Double Trouble Gu’s Kubista Sisters Are Twin Killers At The Net

Twice during a six-person rotation, opponents are forced to face Gonzaga’s towering front-row intimidators, the identical twins whose eyes are filled with fury, whose toned legs are the size of sequoias and whose court presence amounts to double jeopardy.

They are the Kubista twins, Jennifer and Christine. Everyone knows them around volleyball circles and everyone recognizes them on the Gonzaga University campus.

“How often do you see six-foot girl twins?” asked Jennifer, who actually stands about two inches shorter than her 6-foot sister Christine. “And we probably tower over half the guys at this school.”

The Kubistas have been a fixture at GU since 1993. They arrived in Spokane as a package deal by way of Tacoma’s Wilson High School and have paid off for Gonzaga coach Sean Madden.

“I’ve loved them from the start because they had the fire,” said Madden, who first noticed the Kubistas at GU’s summer camp in 1991.

Madden should still be thanking someone on the west side of Washington. And it’s not a geography teacher.

“Our volleyball coach told us about a camp at Gonzaga,” said Jennifer. “Chris and I thought - where’s Gonzaga? Is it on the East Coast or something? We came over and absolutely loved it.”

The twins returned to GU’s camp the next summer and it was during that time, coupled with competing in the Davis (Calif.) club volleyball tournament, when they decided to make a commitment to volleyball. They were forced to push their equally rewarding prep basketball careers to the side.

Entering tonight’s 7 p.m. non-conference home game against Eastern Washington, Jennifer and Christine rank No. 1 and No. 3 on the team in kills. Jennifer, an outside hitter, has 227 kills. Christine, a middle blocker, has 169 kills, six behind Theresa Spink. In the digs department, Jennifer leads the team with 137 while Christine is close behind with 134 digs.

Nearly identical numbers for the 21-year-olds from Tacoma who laugh alike and walk alike and at times even talk alike. Ask them a simple question, and they’ll likely answer simultaneously.

“We do that all the time,” said Christine, the younger of the two. “When people are talking to us at the same time, we answer at the same time.”

“Or finish each other’s sentences,” chimed in Jennifer.

Added Christine, “The team always says ‘stereo’ when we finish each other’s sentences.”

It’s more like surroundsound.

Best friends, excellent students, roomies and teammates. But never, ever tell them they’re two people rolled into one.

“We take real offense to that because we’re two unique individuals,” said Jennifer, who was given the nickname Ru her freshman year to avoid the confusion of four Jennifers on the team. “Chris is more like a reserved person. She doesn’t like to fly by the seat of her pants. Where I’m more daring and will do anything.”

Daring, which led to disaster her sophomore year. It happened against San Diego in GU’s first West Coast Conference game of the season. In an 85-degree Martin Center gym with the Bulldogs leading in games 2-1, condensation and sweat began forming pools of moisture on the floor. Jennifer slipped on a wet spot and blew out her left anterior cruciate ligament. Gonzaga won the match, but lost its emotional leaper.

Season over. Surgery followed along with eight months of rehab.

The following weekend after her injury, the team was off on a road trip. Christine made the trip, Jennifer stayed home. It was the first time in their 19 years the two were separated for more than 48 hours.

“That’s pretty pathetic,” said Jennifer when sizing up their nearly two decades of togetherness.

But something good came from their time apart. Christine, who admits she had been struggling while trying to adjust to Division I volleyball, stepped up. And as the script goes, she did it for her ailing and absent twin.

As Madden remembers: “Chris all of the sudden went out and played twice as well because she said, ‘I have to play well for my sister. I have to get my head out of my way.”

For the past two years, the two have been back together. Last year, the team struggled to a 6-25 record which Christine described as “the worst year in my whole career.”

This year, the Bulldogs already have won six games and enter tonight with a 6-9 record. The Eagles could be without Stephanie Dahlstedt tonight. The freshman middle hitter sprained her ankle against Sacramento State Thursday night.

“Both teams are similar because I think we’re both still somewhat psychologically fragile because both teams had tough years last year,” Madden said.

“They’re a much improved team and Pam (Eastern coach Pamela Parks) has always done a really good job coaching the fundamentals of the game.”

But tonight Eastern must deal with double trouble.

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