By Taylor Lupetti
Going to a country where you don’t know anyone can be a scary change but it helps if you come with a friend.
Luiza Andrade and Giulia Gavio did just that.
The two sophomore volleyball players came together from Brazil in 2015 but their bond goes further back than the past two years.
Friends since 2009, Andrade and Gavio have been volleyball partners since they were in elementary school. Growing up, they played on a club volleyball team in Rio de Janeiro.
“It would have been a really hard decision to move here if I had been by myself,” said Andrade. “So it was a lot easier to have her [Gavio] with me.”
The pair started playing indoor volleyball and later moved to beach to improve its endurance. After playing beach for a while, the two learned they loved playing both.
“You go to beach and you come back to indoor and you improve a lot,” Gavio said. “Our first thing was to improve for indoor and then we started having fun and we had a couple tournaments of beach.”
When Andrade and Gavio were approached in Brazil by their now head coach Aaron Shepardson, the decision to come to the United States was one the pair made together.
“I remember [Gavio] texting me while Shep was at my house talking to me and my parents,” Andrade said. “She said ‘Hey, let me know when he leaves,’ so then she called and said ‘He offered me this scholarship but are you taking it? I’m just going to take it if you take it.’”
As it was in Brazil, the bond between Andrade and Gavio is strong. Spending nearly every day together, they don’t seem to do much without each other.
“When we have off days and don’t see each other it’s weird,” Gavio said “We are always practicing together, eating together, going out together.”
The closeness carries onto the court, giving them the advantage of knowing what the other needs and when she needs it. this is helpful for partners during beach volleyball and translates to the indoor game as well.
“I think from watching her for nine years, I know how to set her and she knows how to set me,” Andrade said. “We can bring this to the court for sure together.”
Coming from only playing club sports in Brazil, SJSU has offered Andrade and Gavio the volleyball experience they were looking for during their club years.
“I think it’s taking the opportunity to be here,” Andrade said. “The practices are really good. They really focus on weight room and conditioning and not just volleyball on the court. I think that’s a really big advantage for us from all the people in Brazil because they don’t have that there.”
The new forms of training have given the pair what they felt they needed to continue on to their next playing step. With only two years left at SJSU, the two have discussed what they want to do after graduating and whether or not they will continue to play together.
“We talk about that a lot,” Gavio said. “We really want to go play professional in Europe. I don’t know if we will end up together but we will probably.”