By Amira Van Leeuwen

BUDA — Megan and Madison Disu committed to play volleyball for the Rhode Island Rams on Sept. 11, but their journey to collegiate volleyball differs from most.

The twin sisters grew up playing basketball; however, when they got to middle school and tried out for the volleyball team, they noticed their love for the sport grow.

Contributed Photo
Megan and Madi Disu on their visit to Rhode Island University.

But for Megan, it took her more time and it wasn’t until her sophomore year that she began changing her mindset.

“I would just start working a lot harder, practicing outside of our school practices and club practices and I think that’s when I knew,” Megan said.

After Megan’s junior school and club season, she couldn’t see herself not playing college volleyball.

But for Madi, it was instant.

“Ninth grade, I was like, yeah, this what I’m gonna do,” Madi said.

One of Madi’s favorite volleyball memories was traveling to Florida with her club team, Roots Volleyball, for a tournament where she blocked a Nebraska commit.

“We all just started screaming and going crazy,” Madi said.

The 17-year-olds decided to commit to Rhode Island because they loved the environment and the team. But what solidified their decision were the lobster rolls.

“We’re both pescetarians and so the coaches took us to this place and we had the best lobster rolls we’ve ever had in our life,” Madi said. “I feel like they just had everything that we were looking for in a school.”

Another reason why the Disus committed to Rhode Island was because they thought that Rhode Island’s head volleyball coach Angel Agu would continue to elevate their athletic performance.

“I just think that especially given that we started so late, we have so much potential and finding a program that was going to continue to grow us as athletes and just as people, in general, was very important to us,” Madi said.

Former Hays Hawks head volleyball coach Ashley Davis said the twins have grown “significantly” in the three years she coached them and was excited to hear about their commitment.

“I kind of always just knew they were up-and-coming,” Davis said. “The exciting part about them that I kind of always knew is their ceiling is really high. I don’t think they’re anywhere close to having reached their athletic potential, which should be exciting for a college coach.”

Although their athleticism and versatility helped, their recruitment journey was challenging as many other schools only had room for one of them.

“In the beginning, we just started shutting it down. If they didn’t have room for both of us, we were just kind of like, ‘No,’” Megan said.

And other times, schools weren’t exactly aware that they were a package deal.

“Probably the hardest thing was when we were getting separate interests or there [were]a lot of times where I’d be like, ‘Oh, I’m interested in going with my sister,’ and they’d be like, ‘Ok, well we’re gonna call her, too, we didn’t even know there was two of y’all,’” Madi said. “There’d be some times when a coach would come and watch and they thought we were the same person,” she said.

“They would get us mixed up,” Megan laughed.

Aside from Rhode Island, the twins visited St. Edwards University in Austin and Long Island University in New York.

Megan has logged 543 kills, 118 blocks and 63 aces in the 2022-2023 volleyball season. Madi has 765 kills, 116 blocks and 119 aces total this season.

In the future, Madi hopes to study criminal justice and psychology. Megan hopes to study criminology.

But regardless of what they study, it is clear that this dynamic duo has a bright future ahead.