time in four years, sisters Jade and Sirena Vorster stepped on the court together as teammates.

Redshirt junior Jade Vorster and her younger sister, freshman Sirena Vorster, have joined this year to help the Lady Flames retake the Big South title. However, their journeys to Liberty look very different.

According to the Vorster sisters, they played their only season of volleyball together during Jade Vorster’s senior year and Sirena Vorster’s freshman year of high school.

This year, middle blocker Sirena Vorster joined the Lady Flames through the normal recruiting process. She committed to play at Liberty during the spring of her junior year in high school.

At the same time, her sister Jade Vorster was close to a ten-hour plane ride away, playing her redshirt freshman year of volleyball for the University of Hawaii with no real intent to ever play on the same team as her sister again.

“Transferring really wasn’t an idea yet,” Jade Vorster, also a middle blocker, said. “It was always in the back of our minds … but it wasn’t apparent to us that it actually would be plausible. “

At the University of Hawaii, the elder Vorster recorded 388 kills and was named to the First Team All-Big West in her redshirt freshman season, according to the official University of Hawaii athletics website.

According to Jade Vorster, as she was preparing for graduation last year,she began searching for her next step in life. Then, the door to transfer to Liberty opened.

“Everything just kind of fell into place,” Jade Vorster said. “I knew that if I wanted to transfer, coming to Liberty and being with Sirena was … my number
one option.”

According to Jade Vorster, the transition from graduating from the University of Hawaii with a degree in chemistry to coming to Liberty this fall has gone smoothly.

As of Sept. 20, the Vorster sisters have combined for 186 kills, Jade Vorster with 128 and Sirena Vorster with 58, according to liberty.edu/flames.

Even with playing on the same team and at the same position, the Vorster sisters are able to encourage each other on the court.

“We aren’t super competitive,” Sirena Vorster said. “We are more supportive toward each other.

Not only have the Vorsters felt the support of each other, but they have felt at home at Liberty during their first seasons
in Lynchburg.

“It’s just such a supportive community here,” Jade Vorster said. “It’s been really nice.”

The Vorster sisters, as well as the rest of the Lady Flames volleyball team, will be back in action Sept. 23 at home against the University of Virginia.

RODRIGUEZ is a sports reporter