Not to worry volleyball fans who think you're suffering from double vision watching North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T play against each other.

The look-a-likes roaming the opposing sidelines are actually identical twins - and roommates - Arlene and Darlene Mitchell. Arlene, the older of the two by 10 minutes, is an assistant coach for North Carolina A&T.  Darlene has the same position with North Carolina Central.

The sisters find it rather interesting, and fun, competing against each after being teammates in all sports from grade school through their college careers as members of North Carolina A&T's volleyball team. None of the sibling rivalry that might be expected exists between them even though their schools are blood rivals.

"It's actually funny,'' Arlene Mitchell says. "Our conversations are hilarious. We laugh about it and talk about how we're going to beat each other. Others make it more serious than we do. On game day, yes, we're serious. We don't trash talk. The better team is going to win. We're never so serious, which is good.''

Darlene and North Carolina Central got the better of the two matches between the Lady Eagles and the Lady Aggies last season, the first time the sisters faced each other.

"When we scored the last point and everyone was shaking hands, we looked at each other and started laughing,'' Darlene says. "Arlene was like 'Really? Did you have to beat us?' We talked about it at home, and she said, 'Well it won't be like that next year.'''

The Mitchell twins' light-hearted attitude doesn't mean that they don't care about winning when their teams meet.

"We're very competitive with our teams,'' Arlene says. I want my team to win, and she wants her team to win. We're just not going to say too much. She has her team; I have my team.''

Both say there is no intense sibling rivalry between them because they were always teammates when they were growing up, beginning in third grade when they ran track. The only time they ever competed against each other was in track when they both ran the 100-meter hurdles.

Darlene eventually changed events, and that was end of their head-to-head competition.

 "It was all love,'' Arlene says. "Before each match we wished each other luck, and then there was the outcome. The races were tit for tat. She would win, and I would win.''

"If she won, I was happy,'' says Darlene. "If I won, she was happy.''

It was a different story, however, when they weren't competing against each other.

 "It was us against the world,'' Arlene says.

The sisters share an apartment in Greensboro, N.C., and Darlene Mitchell commutes daily to Durham, N.C., where she is in her first season as an assistant coach at North Carolina Central. The two talk volleyball incessantly, discussing Top 25 teams, conference foes and various situations that might come up during a match.

"We're all about volleyball,'' Arlene says.

However, their conversations never include their respective teams.

"We talk a lot of volleyball,'' Darlene Mitchell says. "But when it comes to our schools, we don't talk about our teams out of respect for our teams. We talk a lot about what we like and don't like.''

The Mitchell twins began their athletic careers in track and basketball. Track was their first love, and basketball, they say, was their best sport. They didn't take up volleyball until they were high school freshmen. They learned the game quickly, but both say they weren't very good at the sport initially.

 "Volleyball was just fun at first,'' Darlene says. "We took it serious when we realized we could be good at it. We had run track so long, it didn't become old, but volleyball was new and fresh. It was such a team sport and track was an individual sport. Being on a team - such a good team - and learning and picking it up so fast, our interest shifted. We recognized how good we were getting.''

The sisters put in a lot of practice time on their own honing their volleyball skills, often using makeshift training equipment. They would pass the ball back and forth in their backyard in Henderson, N.C., using the family's clothesline for a net. Their work paid dividends. They led their team to the finals of the State Tournament their junior season and won the state title as seniors.

The big payoff came when North Carolina A&T offered them scholarships. They played for the Lady Aggies from 2003-2006 and led them to the MEAC championship match in 2005. They are considered two of the top players in school history. Arlene holds seven records including most kills in a single set, match and career. She is also the only player in school history to record 1,000 career kills and digs. Darlene is among the top five in several statistical categories.

"It was nothing that was going to get in our way as far as our studies and volleyball,'' Arlene says of the sisters' successful collegiate careers. "We knew what we were here for. Nothing was going to get in our way. It was like, 'Let's get it done. The Lord blessed us with ability to earn a scholarship.'''

Arlene and Darlene hail from a family of twins. They have an older brother and sister who are twins, and their father is a twin. The sisters say that their likeness runs deeper than their physical appearance. They have the same taste in clothes, food, movies and music. Like with most twins, their mother saw to it that they dressed identically when they were growing up.

"Our mother definitely played the twin card,'' Darlene says.

They got away from dressing alike as they developed their individual personalities. Still there was one occasion when as student athletes at North Carolina A&T that they showed up for class wearing identical outfits. Even though neither knew what the other had planned to wear, their parallel tastes in clothes carried that day.

"We just looked at each other and laughed,'' Darlene says.

Neither returned home and changed outfits.

Even though they are identical, both say that their friends have no problem distinguishing which is which.

"We're definitely different personality wise,'' Arlene says. "Ask me, I'm the nice one. She's the mean one.''

"Everyone says I'm the mean twin. Why?  I don't know,'' Darlene says, adding that the difference in their personalities is that she tends not to bite her tongue. "I'm the one who speaks her mind before she would. She'll hold back. Even though she's thinking, she won't say it.''

 The twins thoroughly enjoy being twins and spending time together. They've lived together their entire lives and they relish each other's company, but they do have their moments.

"Because our occupations keep us away from each other, we can't get tired of each,'' Darlene says. "We see each other in passing. That's for our sanity. That's good. We're not joined at the hip. If we weren't coaching and were together all the time, we'd get on each other's nerves."