Instead of “The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming,” a 1966 comedy film, in Red Wing and at various sand beaches around the state and country, it’s, “The Roschens are coming, the Roschens are coming.”

With this family, it’s all five of them. They are senior twins Bailie and Hallie Roschen, seventh-grade brother Cody, and mom and dad Nikki and Duane Roschen.

That five-some has the habit of combing whatever beach they might occupy on a given summer day, as they hunt for prospective pickup sand volleyball matches to join.

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That’s served them well, providing family exercise and bonding time, as well as an opportunity especially for those two seniors to expand their games.

Nikki has a vested interest in Bailie and Hallie making leaps. After all, she’s their second-year volleyball coach at Red Wing and is heavily reliant on them to make this team go.

This season, the Wingers are 9-7. Along the way, the senior twins haven’t disappointed. Outside hitter Bailie and setter Hallie were honorable mention all-Big Nine Conference last season. This year, as they keep putting up big numbers night after night, they seem like locks to make first or second-team all-Big Nine.

Bailie leads the team in kills with 162 and Hallie in set assists with 322 and has gone over 1,000 for her career.

That time on the beach has paid off. And it’s also been a blast.

“We’ve played a lot while on vacations on beaches,” said Nikki, a former Red Wing star in the late 1980s who went on to play college volleyball at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. “We play with whoever is around. It usually works well. People just flock together to play.”

Bailie and Hallie have been flocking together forever. And when side-by-side — which is almost always — good luck telling them apart.

“It gets old how people can’t tell us apart,” said Hallie, who like Bailie is an athletically built 5-feet-8. “But people who know us can tell us apart. One difference is that Bailie has her ears pierced.”

Their volleyball games and strengths aren’t identical. Hallie is a standout setter, using excellent speed and quickness to get to balls before setting up such teammates as Bailie for kills.

Bailie is a menace at the net who loves offense, though Nikki insists she’s working on her all-around game.

A heck of a duo

One thing is for sure. It’s that they’re good together.

As inseparable twins, that’s no surprise.

“It is fun to play together, because we know what each other is thinking all the time,” Bailie said.

Hallie says that playing with Bailie is tough to beat. And they do it all year long, often in the summertime playing 2-on-2 volleyball in the sand, Hallie and Bailie as teammates. They also plan to continue to play together after high school, likely picking the same college where they’ll play volleyball.

“We connect well; I really like playing with her,” Hallie said. “With me being a setter and Bailie a hitter, that helps. And those sand 2-on-2 leagues, that’s really helped.”

It’s also helped to have their mom around as much as she’s been. Nikki knows the game and is a constant source of volleyball instruction for the sisters.

Bailie and Hallie have never gotten weary of those instructions, which started when the sisters were in fifth grade. Nikki coached their youth teams starting then and stuck with it until they were in high school.

She’s appreciated them as much as they’ve appreciated her. After last year’s season was cut short by COVID-19, Nikki’s time as their high school coach has been shorter than she’d wished.

With that, she’s savoring this season more than any other, knowing that the end is in sight.

“Coaching them has been a lot of fun,” Nikki said. “It’s been fun to watch them grow through the years. I can’t believe that they’re already seniors.”