The long line of Londot’s
January 27, 2018
“The love of sports is in our genes, it runs in the family.” -Rudy Morrow
This quote by Rudy Morrow is true for a lot of families, but for one Robert Morris University volleyball player, it’s truer for her than most.
Alyson Londot is one of the eight freshmen that RMU volleyball welcomed to the team this season. Londot is a five foot 10 outside hitter from Utica, Ohio. Her volleyball story doesn’t start there, however.
Alyson has two sisters, Rachel and Emily. Both of which play volleyball as well, just to set the scene.
Alyson Londot’s mother played for the Louisville Cardinals, as an All-American.
“She graduated from the University of Louisville. She was like an All-American from there, she just kind of started it,” Alyson Londot said.
Alyson Londot played her first organized game of volleyball when she was very young, at an age that some of which wouldn’t even know that volleyball existed.
“I think I was about nine or ten when I officially played. I played all time the when I was younger obviously, but in an actual game I think I was nine or ten,” Londot said.
Now knowing that not only does Alyson play volleyball, but her two sisters as well, it’s not far out of context to wonder if their mom ever wanted her daughters to feel the same success that she did, in the sport that she had, and still does have a thriving passion for.
“She didn’t shove any of us towards it, we kinda just like; she coached also, so growing up we were just kinda around it, so we just loved it,” Londot said with a smile.
Alyson’s mother, Laurie Londot coaches at her Alma Mater, Utica High School. She has coached there since the girls were little. That being said, all three sisters have played under their mother’s coaching, for a few years, two at once.
“It was difficult at times because we always had differences. Just the mom-daughter relationship, but it was good; I really loved it,” Londot said.
That being said, Alyson is the middle child in the trifecta of Londot sisters, and while usually being the middle child can sometimes sound like a curse, Londot saw the perks.
She got to play with both her older sister, Rachel who is a junior for the LIU Post Pioneers volleyball team, and her younger sister, Emily who is a senior this year at Utica High School and also committed to Ohio State University to play volleyball.
“I got to play with both my older sister and my younger sister, but my older and younger never got to play with each other” Londot said.
Now knowing that Londot got to experience a luxury that neither of her sisters will get to experience with each other, it raises some questions about the unique experience. Mainly, who’s better to play with?
“They both are completely different, but both fun to play with,” Londot said. “My older sister and I kind of butt heads more because we both play the same positions, so we both knew what the other was going through. But then my younger sister, she’s like 6’2” so like she was the middle who got things easier. And she was more like go with the flow type girl,” Londot said.
Even though the sisters are all separated right now they’re all still very close. Londot describes her relationship with her sisters as a typical sister relationship.
“We get on each other’s nerves a lot, but we always talk to each other. We’re really close,” Londot says.
With the distance between each sister about to be increased, when the final of the three graduates, Alyson doesn’t seem worried about that relationship breaking anytime soon.
“We just random things that happen throughout the day, one of us will be like ‘this just happened to me’, and then we’ll just comment on it and laugh. Then we’ll go on with our lives until someone else says something; it’s fun,” Londot said.
Now that we know that four out of the five people living in the Londot home play volleyball, it makes us wonder that they all have in common, besides talent. Is there one defining factor that all Londot women have as one in the same that can contribute to their great athletic success. Alyson describes it in one word.
“Determined. We all just like want one thing, we always try our best to get it done,” Londot said.
When you’re a parent, and all three daughters play volleyball, there are some issues that arise. Who’s school colors are what, what kind of sports drink does each specific girl want, what size shoes does each child wear, and then the most pressing question: Who’s game do you go to? Luckily for us, the Londot parents have it figured out, at least as best as you can when you have three daughters competing in Division One college volleyball.
“It’s really just a matter of like, when they can get to one, and how. Because of my mom, she coaches high school still, and my younger sister is on her high school team, so that’s her first priority because she’s obviously the coach. And then whenever she can make the trip out here, because of my other sisters in New York, so if she can make the trip to New York she tries to go there because it’s farther away, and she can’t go there as many times as she can come here.”
The family is a close family, but with four girls in the house, that all play or have played volleyball, you’ve got to wonder what it’s like to be the only once of testosterone in the house. Also known as Mr. Londot, the dad.
“He loves it, he always liked to watch volleyball. It definitely irritates him sometimes because obviously us four girls taking all time and bickering about things, but he always enjoyed it.
With natural born athletes comes the drive, the passion, the want that all athletes live and breathe. Also called competition, and the will to win, and among the three sisters, competition is something that they strive in. Are they competitive over dinner? Or even just who can clean their room faster?
“We’re not very competitive towards each other when we’re playing we just always want to win obviously. With each other, it’s not as bad. We’re all good, we all know that she has other things there, and my other sister is better in other things,” Londot said.
That question however still remains to be officially seen. Emily, the youngest of the trio, has officially committed to Ohio State University to play volleyball, starting in the Fall of the 2018 season. Leaving us all to wonder if we’ll see a Londot versus Londot match up somewhere in the future. Also wondering what it would be like to be in Alyson’s or Emily’s shoes to look across the net and see your sister, the person who you’ve known since you can remember, the person that you’ve always played side by side with.
“I think it would be a lot of fun. It would definitely be pretty competitive between me and my sister, but overall I think it would just be fun to see her on the other side of the net,” Londot says.
But I know what all of us are wondering: Would this be a game played for bragging rights at the dinner table?
“Umm, it depends. Ah, um, I would,” Londot said with a hesitant smile that slowly turned into a smirk.
However competitive an OSU- RMU matchup would be, these sisters still have each other’s backs through thick and thin. They have memories together that will last them a lifetime, and so much more unique than others because of the passion that they share through volleyball. One of the most special memories Alyson has with her family is surrounded by volleyball.
“Last year when we got into the Regional semis, and we were really close to making it to state. And that’s the furthest we’ve ever gone since 1988 or something, which is when my mom played, so it was really cool to like be the next team from Utica to get that far,” Londot said.
Whether it be that these sisters are stealing each other’s clothes, or stealing each other’s kills they’re always there for each other on, and off the court, even when on opposing teams. So be on the lookout as the long line of Londot’s continues with some possible sister versus sister match ups.
