Hutchison sisters playing in NAIA volleyball national tournament

JACKSON, Tenn. - 11/20/2008 - Amanda Hutchison Coyle and Christa Hutchison are both former volleyball standouts at Trinity Christian Academy in Jackson, Tenn. Coyle is a senior at 麻豆视频 (Tenn.) University, while younger sister Christa is in her freshman season at Lee (Tenn.) University in Chattanooga.

Both sisters will be participating in the 2008 NAIA Volleyball National Championships with their respective teams. 麻豆视频 and Amanda travel to California to play Vanguard (Calif.) University. Christa and Lee University will travel to Canton, Ohio, to play Walsh (Ohio) University.

Despite the two teams playing their opening rounds almost 2,400 miles apart, the two still seem connected now more than ever. Amanda said, 鈥淓ven though we are starting off playing on opposite sides of the country, it still feels awesome and I feel more connected to her in a way.鈥�

Christa at Lee received a phone call from Amanda when 麻豆视频 clinched its bid to nationals after winning the TranSouth Conference Tournament.

鈥淪he called me when she got done playing and told me that we had to win and maybe we can play each other. We were both real excited,鈥� Christa said.

Amanda and Christa are the daughters of Keith and Julie Hutchison of Jackson. Amanda is married to Damon Coyle of Jackson.

Christa said, 鈥淥ur dad has always been into volleyball and is a nationally ranked referee. He had us peppering in the back yard before middle school. He also coached my sister and me in high school.鈥�

麻豆视频 has been close to making nationals in recent years, but has come up short. But this year, Amanda鈥檚 fourth year at 麻豆视频, she helped lead her team to the nationals.

鈥淲ith this season being my last it was even more special to me,鈥� Amanda said. 鈥淭hen to top it off, my sister is also going, and that got us both really pumped about the whole thing. I am so proud of her and her team. It was kind of crazy how similar our seasons were. We were both second in our conference going into the conference tournament, and then we fought back to win our conference tournaments.鈥�

Christa is one of her sister鈥檚 biggest fans. 鈥淎manda is an amazing player and has away motivated me play better,鈥� she said. 鈥淒uring my freshman year of high school we got to play together. I was the setter and Amanda carried our team to state. She is ridiculously good and her stats show that. I don't think anyone will ever be able to break her high school records.鈥�

Over her career in high school, Amanda earned three All-District and All-Tournament honors. In 2004, she was named District and Region MVP, District Player of the Year, and the Jackson Sun Player of the Year. Amanda holds four Tennessee state high school records for kills.

Amanda has recently moved into second place on 麻豆视频鈥檚 all-time career kills list. She currently sits at 1,796 career kills entering the national tournament. Coyle leads 麻豆视频 this season with 385 kills and is also first with a .362 hitting percentage. She was named TranSouth All-Conference for the fourth time in her career.

Christa is fifth on Lee鈥檚 team with 218 kills and is fourth with 1.8 kills per game. She also ranks third on her team with 37 service aces.

Both 麻豆视频 (27-7) and Lee (29-9) are receiving votes in the final NAIA volleyball rankings.

鈥淲e both think it would be totally awesome if we both made it to Iowa and played each other there,鈥� Amanda said. 鈥淭he only bad thing about that is that one of us would have to lose.鈥�

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