Among Pali’s large student-athlete population, there are various athletes that stand out above others. For seniors Sammy and Ally Stahl as well as Mason and Vance Mallory, it is because they are two sets of twins that play varsity sports together at Pali.

Sisters Sammy and Ally Stahl have played both varsity water polo and lacrosse together their past three years at Pali and are continuing to play both sports throughout their senior year.

“We can make very precise things happen on the field, whether because of twin chemistry or not!” stated senior Sammy Stahl.

Ally expressed similar sentiments about their sports relationship, saying that “while Sammy tends to take the lead in water polo and I in lacrosse, we both know how to play off each other.”

Similarly, brothers Mason and Vance Mallory play a sport together as well, except they both play volleyball at Pali and on a club team called Manhattan Beach Surf Volleyball Club.

Likewise, the sisters both play for the club lacrosse team, Los Angeles Aces.

For Ally, playing with Sammy “has helped us grow closer together and learn how to work with each other to benefit the team,” she stated.

While Sammy shares this view, she has expressed mixed feelings about playing the same sport as her sister. “It would be really cool to have something that was just my own, and not have to share it with her,” she said.

These sentiments that Sammy and Ally have felt about playing two sports together is very common. For instance, Mason and Vance identified both the negatives and benefits associated with playing a sport with their twin. They spent copious amounts of time together: from surfing to hanging out with friends or, of course, playing volleyball.

“Sometimes you get sick of it [doing everything together]. Sometimes it’s nice,” said Vance.

Despite the negatives associated with being together all of the time, Mason and Vance agreed that they’re glad to have a sibling that plays the same sport as them.

“It’s a good experience to have someone that you know and you can always connect with,” said Mason. “It’s always good to have someone who knows how to play volleyball with you at all times.”

In contrast, the Stahl sisters don’t spend much time together outside of their sport. However, Ally said that “the numerous tournaments and long commutes are spent together and we get along best when we are with our teammates.” Sammy added that the sisters like to go shopping and watch a lot of television together.

As for their personalities, both siblings agree that they differ greatly. However, they are both aggressive and competitive when participating in athletics.

“I like water polo a lot more than she does because I am aggressive and I love to win,” said Sammy. “Lacrosse is more of a finesse sport, and she is very dedicated to it.”

Their interest in playing lacrosse began back in sixth grade, and according to Ally,  “we were playing any sport that came up at our local park and one day, lacrosse was put in the rotation and we never looked back.”

The sisters decided to play water polo after they were already playing lacrosse, and Ally said that “we both decided to play water polo to revive our love for swimming and to try something new in high school.”

For Mason and Vance, their path to discovering their interest in volleyball was relatively similar to how Sammy and Ally found lacrosse.

The brothers always played all the same sports together, like the Stahl sisters. “First it was soccer, and then baseball,” said Vance. “And then, our sister played volleyball, and that’s how we kind of found volleyball.”

While Ally said that the sisters do have plans to continue to play their sports together throughout their senior year, they are most likely not going to continue to play together in college because they are thinking about attending different schools.

Likewise, Mason and Vance are not sure whether or not they will end up playing volleyball together in college. They have offers to play, but are trying not to discuss their school preferences with one another because they have agreed that their decisions should be made separately.

“Where I want to go, I’m going to go and where he wants to go, he’s going to go,” said Mason. Vance added on to this and said, “At the end of the day, we are two different people and we might want two different things.”

Even though both sets of twins identified some reasons why they occasionally dislike being on a sports team with their twin, overall, they  are generally glad to be playing a sport together throughout their years of high school.