MSU athletics has a tradition of keeping sports within the family - the football Ducketts, the hockey Millers and the basketball Vincents. Now, the MSU volleyball team is starting a legacy of its own.

Freshman defensive specialist Tracy Bellwood and sophomore libero/defensive specialist Marley Bellwood are the first sisters to play on the same team in MSU volleyball history.

"It's really cool," Tracy said. "When I was younger, I always wanted to play at MSU, then my sister came here and now we are here together."

Tracy and Marley have no other siblings and, looking back on growing up, the two feel that they were typical sisters.

"She was the sneaky one and I was the one with the temper," Marley said. "She would hit me when my parents weren't looking and I would hit her whether they were looking or not."

Head coach Chuck Erbe had some concerns about how the situation would play out coming into this season as well as the future, not knowing how close the two were.

"They play the same position, so they will be competing against each other," Erbe said. "My biggest fear was the younger would be better than the older,"

But after talking with each player and their parents, Erbe is confident having the two on the team together has been, and will be, positive, not negative.

Marley is actually two years older than her sister, redshirting two seasons ago as a freshman. Tracy will follow in her sister's footsteps and redshirt this season.

"I'm excited to redshirt," Tracy said. "Emmy (Miller), Stephanie (Knopp) and my sister are great role models for me and they push me to work to be the best I can be."

Brooke Bellwood, the sisters' mother, hopes Tracy will follow in Marley's footsteps in other areas as well. Marley was named to the 2002 academic All-Big Ten team.

"Marley has done really well juggling the academics, the travel and the fact that volleyball is a year-round sport," Brooke said. "But I know Tracy will be just as successful."

Coach Erbe feels Marley made great strides in becoming a better player this summer and hopes some of her habits will rub off on Tracy.

Before coming to MSU, both sisters were standouts at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek. The duo did play one season on varsity together when Marley was a senior and Tracy was a sophomore.

After that season, Marley came to MSU and Tracy finished up her high school career. Throughout those two years, the sisters realized how close they were and felt something was missing.

"We have always been really close," Tracy said. "But when she went away, it seemed like we talked a lot over the phone."

The two believe the experience of playing together on the same team will help their relationship grow even closer.

"We're each other's backbone here," Tracy said. "She pushes me to make myself better."

The two will be pushing each other on and off the floor this semester, considering they have Communications 225 together.

"She (Tracy) sits in the front," Marley said. "I sit in the way back."

No matter where each sits or stands in the other's life, both are proud to have the other as a teammate and a sister.