Make them pay, Shay

By Michael Ashcraft --

Seven kills and four aces. When sophomore Shayla Papik makes you pay, she's not your pal.

"Shayla dominated with her kills today," said assistant coach Lauren Jenkins of the Lighthouse Christian Academy. "She always serves hard. She serves every single time. She goes for aces. She's a competitor. She wants to win."

The Santa Monica Christian high school pulled the plug on Pilgrim School 25-6, 25-9, 25-19 Monday.

Shayla is smiley. Among her fellow students, she's the cheery, friendly and talkative one.

She doesn't stopped smiling when she gets on the volleyball court. But a hunter's instinct drives her.

"Killing is great," Shay says. "Getting the kills is a high."

Shay is strong because she was the only girl among five brothers. She had to fight them off.

She's just one of a tough crew. Dahlia Gonzalez silences the room when she fires from perch high above the net. Playmaker Allie Scribner rallied the team with her deadly hits, targeted sets and smiles of encouragement.

Freshman Jillian Jenkins nabbed six kills.

"Our goal was to work on our mental toughness and work on making perfect plays," assistant coach Lauren said. "We missed quite a bit of serves. But we stayed in the game and didn't let the other team disrupt us."

Read more about LCA volleyball: the Jill Chills (Game 1). Sharp shooter Shayla (Game 2), No return policy (Game 3) , Abigail is Elsa (Game 4), God Balls (Game 5), Little girl beat up big boy (Game 6), Craziah for Keziah (Game 7) Flower power (Game 8), Xie xie Shay (Game 9), One in a Jillian (Game 10), Napoleon's Cannoneers(Game 11), Ethiopian Queen (Game 12)

About this reporter: Mike Ashcraft teaches writing and research at the Lighthouse Christian Academy of Santa Monica.