Sibling Rivalry Heats Up for Frances Cardenas

Sibling rivalry is part of any childhood. Ask anyone who's grown up with a brother or sister. There is competition to see who will get the best grades, go to the best school or just win the game of one-on-one on the driveway of the family house.

These are all typical things families will compete over. Frances Cardenas, libero of the UT women's volleyball team, is not typical. This year, Frances and her younger sister Melissa are going to be competing over something on a whole new level. They'll be competing for a national championship. Melissa is a freshman libero for UT's biggest rival, Florida Southern College, this season.

Growing up, the Cardenas sisters have always been close. Even though Frances is four years older, people have always told them they look like twins. There is definitely some family resemblance. Growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the last time the two sisters were competing on the court was for the same libero spot on their club team in Frances' last year of high school.

Frances ended up winning the spot being the more experienced player. Frances says that she has always thought that Melissa was the more talented one of the two of them, but that she was the harder worker. Cardenas said she felt, "This is my team and my spot," when the two played together. This is the same way she feels about the 2013 national championship.

After Frances left for college, it was time for Melissa to choose a school. Her older sister knew that Tampa would have been a great option, but Melissa didn't want to be known as Frances younger sister for her entire college career.

She went through the recruiting process and decided to attend Florida Southern. "I was happy for her (when she told me her decision), but I told her that I am playing to win when we go head to head," explained Frances when asked about finding out Melissa's college choice.

If it weren't enough that the sisters were going to be playing for rival schools in the fall, then it was surely intense enough while they were living together while training for the upcoming season. It's not often that you get a chance to see what your competition is doing to beat you in the upcoming year, but the sisters got to share in that unique experience this past summer.

Conversations around the dinner table revolved around what the two sisters were doing to get ready for their respective seasons. Frances says, "It was eye opening to hear about other teams, to hear how they do things."

She explained that it was a motivator. Getting to see what her sister was doing made her want to work that much harder. The big joke around the Cardenas household this summer was that if you left your summer workout package laying around, you probably weren't going to find it again.

It hasn't been all competition though. Frances has still remembered her role as a big sister. She has tried to make Melissa's transition to the American style of play a little bit smoother than hers was without an older sister to help her out. "She's been able to adjust better," says Frances.

Cardenas explained that it is, however, a hard line to follow. She wants to be the good big sister, but she also wants to win. When playing against each other in the pre-season and Melissa was serving, all Frances could think was, "Get a good serve, but miss it."

This sisterly rivalry will be peak when it makes its way to the University of Tampa campus on Saturday. The Cardenas sisters will be playing each other on Frances' senior day when Florida Southern comes to town. Frances has been asked if she'll bring her sister over to take the senior day picture with her and their parents. Her only response was, "only if she puts a UT shirt over her Florida Southern jersey."

Written by Mike Tyrrell