Three Spikes Law : L.A. Baptist Relies on Triple-Barreled Attack

Patricia Stanton smiles and flexes.

“Feel my muscle,” she says, sticking out her right arm.

Then, the punchline:

“Hey, didn’t your mom ever tell you not to play with guns?”

Not to be left out, teammate Gloria Erickson presents her right arm.

“Shhh,” she whispers, pointing to her biceps. “These guns are illegal.”

Give these volleyball players credit--they have a sense of humor.

They also play a mean game of volleyball.

Stanton, Erickson and Kristen Jensen, all seniors, have propelled L.A. Baptist High to a No. 2-ranking among Southern Section Division IV-A schools.

Comediennes off the court, they take themselves seriously when a volleyball is in play. So seriously, they have paced L.A. Baptist to tournament championships at Ventura and Venice high schools and several victories over schools in higher divisions.

“When we’re on top of it, working together, we’re awesome,” Jensen said. “We have the potential to go all the way.”

Jensen, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter, has become a top player despite 20/100 vision in her right eye. She has compiled the most kills for the Knights and, with contacts on the way this week, should only get better.

“She’s playing blind and still getting, like, 30 kills [a match],” Stanton said.

Erickson, a 6-foot outside hitter, probably is the best college prospect among the three. Her two ambitions in life--to be a beach volleyball player or a TV news anchor--are as different as the arts of spiking and setting.

Stanton, a 5-11 middle blocker, hasn’t accumulated impressive kill statistics but she tops the team in blocks and “suckers”--the Knights’ unofficial stat for when a player pounds a ball through an open gym door during practice.

The only catch to those suckers: Whoever hits them has to go fetch.

The trio have been All-Alpha League selections in each of the past two seasons with a third such honor almost guaranteed. When watching them on the court, it’s obvious they have club experience.

For each of them, volleyball is nearly year-round.

They also compete in track. Stanton and Jensen as members of the 4x100-meter relay team that finished second in league last season.

In volleyball, the Knights (5-2) begin the quest for their ninth league title in 10 years tonight at Village Christian.

They will have to rebound from a tough, five-game loss to La Canada last Thursday in a match that lasted nearly three hours.

L.A. Baptist sputtered after taking a 2-0 lead in games and lost the fourth and fifth games by 16-14 scores.

“The way I saw our team play [against La Canada], we can be so high and then go down with the slightest change in attitudes,” Erickson said. “We’ve got to be mentally ready.”

If they are, and if the Knights’ setting and back-row defense straightens out, it’s easy to predict where they will be headed.

Said 16th-year Coach Sue Newcomb: “I think we have the potential to be one of the best.”