There are 35,000 cities, 50 states and 334 Division I volleyball programs in the United States, yet it was fate that brought both Ally and Brooklyn Frank to New Orleans.

20-year-old Tulane junior setter and two-year letter winner Ally Frank feared coming to The Big Easy from Saskatoon, Canada alone. A happy coincidence brought her identical twin sister and best friend Brooklyn Frank along for the ride.  

“That was all just by luck for both of us,” Ally Frank said. “I had committed to Tulane first, so I was kind of nervous because I was coming to the states by myself. Then near the end of the signing period was when Brook decided that she liked UNO. [They] contacted her and it kind of worked out well.”  

The two began playing volleyball in elementary school together, both playing outside hitter. It was when the they began playing at a club level that Ally transitioned to a setter to eliminate competition between the two and allow them to continue playing on the same team.

Ally Frank ranks 14th in Tulane career history in assists with 820 at the end of the 2014-15 season, 17th in total assists with 803 in 2014 and 19th in assists per set with 8.54 in 2014. She also competed alongside the sand volleyball team last spring finishing with a 2-3 record.

Though Ally Frank now focuses her efforts solely on indoor volleyball, she found beach volleyball rewarding.

“[Sand volleyball] was good cross training for indoor,” Ally Frank said. “You can jump higher after jumping in the sand [and you can also] move faster.”

By being an indoor player full time, Ally Frank has been elected as one of the team captains for this season alongside junior outside hitter Tea Juric and junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner.

Despite the season not living up to expectations with a 9-19, 3-13 American Athletic Conference record, Ally Frank has received more playing time than in years past and the coaching staff is taking note of her skill.

“I think she improved steadily [and] her position as setter is a very important role,” head coach Sinisa Momic said. “She is the quarterback of the team and is handling every second contact. I think as a sophomore she got to play a little bit more and get some experience and this year with the other two setters, Liz Hurring and Lauren Etta, she is contributing to the team.”

In a competitive environment, only heightened with both sisters going after the same dream, the Frank sisters don’t let competitiveness come between them and instead support each other every step of the way. The two attend all of each other’s games and live together off campus, proving that not everything has to be a competition.

The sisters don’t feel the need to one-up the other and instead include each other in their goals, wanting to be together through it all.

“Being on Team Canada [in the Olympics] is one of my goals,” Ally Frank said. “That would be awesome, especially with Brooke.”

Playing volleyball past college is the dream of both of the Frank sisters but if that doesn’t work out, they already have an alternative, which of course, includes one another.

“Since [the psych major] is a science degree here at Tulane, my sister and I have been talking about going to med school together,” Frank said. “So, we would end up back together again. She is getting a biology major from UNO, so we want to go somewhere together.”

2,180 miles away from family and friends, the Frank sisters have stood by one another and only grown closer.

“It helped with [Brooklyn] coming down with me,” Ally Frank said. “If she weren’t here, it definitely would have been harder.”