BUFFALO TWP — Sometimes Madeline and Sam Clark bicker.

They are sisters, after all. High school seniors. Twins. They've grown up together.

They have excelled at Freeport on both the volleyball and basketball courts for three-plus seasons.

And they are inseparable.

“We've always been really competitive with each other,” Madeline said, “but we've always been comfortable talking to each other.”

“We'll yell at each other sometimes,” Sam added, chuckling, smile beaming. “But we know it's just because we're sisters.”

As twins, they have a special bond.

Occasionally, an eerie bond.

“Sometimes I'll be thinking something,” Sam said, “and she'll say what I'm thinking.”

That kind of ESP translates well to both the volleyball and basketball courts for the Clarks.

Madeline is an all-state setter and led the Yellowjackets with 487 assists last season.

She's been a setter since she first picked up a volleyball.

“Coach (Tom Phillips) always thought I had a really good set of hands since elementary camps,” Madeline said. “If you're a setter, you're the leader on the floor. You make all the decisions on where the ball is going to go. You have to make the best choices and you have to be the most vocal. I try really hard to be the leader on the floor and make the best decisions to get us a point.”

Madeline is at it again this fall, leading undefeated Freeport in assists.

It helps that she has a bevy of talented players at the net to finish her work.

“It really doesn't matter where I set because I know all of them can put the ball down,” Madeline said. “They make it easy.”

One of those hitters this season is Sam, who moved to right-outside to fill the huge void left when all-state performer Ally DeJidas graduated.

It was a big move for Sam.

“I used to set, but now I've been hitting right-side,” Sam said. “I've never been a hitter at all and I've always been better at passing.”

Madeline smiled, nodded and interjected, “She's improved a lot, though. A lot.

“We've been talking about how exactly she wants my set,” Madeline added. “How fast, or how low, or how tight to the net, stuff like that. I've just been telling her to just swing hard and it'll come to her. We really just figured it out like two weeks ago.”

Phillips said he had full faith that Sam could make the transition.

“She's working hard at it,” Phillips said. “Maddie has always been the setter and Sam has always had a lot of intangibles. When Maddie is in the back row, we have that sister connection. Sam is a very good blocker. She's smart and she's starting to get the swing.”

The Clarks would like nothing more than to end their volleyball careers with another PIAA Class AA title.

Two years ago they were contributors on the Yellowjackets' state championship team and both feel this rendition is just as capable of winning it.

“We have one last chance,” Sam said. “One last chance to do something great. I don't want to leave with disappointment.”

The Clarks also have high hopes for the basketball season this winter.

The entire team is back from an 18-5 campaign in 2018-19 that ended with a heartbreaking loss to Quaker Valley in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

“That was definitely painful,” Madeline said. “I know we all have that on our minds and we can definitely go farther.”

Madeline averaged 12.2 points per game and Sam averaged 10.8 per contest.

The Clarks are also making sure to relish every moment in their last season.

“I just keep thinking this is the last time I'll do this and that,” Madeline said. “I'm trying to make the most out of everything. With both sports I keep thinking we have to go all the way this year.”

The Clarks are both receiving a lot more interest from colleges in basketball than they are in volleyball and Madeline said if they were to play a sport at the next level it would be hoops.

But they're not sure that they will.

“That's actually a big decision because we both want to go to a bigger school like Penn State or Pitt,” Sam said.

Both want to major in something in the medical field.

And they both want to go to the same school.

“I think if we didn't it'll be too big of a change,” Sam said. “We've literally never been apart. Ever.”

Even when they sometimes lovingly bicker like all sibling are wont to do.

“They do argue a little bit,” Phillips said, grinning widely. “You know how sisters will be. They do everything together and they have such a connection. They're great kids and great athletes.”