An ultimatum from his mother led to the ultimate experience for Corey Spence.

"My mom (Toni) told me this is the only school I'm going to pay for you to go to," Spence said. "I didn't care where I went, as long as I was in California. It turned out to be awesome."

Turns out Toni Spence's choice of school for her son, California Baptist, is the perfect combination of some of Spence's favorite things.

"God ... and volleyball," said Spence, a 2004 graduate of Seabury Hall, whose father Jason is an assistant pastor at Hope Chapel Maui where Toni works with the children's ministry. "I get to be around everything I love at the school."

The only thing missing is his family, but it helps to be a part of a "small school where everyone is friendly."

It's also nice to be a part of a winning tradition.

California Baptist won its fourth straight NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational, defeating Park (Mo.) 30-22, 30-23, 30-21, April 14. Spence, a junior libero, had a match-high 11 digs in the title game.

"It's pretty amazing," Spence said. "Not that many schools have the opportunity to win one, so I'm so stoked about it."

In 93 games (26 matches), Spence averaged 2.11 digs per game this season.

"Corey, I felt, has been our most intelligent player all year," California Baptist coach Ryan McGuyre said. "He really understands the game and how we want it to be played.

"As the libero he's the back-court captain. I really have a lot of personal trust in him."

Joining Spence on the Lancers' roster is Micah Tokuda, a Hawai'i Baptist graduate who played in 11 games this year. On a team filled with international players, the duo get teased "for almost being from another country" themselves, Spence said.

But having international exposure is helping Spence form ideas on what he would like to do post-college. The kinesiology major hopes to continue playing volleyball overseas, possibly in France, before returning to become a physical education teacher.

At first, Spence was intimidated about playing for the Lancers. When he was a senior at Seabury Hall, California Baptist traveled to Honolulu to play the University of Hawai'i, and won.

"I didn't think I could make it," he said.

UH is just one of many NCAA Division I teams California Baptist schedules during the year. This season the Lancers played UC Irvine, BYU, Pepperdine, Cal State Northridge, Penn State, Lewis (Ill.), UC Santa Barbara and UCLA.

"We have some of the best hitters in the nation," Spence said. "I'm so blessed to be on this team. Our division isn't that good, so it's great getting to play against Division I schools."

In recent history, the Lancers boast wins over Hawai'i, USC, UCSB, Lewis and BYU.

"Once I found out I was good enough to play against these teams, the feeling was 'Oh wow, I actually can compete,' " Spence said.

Although he is listed as both outside hitter and libero, Spence has spent most of his time at libero. Last year he earned the starting role, and continued to start this season. He was named the NAIA libero of the week Jan. 30.

"As a libero, the stats aren't always as flashy, but he's an integral part of the team," said McGuyre, whose wife, the former Jennifer Roberts, played for UH.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.