Sports
6A
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Th e Observer
Sisters’ lone season together comes during pandemic
By RONALD BOND Wallowa County
Chieftain
WALLOWA — They
have been basically insepa-
rable their entire lives.
But because of the age
diff erence between Wal-
lowa High School senior
Ella Moeller and her
younger sister, freshman
Sophie Moeller, the one
area the two had not been
together was on the volley-
ball or basketball court.
“This is actually the
fi rst year we got to play
sports together,” said Ella,
the setter for the Cougars
volleyball team. “Because
we’re three years apart,
in junior high, it’s within
a two-year span (between
sixth and eighth grades),
Sophie just missed that.
This is the fi rst year
we were able to play
together.”
It was a season the two
had looked forward to
for years. More than that,
their respective classes had
looked forward to it.
“We had talked about
it because Sophie’s class
is really athletic, and my
class is athletic,” Ella said.
“We were really looking
forward to those classes
getting to play together. …
We talked about that this
was going to be the year.”
Sophie, a right-side
hitter for Wallowa, said
her class had watched
the senior class, and was
indeed looking ahead to
when they would play with
them, instead of being just
observers.
“We were all very
excited,” she said. “Most
of my classmates were
looking forward to getting
to play with the seniors.”
Those plans, like every-
thing else the past year,
were shaken up severely by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
And though there was ini-
tial disappointment the two
had to work through, both
have been able to come to
a mindset of gratitude —
mainly in that although
the season looked very dif-
ferent, they at least got to
see the court.
“It took me a while to
see we are pretty lucky,”
Ella said.
Having sisters on the
same team can, at times,
cause drama or in-fi ghting,
but there has been none of
that with the Moeller sis-
ters, head volleyball coach
Janea Hulse said.
“I haven’t had one
problem. They do work
really well together,” she
said. You don’t see (issues)
on the court with those
two. Usually they are the
ones trying to lift each
other up when others can’t
get through.”
The two are often in
the middle of getting the
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Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa’s Sophie Moeller, middle, and her sister Ella Moeller, right, look on as a play is made during the Cougars’
match against Powder Valley Friday, April 2, 2021. .
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa’s Sophie Moeller, left, and her sister Ella Moeller, right, pose for
a photo. The sisters — senior Ella and freshman Sophie — are playing
their lone season together on the volleyball court during the COVID-19
pandemic.
team hyped up in practice
or in games. Sometimes
it’s through being goofy.
Sometimes it’s the two of
them leading the encour-
agement the team needs
after a tough rally.
“It’s been really fun,”
the elder Moeller sister
said. “Sophie and I have
always had a bond where
we can joke around with
each other and mess with
each other. We have a good
time. It helps lighten up
practice when Soph and
I can get into it and other
people get involved. It
turns into a big girl fi ght in
a good way — if you know
what I mean.”
Sophie said, though,
that the team — and the
two of them — can buckle
up and focus when they
need to.
“I think our team is
very amazing in that way
because we can all go
from laughing, rolling
around on the court, to
getting right back into
the next play in practice.
And I think that is pretty
amazing,” she said. “Our
team has a pretty good
bond, I think.”
The sisters have con-
tributed a major piece to
the team’s on-court suc-
cess this spring, too.
“They are a really fun
dynamic,” Hulse said.
“They’re quirky and funny,
and at the same time very
competitive. They want the
best for themselves (and)
for the team. It really feeds
well within our team.”
Hulse knows the girls
well, too. Not only has
she coached Ella for four
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years, she has a son in
the same freshman class
as Sophie. And their
mother, Annette Moeller,
is the assistant coach. As
a result, there is a deeper
level of communica-
tion that can be read even
during a pandemic.
“It’s fun, because really
between the four of us
with Annette, myself and
the girls we can look at
each other, and even with
the masks they can tell”
what the look means,
Hulse said, whether it’s an
encouraging or correcting
one.
The season has been
a highly unusual one for
the duo. In the fall, they
returned to school some-
what blindsided by the
reality that the pandemic
hadn’t dissipated, and
they had come in from
a summer irrigating job
where they were consis-
tently out in a fi eld socially
distanced and didn’t need
masks.
The volleyball season,
which was supposed to
start in late summer, ended
up being highly diff erent
as well. There was no post-
season to play for, almost
no fans in the stands and
numerous rule changes.
Even in the spring,
while they have had a bit
more normalcy and gotten
to play teams outside of
the region, there still are
no state hopes. Fans can
come, though there still
are limitations.
“I think it was espe-
cially hard for me, being
a senior and this being
my last chance to play
high school sports,” Ella
said. “Everyone right now
is looking at everything
getting taken away from
them and everything we
have lost. We do get to
play volleyball. It may be
limited, but people do get
to come watch us. We’re
getting to do something.
We’re not shut down com-
pletely. We’re getting to
do all those things. We’re
just having to follow
stricter rules.”
The younger Moeller
sister said she also strug-
gled early with what was
taken away, and with the
uncertainty.
“I defi nitely did not
have a good mindset.
Coming up as a freshman,
I was excited to come
up and play sports, and
wanting my fi rst year of
high school to be normal.
It took me a while to
realize that we are still
getting to do something,”
Sophie said. “When it was
looking like we weren’t
going to get to do some-
thing, that was hard.”
They have gotten the
season in, and have helped
Wallowa go 5-5 overall on
the volleyball court headed
into the fi nale Friday, April
9, at Elgin.
The sisters have grown
even closer during their
lone season together,
another feat considering
how close — inseparable,
in fact — they already
were.
“When you play a sport
you always create bonds
with your team … you
always create a bond,” Ella
said. “It has brought us
that much closer. Our team
that we are both on is the
same one. We get to share
that bond not only as sis-
ters, but teammates.”