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By Jed Blackwell

 

Elizabeth Vitale chalks up finally being able to play doubles tennis for Polk County with her sister Sarah as a matter of growing up.

“We don’t argue as much anymore,” she said. “It’s a maturity thing.”

She’d know. She’s a whole 45 seconds older, after all.

The Vitale twins play at the No. 2 (Sarah) and No. 3 (Elizabeth) singles spots for the Wolverines, and they hold down a doubles spot, which is different than in recent years.

“We’d fight,” Sarah laughed. “We’re too hard on each other. And because we have our emotional connection, I’m not worried that I’m going to offend her. We’ve tried to play together the past couple of seasons, but this is the only one where it’s worked out.”

The two sisters each won their singles matches Thursday as Polk County handed R-S Central a 7-2 defeat in a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference home match. The Wolverines won five of the six singles matches and two doubles matches in the victory.

The Vitales are accomplished athletes, and do play together well. They got their start in tennis playing side by side at a time when the world was being encouraged to stay apart.

“We started before our freshman year, because of COVID,” Sarah said. “We couldn’t play softball much for a while, but we wanted to do something. And our dad wanted us to play tennis for a while.”

With workouts restricted, the girls’ family relationship allowed them to compete together.

“Our coach was only doing single lessons, but because we’re twins, we were able to play each other,” Elizabeth explained.

The twins are flexible within Polk County’s lineup, and each has had some success.

“Our top three (the Vitales and Bella Sheffron) can play pretty much anywhere in those three spots,” Elizabeth said. “If Sarah wanted to play at No. 2, that would be fine with me.”

The Vitales do a lot of things well on the court, and each has an idea of what and where the other does a better job.

“Her serves are a lot better than mine,” Elizabeth said of Sarah. “Mine are ok. They get in. Hers are great. She’s also better at backhand slices. I do a forehand slice, but her backhand is way better than mine.”

Sarah said Elizabeth’s forehand is a strong suit.

“When we were challenging each other before the season, I think she would just stand on the baseline and hit forehand slices right on the line in the alley just barely over the net, and I couldn’t get to them,” Sarah said. “And my serve is faster, and more likely to ace a person, but I’ll also double-fault a game away before she will.”

The girls’ support for each other extends to their other athletic home on the softball diamond. Sarah is a pitcher for the Wolverines while Elizabeth is a catcher. There, too, their bond shines through.

Sarah plays travel softball on the weekends as much as she’s able. Elizabeth has played some travel ball, but not as much since the girls’ move from the Boone area to Polk County. Both, though, enjoy playing for the Wolverines. And sometimes, their twin mentality is a bonus.

“We have a great group of catchers, and I love them,” Sarah said. “But in some situations, Elizabeth knows better than anyone else what to do with me. She knows how to get me back in rhythm if I’m messing up. She remembers batters.

“I have a bunch of pitches I can throw with movement, and she doesn’t always call fastballs. We’ve just been together for so long, she knows just what to do. She knows everything my pitching coach has told me to do. She can watch me and give me tips, because I don’t always think of certain things.”

Elizabeth said she pays close attention to what’s going on with Sarah when she’s in the circle.

“I call pitches, but honestly I just kind of know what to expect,” she said. “I’ve been to pitching lessons with her. It’s tough to compete when Sarah and I have been together for so long.”

That’s something the sisters say have helped them in their athletic careers.

“Sometimes we can communicate just through looks,” Sarah said. “We’re even closer because we’re around each other all the time.”

“We shared a room at our old house,” Elizabeth said. “Now our rooms are connected. We drive together. We’ve had a lot of the same classes. When you’re so close to a person all the time, you just figure them out.”