Rafoth twins lead Canfield volleyball

Rafoth sisters help lead Canfield volleyball

By Ryan Buck

sports @vindy.com

CANFIELD

If the Canfield girls volleyball program has opponents seeing double this season, it is not just their imagination.

Twin sisters Rachel and Janie Rafoth, both seniors, lead a Cardinals squad that has won 72 wins since their arrival. They are now 7-1 this season after a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 home win over Girard Thursday.

The fraternal twins of identical height can control the Cardinals’ play on both offense and defense.

If not for Rachel’s red libero jersey — the rest of the team is in black — and bright headbands atop their matching blonde hair, telling them apart would take great effort.

Actually, it is their collective effort and leadership that drives another Cardinals team with high aspirations, said coach Maria Householder.

“We’ve got focus like I’ve never seen,” said Householder, a former volleyball standout at Canfield. “Some of our players are the most intense players that I’ve had.”

The twins’ experience is to thank for that, she said.

“They’re going to be probably the best setter and the best libero you’re going to see in this area,” Householder said. “They are my hardest workers. In the offseason, they’re lifting all the time, they are focused; they are such leaders on my team.

“We’ve got some young girls — a freshman and three sophomores — and they have just taken those girls under their wing and they teach, coach and bring them up. [The Rafoths] know they’re seniors and they want the program to continue.

“Their intensity is unmatched by anyone you’re going to see in this area.”

One of those sophomores is frontline standout Maddy Johns. Rare was the sequence Thursday night when Johns did not punctuate a soft bump from Rachel and a well-placed set from Janie.

Johns is the Cardinals’ best frontline playmaker since Sabrina Mangapora, now playing at Ball State, led the Cardinals to a Division II regional final in 2012. An emphatic kill in the waning moments of Canfield’s game two win was the result of Rachel and Janie’s skill.

Rachel is the trusted libero, a steadfast leader on the backline who can substitute freely per the rules of the game.

“My job will be to take as many first-ball contacts as I can,” she said. “We try to make things easy for our setter and never let a ball hit the floor.”

Cue Janie, the older of the two by one minute.

“I get to the first volley and try to make it easy on my hitters,” Janie said.

The two followed an older sister to the game when they were 11 years old.

“We play separate positions, so it made it easy for us to be on the floor together and we work really well together,” said Rachel, who sported a tie-dye patterned headband Thursday.

From the beginning, their chemistry was evident.

“We don’t even have to talk half the time,” said Janie, who countered with red polka dot headwear. “We know when and where we’ll be and when we won’t be there. We’ve been playing together for years now, so ...”